Perdita Felicien

Perdita Felicien (born August 29, 1980 in Oshawa, Ontario, Canada) is a noted Canadian hurdler. Felicien carries her mother's maiden name, whose origins are in the tiny Caribbean island nation of Saint Lucia. Her mother named her "Perdita" after a contestant on the television game show, The Price is Right. Felicien grew up in Pickering, Ontario, where, as a student, she began competing in track and field events at her school. At first, she compet... more

Perdita Felicien (born August 29, 1980 in Oshawa, Ontario, Canada) is a noted Canadian hurdler. Felicien carries her mother's maiden name, whose origins are in the tiny Caribbean island nation of Saint Lucia. Her mother named her "Perdita" after a contestant on the television game show, The Price is Right. Felicien grew up in Pickering, Ontario, where, as a student, she began competing in track and field events at her school. At first, she competed in the 100m dash. Inspired by the success of World and Olympic champions Donovan Bailey and Bruny Surin from Canada, Felicien dedicated herself to hurdling and won the Ontario high-school hurdling championship in 1997. She repeated as the Ontario champion in 1998 and that year added the first of two consecutive Canadian junior championships. Her performance at a scholastic meet in Ohio brought offers of athletic scholarships from a number of U.S. universities from which she chose the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign where she... less