{"id":4833,"date":"2026-02-26T23:26:12","date_gmt":"2026-02-26T23:26:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/dornsife-alumni\/?page_id=4833"},"modified":"2026-03-11T17:02:27","modified_gmt":"2026-03-12T00:02:27","slug":"rai-benjamin","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/dornsife-alumni\/ten-to-watch\/rai-benjamin\/","title":{"rendered":"Rai Benjamin &#8217;19"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\n\n\n  \n    \n\n\n\n\n\n\n<div\n  class=\"cc--component-container cc--scrolling-text-with-image \"\n\n  \n  \n  \n  \n  \n  \n  >\n  <div class=\"c--component c--scrolling-text-with-image\"\n    \n      >\n\n    \n  <div class=\"text-image-container\">\n\n          \n      <div class=\"image-container\">\n            \n<div class=\"f--field f--image\">\n\n    \n    \n    \n    \n    \n    \n              \n      <img decoding=\"async\"\n                            src=\"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/dornsife-alumni\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/122\/2026\/03\/20240719_101050-768x1024.jpg\"\n          srcset=\"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/dornsife-alumni\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/122\/2026\/03\/20240719_101050-1280x1707.jpg 1280w,https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/dornsife-alumni\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/122\/2026\/03\/20240719_101050-768x1024.jpg 768w\"          sizes=\"(min-width:1024px) 50vw, (min-width:768px) 100vw, 100vw\"\n        \n                  role=\"none\"\n        \n        \n                                      \/>\n\n    \n    \n  \n  \n\n<\/div>\n      <\/div>\n      \n    <div class=\"text-container\">\n  \n        \n                  \n<div class=\"f--field f--section-title\">\n\n    \n  <h2>\n          Gold Medal Olympian\n      <\/h2>\n\n\n<\/div>\n        \n                  \n<div class=\"f--field f--description\">\n\n    \n  <p>Rai Benjamin has redefined what\u2019s possible in one of track and field\u2019s most punishing events. Benjamin is the second-fastest man in history in the 400-meter hurdles, clocking 46.17 seconds during his Olympic debut at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. Benjamin completed his athletic ascent with an unbeaten 2024 athletic season, capturing individual gold at Paris Olympics and helping Team USA to another Olympic 4&#215;400-meter relay record.<\/p>\n<p>The son of Antiguan cricketer Winston Benjamin, he began competing internationally as a teen. He started his collegiate career at UCLA before transferring to USC Dornsife, where he helped set a world-best indoor 4&#215;400 relay time and posted one of the fastest collegiate hurdle race times ever recorded. He graduated from USC Dornsife with a degree in political science in 2019. Since turning pro in 2018, he has amassed multiple World Championship medals \u2014 including back-to-back global titles \u2014 and consistently pushed the event into historic territory.<\/p>\n<p>He currently splits his time between elite training and building his brand beyond the track, co-hosting the podcast <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/@beyondtherecordspodcast\">Beyond the Records<\/a> with fellow Olympians Noah Lyles and Grant Holloway. Benjamin is also an ambassador to Antigua and Barbuda.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<\/div>\n      \n          <\/div>\n\n  <\/div>\n\n\n\n  <\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n\n\n    \n\n\n  \n    \n\n\n\n\n\n\n<div\n  class=\"cc--component-container cc--social-and-media-promo \"\n\n  \n  \n  \n  \n  \n  \n  >\n  <div class=\"c--component c--social-and-media-promo\"\n    \n      >\n\n    \n  <div class=\"header-container\">\n              \n<div class=\"f--field f--section-title\">\n\n    \n  <h2>\n          Connect with Rai\n      <\/h2>\n\n\n<\/div>\n    \n            \n    \n\n\n\n\n\n\n<div\n  class=\"cc--component-container cc--social-links \"\n\n  \n  \n  \n  \n  \n  \n  >\n  <div class=\"c--component c--social-links\"\n    \n      >\n\n      \n      \n\n    <ul class=\"social-media-links--platforms platforms\" aria-label=\"Follow us on social media\">\n              \n        \n        \n\n                  <li>\n            <a href=\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/rai-benjamin-28077a179\/\" class=\"ext\" target=\"_blank\">\n              <svg version=\"1.1\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\"\n                xmlns:xlink=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/1999\/xlink\" x=\"0px\" y=\"0px\" width=\"32\" height=\"32\" viewBox=\"0 0 30 30\"\n                enable-background=\"new 0 0 30 30\" xml:space=\"preserve\">\n                <path fill-rule=\"evenodd\" clip-rule=\"evenodd\" fill=\"#000000\" d=\"M25,21.4c0,2-1.6,3.6-3.6,3.6H9.6\n        c-2,0-3.6-1.6-3.6-3.6V9.6C6,7.6,7.6,6,9.6,6h11.8c2,0,3.6,1.6,3.6,3.6C25,9.6,25,21.4,25,21.4z M10.4,9.2c-1,0-1.6,0.6-1.6,1.5\n        c-0.1,0.9,0.5,1.5,1.5,1.5l0,0c1,0,1.6-0.6,1.6-1.5S11.3,9.2,10.4,9.2z M11.8,21.9v-8.6H9v8.6H11.8z M22,21.9V17\n        c0-2.6-1.4-3.8-3.3-3.8c-1.5,0-2.1,0.9-2.5,1.5l0,0v-1.2h-2.8c0,0,0,0.9,0,8.6h2.8v-4.9c0-0.2,0-0.5,0.1-0.7c0.1-0.5,0.6-1,1.5-1\n        c1,0,1.5,0.7,1.5,2v4.6H22V21.9z\" \/>\n              <\/svg>\n\n              <span class=\"ext\" aria-label=\"LinkedIn (link is external)\" role=\"img\"><\/span>\n            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aria-label=\"Instagram (link is external)\" role=\"img\"><\/span>\n\n            <\/a>\n          <\/li>\n        \n\n        \n        \n                  <\/ul>\n  \n\n\n  <\/div><\/div>\n      <\/div>\n\n  <div class=\"social-container\">\n    \n    \n  <\/div>\n\n  \n\n  <\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n\n  \n    \n\n\n\n\n\n\n<div\n  class=\"cc--component-container cc--rich-text \"\n\n  \n  \n  \n  \n  \n  \n  >\n  <div class=\"c--component c--rich-text\"\n    \n      >\n\n    \n      \n<div class=\"f--field f--wysiwyg\">\n\n    \n  <h2 style=\"text-align: center\"><a href=\"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/dornsife-alumni\/ten-to-watch\/\"><strong>Back to list &gt;&gt;<\/strong><\/a><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<\/div>\n\n\n  <\/div><\/div>\n\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":163,"featured_media":5015,"parent":4704,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-4833","page","type-page","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.1.1 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Rai Benjamin &#039;19 - USC Dornsife Alumni<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/dornsife-alumni\/ten-to-watch\/rai-benjamin\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Meet Jill Burke\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" 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