Westchester community hopes stars align for track star Rai Benjamin at Paris Olympics

Jeanette Mason remembers asking her son for water. Off he’d fly, then, in a blink, fly back.

He was maybe 2 or 3 years old when this started. While some kids that age toddle around, her boy, Rai Benjamin, could flat out run.

It was impressive but wasn’t always a blessing.

When he started school, Jeanette received complaints about his need to be moving.

“I honestly thought he had ADHD (attention deficit hyperactivity disorder),” Mason said. “I was always praying there’d be something he could put his energy into.”

As the sports world knows, that prayer was answered. Benjamin is currently one of the top track and field athletes on Earth and is competing in the 2024 Olympic Games .

The New York-born, Antigua- and then-Mount Vernon-raised runner anchored the U.S. men’s 4x400-meter relay team to a gold medal at the COVID-delayed Tokyo Olympics in 2021, and also broke the world record as he finished second in the 400 hurdles.

Benjamin, who now lives in California, remains second all-time to the man who beat him in Tokyo: Norway’s Karsten Warholm.

Benjamin, Warholm and Brazil’s Alison dos Santos (third in Tokyo, and the 2022 world champion) are expected to vie in the Olympic 400-meter hurdles final in Paris on Aug. 9.

It’s anyone’s guess what time they’ll run, but Benjamin’s personal-best of 46.1 and Warholm’s world-record 45.94 – both clocked in Tokyo – could be relegated to Olympic footnotes.

Mason, who couldn’t go to Tokyo because of COVID-established fan restrictions, will be there this year. And no doubt, she’ll reflect on the journey her son (who will turn 27 on July 27, the second day of the Games) has taken to reach this elite level.

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What were the beginnings of Rai Benjamin?

Benjamin’s story began in New York but evolved with him spending his first years in Antigua, the birth country of both Mason and Rai’s father, former professional cricket player Winston Benjamin.

After Mason moved back to New York with Rai, he later starred in track at Mount Vernon High School, then became a multiple-time All-American at UCLA and the University of Southern California before ascending to the world stage.

Benjamin, who ran a couple races for Antigua but declined an invitation to represent it at the 2016 Rio Games before later gaining permission to compete for his native U.S., said he has a lot of “personal drive.” That stems, he said, from “not wanting to disappointment myself, but also everyone who has supported me so far.”

“I don’t want to say it’s unhealthy personal drive, but just obsessive drive,” Benjamin said.

Mason, who says her son’s athletic gifts don’t come from her (she never played a sport and has “no aspirations to do so”), but she recognized his potential early on.

“I don’t want to sound too haughty, but the first day of (athletic) registration at Mount Vernon High School, I said he was going to play sports in college,” she recalled.

“You speak life into your child – dreams, aspirations."

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Benjamin's aspirations initially focused on football. But the Mount Vernon’s coaches looked at a kid who could run like a deer but was built like a string bean and knew freshman football should be his last on the gridiron.

Marcus Green, who was Mount Vernon’s junior varsity football and head track coach, asked then-senior and future University of Alabama runner and Jamaican pro Steven Gayle to convince Benjamin to do track.

“I knew he was going to be good,” Gayle said. "but I didn’t know how good."

Benjamin could run the 400 meters in 51 seconds, a great time for a freshman, and according to Green was a “natural, raw talent.”

“We knew he had a future and could go places,” Green said.

Green also told Mason, “If he stays in school and gets good grades, I’ll guarantee he’ll get a full (college) ride (in track).”

The final word came from Mason before Benjamin’s sophomore year. Her son wasn’t playing football anymore.

Benjamin had three track coaches in his ear throughout high school – Green, assistant coach Adrian Rosario and volunteer assistant Chris Malcolm, who also runs the New Horizon club team that Benjamin ran for summers.

“Rai was always around us, listening to us while we were talking," Green said. "His mom is phenomenal. ... We’re grateful she allowed us to have an impact on him.

The coaches were focused on their athletes’ long-term futures. There was a daily study hall. If grades slipped, meets were missed.

Green noted that when Benjamin was on the team, it had a 97% graduation rate and a 92% college-acceptance rate with two athletes entering the military. The high school’s graduation rate at the time was under 60%, he said.

“The school, family and community really came together. It takes a village to raise a child,” said Mason, who pushed academics and “made sure to have the conversation, ‘Where do you see yourself in the future?’ ... I wanted to make sure he was aware you have to create building blocks now."

Benjamin turned pro after his junior year of college but, as he’d promised his mom, still got his college degree in political science.

That surprised no one.

Benjamin's times times remain No. 1 all-time in the state among high school athletes in the outdoor 400 (46.19) and 400 hurdles (49.17), and the indoor 300 (38.17). He works to keep his promises.

Malcolm recalled Benjamin as devastated and crying after not qualifying in the 400 hurdles for the outdoor spring state championships his freshman year.

Believing watching the competition would benefit him and a teammate, Malcolm rented a car and drove them upstate to states.

There, Benjamin told Malcolm, “Next year, coach, I’m going to be here as an individual (competing).”

He was.

Malcolm speaks of seeing greatness in Benjamin from day one.

“Every step of the way, that’s what we expected from him,” he said.

Turning points

Mason, who now lives in Georgia, remembers her son’s nonstop viewing of a video of Olympic star Usain Bolt breaking from the blocks.

She’d always find tiny scraps of paper with scribbled time goals near the trophies on his dresser.

When some track funding was in jeopardy, Benjamin went to the Mount Vernon Board of Education.

“He stood up and spoke about the team and going to college and living his dreams,” Mason said. “He said, ‘I am going to go to college. This is serious to me.’ I realized everything was clicking in his head. My job (as a parent) was almost done.”

Benjamin also returned home “bright-eyed” from a spring break competition in Arcadia, California, his junior year. UCLA coaches had pulled him aside to show him their school.

“I knew at that time he was going to be okay,” Mason said of her son, who says he realized his goals of a pro and Olympic career were possible near the end of his sophomore year, before transferring to USC after his UCLA sprints and hurdles coach was fired.

Humble because it’s just running in circles

Being an internationally-recognized athlete hasn’t seemed to change Benjamin, who Malcolm said regularly talks to Mount Vernon’s track kids when back visiting in the city.

One of the multiple times Benjamin gained Boys Track and Field Athlete of the Year honors, he commented what he wanted from life was to be “comfortable.” He said wanted to run professionally but his focus wasn’t what that could get him. He said he didn’t need a fancy, expensive sports car.

Today, he confirms he’s indeed comfortable. But he said he has had two fancy sports cars, his latest a Lamborghini.

But as sweet as that car is, Benjamin is quick to say, “The people I’ve met are more important than the accolades and material things.”

Of his success, he said, “At a certain point, it becomes gloating. I just run and go home. I’m not doing anything super important. I’m not saving lives. I just run in circles for people’s enjoyment. I’m not putting my life at risk at all. It’s entertainment.”

That humility is also evident when he says, “Making the second Olympic team makes it kind of a little legit.”

As  “cool and exciting” as his first Olympics were, this one seems to hold more promise.

“Now, there will be family in the crowd. And I think I’m more settled going into this one. I want to have fun and be present in the moment. At the first, I was a little wide-eyed. I think this will be even better.”

What are Rai Benjamin's medal chances?

Mason, who sends her son encouraging notes before his races, calling him things like Mr. WL for world leader or Mr. Diamond League Champion (In a recent Diamond League race in Monaco, Benjamin recently beat both Warholm and dos Santos.), sometimes feels too nervous to watch his races.

“I’ll probably be chewing off my fingernails (in Paris)," she said, suggesting she may peek through her fingers while watching her son run.

No matter what happens, though, Mason said her son has already “done us proud.”

Malcom agreed but he, Green and Gayle believe that pride will grow because Benjamin will win the hurdles.

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“I’m telling you that young man looks ready," Green said. "Now he’s displaying strength and poise."

“I’m going on record that it’s going to be really very tough to beat him,” Malcolm said, believing Benjamin smartly won’t deviate from his race plan.

Gayle, who works in tech in Texas, believes a more-seasoned Benjamin will pace himself better in the qualifying rounds, then claim gold, maybe with a new world record.

“I think he’s going to win, for sure,” he said. "This dude really wants it.”

Benjamin seems confident too.

Yes, if he doesn’t hit the finish first, he’ll rise the next day to practice for the next championship, knowing “my friends and family will always be there, win, lose or draw.”

But it doesn’t sound like he’s anticipating losing.

“I feel great” Benjamin said. "I feel have a lot of belief in myself. ... This time around, I’m mentally feeling very sound. … I’m always trying to put one foot in front of the other in practice and prepare and allow the stars to align.”

“ I feel,” Benjamin said, “this is the year.”

Nancy Haggerty covers cross-country, track & field, field hockey, skiing, ice hockey, girls lacrosse and other sporting events for The Journal News/lohud. Follow her on Twitter at both @HaggertyNancy and at @LoHudHockey.

This article originally appeared on Rockland/Westchester Journal News: Westchester community hopes stars align for track star Rai Benjamin at Paris Olympics