Javier Culson

Javier Culson

Culson at the 2012 Bislett Games
Personal information
Full name	Javier Culson Pérez
Nickname(s)	Culsonic
Nationality	Puerto Rico
Born	(1984-07-25) July 25, 1984 (age 32) Ponce, Puerto Rico
Residence	Ponce, Puerto Rico
Height	6 ft 7 in (201 cm)
Weight	181 lb (82 kg)
Sport
Sport	Hurdling
Event(s)	400 metre hurdles
Coached by	Cano Amill
Achievements and titles
Personal best(s)	400 m H: 47.72 s (Ponce 2010)
Medal record Men's athletics Representing  Puerto Rico Olympic Games 2012 London 400 m hurdles World Championships 2009 Berlin 400 m hurdles 2011 Daegu 400 m hurdles Pan American Games 2015 Toronto 400 m hurdles Central American and Caribbean Games 2010 Mayaguez 400 m hurdles Central American and Caribbean Championships 2009 Havana 400 m hurdles NACAC Championships 2015 Costa Rica 400 m hurdles 2007 San Salvador 400 m hurdles Ibero-American Championships 2006 Puerto Rico 400 m hurdles Pan American Junior Championships 2003 Bridgetown 400 m hurdles Representing Americas Continental Cup 2010 Split 400 m hurdles 2014 Marrakech 400 m hurdles 2014 Marrakech 4×400 m relay
Updated on August 7, 2016.

Javier Culson Pérez (born July 25, 1984) is a Puerto Rican athlete and Olympic bronze medalist who specialises in the 400 metre hurdles. After becoming involved with the discipline in his late teen years, he entered the podium in some regional youth events, including the Pan American Junior Athletics Championships. Culson is a two-time silver medallist at the International Association of Athletics Federations's (IAAF) World Championships and an elite contender in the Samsung Diamond League, where he finished second overall in 2011. He has also garnished medals in events with lower profiles, including the Central American and Caribbean Games and the Ibero-American Championships. He currently holds the record as "the world's fastest man" in that category. Culson also competed at the 2012 Olympics in London winning the bronze medal in the 400-metre hurdles race. In the 2016 Olympics in Rio, Culson made it all the way to the finals of the mens 400m hurdles only to be disqualified by a false start.

Culson Pérez was born in Barrio Playa, Ponce, Puerto Rico, on 25 July 1984, to Señor Culson and Judith Pérez. One of four siblings, along Javier Ramón Antonio, Judith Marie and Mary Caridad, he was raised solely by his mother in his native Playa de Ponce. Since his birth and throughout his childhood, Culson was a sickly child, suffering from gastritis due to a pronounced line in his abdomen, which limited the types of food that he could eat. This condition, along with an asthma diagnosis, forced him to spend a considerable amount of time in hospitals during his upbringing and extending into his teenager years. To deal with Culson's health and attend to her other children, Judith Pérez left her established job as a nurse at Hospital Oncológico Andrés Grillasca in Ponce and began taking odd jobs, such as babysitting and ironing clothes.