This George Mason University graduate has been representing Jamaica since 2000, with the World Junior Championships being the catapult that launched him forward. He barely missed out on a medal on that occasion, finishing fourth in front of a packed National Stadium.
Making the team for successive Olympic Games has proven that he has the quality. Four years ago in Beijing, Phillips advanced to the finals of the 110-meter hurdles, finishing seventh behind fellow Patriot Maurice Wignall (’00). His time of 13.60 in 2008 was 0.42 seconds off the bronze-medal time.
He was a 2004 Olympian in Athens, advancing to the semi-finals of the 110-meter hurdles, missing the finals by 15 hundredths of a second as he recorded a time of 13.39.