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A motorcade celebrating Mount Vernon native Rai Benjamin, who won gold in the men's 400-meter hurdles on Friday, Aug. 9 at the Paris Olympics, began on Tuesday, Sept 10 at 9 a.m. at Mount Vernon High School and will continue into the afternoon hours.
The motorcade will stop at all 16 schools within the Mount Vernon City School District before arriving at Memorial Field at 431 Garden Ave. at 1 p.m. There, Mount Vernon Mayor Shawyn Patterson-Howard will hold a ceremony during which Benjamin will be presented with the Key to the City.
Additionally, the Memorial Field Plaza will be renamed in his honor, city officials said.
The 27-year-old champion clinched the gold medal after finishing the event in 46.46 seconds, beating Norway's Karsten Warholm, who took silver, and Brazil's Alison dos Santos, who took bronze.
During those intense 46 seconds, Benjamin, a Mount Vernon High School graduate, leaped over 10 hurdles evenly spaced around the track.
In an interview given to the official Olympics website, Benjamin said his gold medal win "happened at the right moment."
"My family is here, my friends are here. To do it in front of them means so much to me," Benjamin said, adding, "This one, they can't take away from me, at all. Mostly for me, this is about proving myself right."
In addition to this win, Benjamin also holds a gold medal for the men's 4 x 400m relay and a silver medal for the men's 400m hurdles, both of which were won during the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
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