WWE CCO Triple H Congratulates NIL Signing On Olympic Gold Medal Win
In December 2021, collegiate track and field star Masai Russell joined the inaugural class of WWE's Next In Line (NIL) program alongside the likes of twin basketball players Haley and Hanna Cavinder. Fast forward to August 2024, the University of Kentucky alum is now competing in the 2024 Olympics, based in Paris, France. Russell's Olympic experience notably included the women's 100-meter hurdles final, in which she beat out France's Cyrena Samba-Mayela by .01 seconds. As a result, Russell, a member of Team USA, was rewarded with a gold medal for the event — something WWE Chief Content Officer Paul "Triple H" Levesque is highly impressed with.
"Huge congrats to inaugural #WWENIL class member Masai Russell on taking home Olympic gold in the 100m hurdles," wrote Levesque on X (formerly Twitter).
Huge congrats to inaugural #WWENIL class member Masai Russell on taking home Olympic gold in the 100m hurdles. https://t.co/0Sa4Vx6oOM
— Triple H (@TripleH) August 10, 2024
Russell herself later commented on her victory in the 100-meter hurdles, noting that despite the criticisms surrounding her, she remained focused on her goal of crossing the finish line. "So many people were saying so many crazy things about me," Russell told The Athletic, "as they always do when you're not doing what they believe you're capable of. But I just continued to shut out the noise and focus on what I can control ... It was truly a dream come true."
The final results of the women's 100-meter hurdles event showed Russell finishing with a time of 12:33 seconds, while Samba-Mayela followed closely behind with a time of 12:34 seconds. With this, Russell can now officially call herself an Olympic gold medalist.