Kerron Clement on male modelling

From the Bird’s Nest Stadium in Beijing to the music video of one of the world’s top pop stars it is fair bet 2008 will not be a year to forget for USA 400m hurdler Kerron Clement.

The athlete may have climbed the podium at the Beijing Olympics but his appearance on the recently released The Greatest video by former Destiny’s Child member Michelle Williams will not harm his profile.

The coup is the biggest modeling assignment yet for Clement, who has also been involved in several European-based photo-shoots, and he told spikesmag.com, “I’ve been interested in modeling since 2004. People who have seen me have said, ‘you have a great-looking body, you're tall, you're handsome.’ I looked into it and did a shoot in Miami and it went really well. I like the glitz and the glamour.”

Clement, who appears in the video hurdling in his track kit, said a manager he knows from the entertainment world secured him the role on the Williams video, and he was only too happy to oblige.

Work on the video started at 8am and went on until 9pm, and although Clement carried out the hurdling on the road – as opposed to the track – he insisted despite the long hours it was not as tough a work as track training.

“It is not hard because you get breaks,” he explains. “It’s a lot of fun hanging out with people you actually know and doing something you love.”

He also met Williams on the making of the video and described her as a "very, very nice person" before intriguingly adding, “It was the first time I met her, but it certainly won’t be the last because we know the same manager.”

Los Angeles-based Clement says he plans to carry out more modeling assignments in future and believes it acts as a much-needed distraction from the demands of track and field.

“It takes my mind off athletics,” said Clement. “I’m a person who doesn’t like to focus myself on track and field, it tires me out. Modelling is the avenue that I take to relax myself. It’s like a relaxation for me.”

But, reassuringly for his track coach, given a choice between appearing in a top photo-shoot and winning an Olympic gold medal he insists, “It would be Olympic gold because track and field is my No.1 passion.”