Competing professionally, she set two American Records, and ran her specialty 1500m under 4:00 five times and became the second fastest American Woman ever at 3:57.40, a fraction of a second behind leader, Mary Decker Slaney. In 2000, Suzy was the fastest middle distance runner in the world and was named USA Track & Field's Female Distance Runner of the Year. Favor Hamilton competed in the Summer Olympics in 1992, 1996 and 2000, finishing 11th in her qualifying round race in the 1500 meters in 1992, and 4th in her qualifying race in the 800 meters in 1996. She made the finals of the 1500 meters in 2000 with the second best qualifying time (1/100th of a second slower than the best by the eventual winner). Though she led into the last lap of the final, she confessed that she deliberately tripped on the track, feigning injury after seeing she was losing the race and would not win a medal.