By ANTONIO GONZALEZ, AP Sports Writer

SANTA CLARA, Calif. (AP) — Cory Nelms ran off the field in the middle of the San Francisco 49ers' practice Wednesday to go watch television. Don't worry, he had special permission.

Call it an Olympic moment.

The second-year cornerback cheered on girlfriend T'erea Brown in the final of the 400-meter hurdles from eight time zones away, watching the fellow American finish sixth in London after posting a personal best of 54.21 seconds in the semifinals. Brown ran the final in 55.07. Natalya Antyukh of Russia won in 52.70.

"It was exciting. Your heart is pumping out your chest," Nelms said after watching the final. "You don't know what's going to happen when that light goes off and you're just a spectator like everybody else.

"I'm definitely proud of her. I'm definitely sure she went out there and did her best. I'm thinking maybe it's been a long week. Peaking two times back to back, that's a lot on your body. Maybe that's all she had this year."

In many ways, this week has been a culmination of hard work for the couple.

Nelms is a former hurdler at the University of Miami, where he met Brown and walked on the football team. Nelms also won hurdles in the 60-meter indoor (2009) and 110-meter outdoor (2010) at the Atlantic Coast Conference championships.

Nelms signed with San Francisco as an undrafted free agent last year and spent the season on the practice squad, splitting time at cornerback and safety. He earned the Thomas Herrion Award, presented annually to a rookie or first-year player "who has taken advantage of every opportunity, turned it into a positive situation and made their dream turn into a reality" in honor of Herrion, who collapsed and died after a 2005 exhibition game in Denver.