VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. – Allyson Felix, David Oliver, Kara Patterson and Britney Henry appeared at a USA Track & Field Win With Integrity event Friday morning at the 2010 USATF Annual Meeting held at the Virginia Beach Convention Center in Virginia Beach, Va.
The Win With Integrity program is a USA Track & Field (USATF) initiative aimed at educating youth, parents, educators, and coaches about the positive results that come from leading a physically active, drug-free lifestyle while living with integrity. A program in which the champions of track and field work directly with young people around the nation, the Win With Integrity program has evolved from a start-up program in 2004 into one of USA Track & Field's most successful initiatives.
Youngsters from the following local middle schools were in attendance at the event: Bayside, Brandon, Corporate Landing, Independence, Kempsville, Landstown, Larkspur and Plaza.Interviews were conducted with each of the four athletes following the event. Excerpts follow:
ALLYSON FELIX (Three-time World Outdoor women’s 200m champion; two-time Olympic Games 200m silver medalist; three-time Jesse Owens Award winner (2005, 2007, 2010).
Q: This marks your third time winning the Jesse Owens Award. How special is that for you?
A: It’s very special. It’s extremely humbling, especially this year, an off-year. My goals going into it were to just have fun with three hectic years coming up, so I did and I really enjoyed myself. The Diamond League was completely new and it was just a really fun year.
Q: Are you going to try to relax again going into 2011, which is a World Outdoor Championships year?
A: I don’t know about relaxing. It’s going to be an intense year, kind of like a dress rehearsal for the Olympics, so I’m definitely excited about that and I’ll have to bump things up from last year, so I don’t know how relaxed it will be (laughter).
Q: Any chance of you shooting for a 200/400 double at the World Championships?
A: A little bit, yes. It’s still in my mind. I have to get through nationals and see how that goes, and just kind of see where my training and preparation is and make a decision from there.
Q: Do you and Bobby (Coach Bobby Kersee) have a plan?
A: We have a plan (laughter). We’re going to try to execute it the best that we can.
Q: You’ve participated in Win With Integrity many times. What does it mean to you?
A: Oh, it’s huge. I just always think about when I was younger and the people I looked up to growing up, and it’s just a complete honor to be a role model now and to be able to give back. I love children, I have a passion for them and so this is something that is totally cool to me.
DAVID OLIVER (2008 Olympic Games 110m hurdles bronze medalist; American 110m hurdles record holder; 2010 Jesse Owens Award winner)
Q: The 110m hurdles is an event Americans have dominated since the beginning of time, and now you are the fastest American ever in that event. What does that mean to you?
A: It’s kind of amazing, to sum it up in one word. The lineage of 110 hurdlers we’ve had in this country and for me to be the fastest to have ever done it is amazing. We’ve had probably 15 Olympic championship medals that have been won by this country, and to say that you’re one of the best is fun and I never thought I’d be in this position, but here we are. It’s a great feeling.
Q: In working with Nike Coach of the Year Brooks Johnson, did everything just kind of come together for you last season to the point that you dominated the world?
A: It’s a process. I’ve been down there my entire career. Last year was my sixth season as a professional, so it’s kind of just developing. You figure that if you’re in the same system, you learn things and you progress, and that’s why you see some athletes jump from coach to coach to coach and they don’t see the same level of success. There’s something to be said about being consistent in everything, and last year it all came together, and I was able to perform to the best of my capabilities and now we’re going to go back and get ready for 2011 to where I’ll perform even better than last year.
Q: Are you looking forward to getting back on that big stage and reaching the top step of the podium at the World Outdoor Championships in Daegu?
A: Most definitely. I love competing on the big stages. I love everything about the sport. When we go out to the World Championships next year, hopefully I’ll be fortunate enough to be healthy and go to the USA Championships and do well there, first and foremost, and just let it all go out there for the championships and hopefully I’ll hear our national anthem playing during the medal ceremony for the 110 hurdles.
Q: You’ve participated in Win With Integrity on many occasions. What does this program mean to you?A: It means a lot. We might not all see ourselves as roles models, but we are in a way, and we have to be socially responsible to the community. I feel as athletes that people see on TV and in magazines, these kids aspire to do the things that we are doing. It’s important to go out there and just share your story. I have one that I feel is a pretty unique story, being the Jesse Owens Award winner this year, coming from the background I came from, I wasn’t a top level recruit in high school or a top level prospect coming out of college, but it was just persistence and hard work and just maintaining and keeping my eye on the ultimate goal I wanted to achieve. I know a lot of people can relate to that story, so I like to share that.
KARA PATTERSON (U.S. women’s javelin record holder; reigning national champion)
Q: You showed tremendous improvement in 2010 and ended up with the American record. How did that happen?
A: In 2008 and 2009, I only had one throw over 60 meters, but I knew I had more in me, so one time each year I threw something that was kind of my potential. So last year I finally had a better understanding of the event and more consistent technique and more confidence in the fact that I could throw far every time.
Q: So now that you have a better understanding of the event and more confidence, do you think you’ll improve more in the near future?
A: I’m definitely super-motivated this fall to keep that technique up, and so far the throwing practices I’ve had it really has stuck with me, so I’m really excited about continuing on with the stuff that really helped me succeed last year.
Q: What are your thoughts about the Win With Integrity Program?
A: I’m excited to finally be doing an event with Win With Integrity. Inspiring kids is super important and if I can get the word about the javelin a little bit, it’s kind of an unknown, and it would be cool to have them see that there are even more possibilities in track and field than they probably realize.
BRITNEY HENRY (Up-and-coming U.S. women’s hammer thrower; finished 3rd at the 2010 USA Outdoor Championships)
Q: Could you talk a little bit about last season and how things went for you?
A: Last season was great! It was one of my best seasons so far. I PR’ed and hit what would be the World Championships “A” (qualifying) standard. It was about getting consistent with my coaching, my technique and my confidence. Last year was the first year that I actually believed in myself, and believed in my technique and the training that I’ve done, and the results are there to show. It was a great season for me and I Iook forward to what’s coming next, making the World Championships team and the Olympic Team. I’m excited to see what’s going to happen.
Q: What was it like to have such a breakthrough season?
A: I live at the Olympic Training Center and I’m kind of a lone wolf. My coaches are away, with one coach in London and my other coach is in Oregon, and I kind of just felt like I can do this, not that I never believed in them, but I just felt like I was there. I believe in myself that I’m going to hit great positions, I’m going to do the lifts that I need and I’m going to do it on the day.
Q: Win With Integrity, what do you think about this program?
A: It’s a great, great event. That is why I’m a part of it. It’s a great message to the kids that you don’t want that asterisk by your name, you want to be out there doing it clean and doing it by yourself without any performance enhancers.
The 2010 USATF Annual Meeting in Virginia Beach continues through Sunday. For more information on USATF and the Annual Meeting, visit: www.usatf.org
About USA Track & Field
USA Track & Field (USATF) is the National Governing Body for track & field, long-distance running and race walking in the United States. USATF encompasses the world's oldest organized sports, the World's #1 Track & Field Team, the most-watched events at the Olympics, the #1 high school and junior high school participatory sport, and more than 30 million adult runners in the United States: www.usatf.org.
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