Q: How excited are you about going to the 2024 Olympics?

A: I'm very excited. I mean, this is my second Olympics that I'll be going to, so definitely it’s a beautiful way to cap off my collegiate career going into my second Olympics.

Q: When you think about how far you’ve come, what’s that like for you?

A: It's such a surreal moment simply because, you know, I grew up in a very disadvantaged background.  For me to be put in a position to beat the odds — from my mom simply just progressing through a workplace and allowing me to be able to be blessed with opportunity, to go to better schools and have better opportunities — for me to capitalize on that was definitely a privilege that I don't take for granted.

Q: How has your experience at the University of Houston defined your athletic career and prepared you for the Olympics?

A: It’s such a beautiful story. When I was getting recruited to the University of Houston, coach Carl (Lewis) said a lot of things to me that no other coaches were saying to me. Those things resonated with me because they were all long-term plans, long-term goals, goals outside of my athletic capabilities.  He would ask me, “Where do you see yourself in 10 to 15 years? Where do you see yourself in 20 years? What are the tools you think you need to get, or what tools do you need to possess in order for you to be able to achieve what you want to do in 20 to 30 years?”

He got me thinking. Most athletes just think about coming to college and going pro as soon as possible, make money and then that’s it. Not a lot of guys really try to get a quality degree, quality education, and not many guys realize the connections you're building in college can carry on for their lifetime. So, Coach Carl started giving me those ideas. What I was telling him about where I see myself started making me think more about my career long-term, and that's allowed me to shape my perspective on how I see, not only just my collegiate experience as an athlete, but as well as my academic point of view and where I want to take those connections going forward.

Q: Where do you see yourself in 10 years and where do you think your education obtained here at UH will take you?

A: I’m business-oriented, finance-oriented to be more specific. I'm very interested in stocks and investment banking, so definitely after I retire from track and field, I want to go into the finance industry, maybe asset management or investment banking. That’s something that I have a passion for.

Q: Can you share any specific challenges or milestones that you’ve encountered on your journey to the games?

A: Between the last Olympic games and leading up to this one, I lost two very important family members to me — my big brother as well as my grandmother. Those are the two biggest support systems I’ve had in the family.

My big brother was the most unexpected. Unfortunately, he was murdered at work. He was at the gym, and he was shot and killed. My grandmother suffered from various illnesses. She stayed strong for a very long time. When I was a lot younger, she would always tell me that my time could be anytime.

Losing them and not being able to attend their funerals in back-to-back years was such a hard transition for me. It’s like, where do I go from here? Fortunately for me, I still have a good support system outside of them, but they were the foundations. They laid the foundation for my sporting background. I didn't want to let a lot of people down. Despite these losses, I still wanted to keep coming to practice every day. I still want to do what I need to do because I know that's what they would have wanted. They wanted me to always perform at my best and represent the family name on the highest stage.

I’m forever grateful to have a good support system. I can talk to Coach Carl about these trials, adversity that I go through and challenges. He’s there to give me support.  Everything that I'm going to go through as an athlete, he’s probably been through at the highest stage.

Q: You feel like you’re running this Olympics for your grandmother, for your brother, in a sense?

Definitely. I always told them that I want to run. I want to put the family name on the highest stage of them all.

Q: How do you stay motivated and focused mentally and physically as you approach the games?

The biggest thing is discipline. There are a few pillars that I believe in: consistency, discipline and sacrifice. Those three pillars should be the foundation of every athlete. Without sacrifice, without dedication and without that consistency, it is very hard for you to be committed to anything and to achieve anything.

When we are performing at such a high level, everyone is so competitive, everyone wants to be the best they could be. It’s the smaller things that we do day-to-day that separates the good from the great.

Even though there’s some days we, as athletes, don’t feel like going to practice. But ultimately, we still have to go. It’s those days where you don’t feel like going to practice or rehab when you have to say, “You know what? I'm putting my head down and I'm going. I'm getting the job done today.” After it’s all said and done, you’re not going to remember the pain you felt in the workout 10 minutes ago because it's going to be out your mind.

It’s definitely the simplest tasks at hand— from eating well, making sure you recover and making sure you're hydrated. Ultimately, that's what will make sure you are adequately prepared for any championship or any competition.

They say there’re two types of people: the people who say “one day I will” versus those who say “today is day one.”

It's all about taking action. Once you take that action, you don't want to look back. Just challenge yourself to go and every challenge take it a day at a time. Ultimately, you’re going to look back and it’s going to be a couple of years and you’re going to be like, I'm so glad I started that time and I didn't procrastinate for another day or another week.

Q: What advice would you give to aspiring athletes at UH, or anywhere for that matter?

It all comes in perfect timing. It might not be your time today for you to face that trial or that challenge, but it will better set you up for the future.

It’s all about mental resilience and definitely just believing in yourself.  You can be mentally strong but some people don’t believe in themselves. Ultimately, you need those trials to be able to build that confidence because when you come back from those trials and you show that you can survive adversity, it allows you to be better equipped for future trials to come.

 

*This conversation has been edited for clarity and brevity.