Montell Douglas: Back to Beijing

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Welcome to the Keiser Human Performance Podcast.

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The goal of this podcast. is to educate and inspire you to make the most of your

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journey in health and performance.

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Each episode will provide an in-depth discussion on a specific topic related to human performance.

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If you're a growth-minded individual seeking knowledge and better solutions,

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this podcast is

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for you. We're glad you're listening

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in, and we're excited to learn alongside

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you. My name is Gabe Durman, and I'm joined by my co-host,

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Todd Duchen, in welcoming the amazing Montell Douglas.

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Montell is the first female British athlete to compete in both the

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Summer and Winter

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Olympics. In 2008,

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she broke the women's 100 meter record, becoming the fastest woman ever

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in Great Britain. On today's

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episode, Montell reflects on her South London childhood experiences

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and shares candid thoughts on her journey to becoming a two-time Olympic

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athlete, a trailblazer for women

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in sports, and a mentor and coach to young athletes.

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You can follow Montell

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on Twitter, Instagram, and

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Facebook @montetrackstar,

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and on TikTok @montelldouglas.

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She was an absolute joy to talk to, and we are glad we were able to connect at the Leaders

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in Sport Summit in London. As a heads-up,

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there are a few sections where we experience some audio breakdown,

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but hope you still find this episode to be a fantastic

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listen.

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Enjoy. Welcome, Montell. It's great to be here with you today from the other side of the pond. How are

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you

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doing? I'm good. I'm good, thank you. How are you? We're doing great. Thank you for asking.

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And,

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um, first I'd like to recognize what an honor it is to have you on our podcast

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today. The first British woman to compete in both the Summer and Winter Olympics. When you hear someone say that,

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how

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does that make you feel? Gosh, I'm still getting used to that.

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It's

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actually, um, it makes me feel really, uh, proud, I think first and foremost, and also it's a bit of

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a, um, it's very humbling actually,

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because

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it does cover a lot of what I'm really passionate about. I'm ca- I'm c- passionate

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about women,

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um, young women and females in sport, um, and leadership, and just

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kind of leading from

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the front. But trying to break boundaries and break those barriers down, and

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I think, um, taking on that challenge, it w- it was

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big, but I'm, I'm proud that I was a part of that journey, as I set for myself, but also

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just what it can mean now for, for future moving forward and for those that came, come afterwards.

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Absolutely. And we actually saw that you were a finalist for a women's sport award for Trailblazers of

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the Year in 2022.

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Can you describe what that's been like to have the opportunity not just to represent yourself and your family or

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Great Britain, but also women all over the world? Yeah, you know, having that nomination, um, it was,

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it was, it was almost just as good

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as, um, as, as achieving what I achieved.

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Um, just because it's, you know, you always want recognition, but I think it's more about having exposure.

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And l- people do a lot of great things in the world all the time, like we all do in

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everyday life, and it doesn't always get recognized, which then means that people just don't know about it. That's kind

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of the point of why we're doing it, right? So it was just nice to have that kind of the,

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the forefront recognition to say that you, you know, setting, like you said, trailblazer

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as a, as a title in itself.

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For me, I was like, "Oh, wow, that's, yeah, that's..." I was just

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kept on thinking, "Oh,

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that's me," um, at the same time. But at the same time, I do always think, "Well, why is it,

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why is it just me?" And why, and there are amazing other trailblazers that were in the

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category, um,

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to be able to, to be a, a

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part of that reward and that recognition amongst the whole. But it also shines a light on many of our

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sports that don't get a lot of recognition as well. So coming from a track background, which is like the

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number one summer sport, to then winter bobsleigh, which is arguably the number one winter sport, I would say,

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but it's just a completely

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different, um, field. It's just like, it was an a- amazing experience, the commitments both. But for me to kind

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of say, "Okay, well, I'm the first woman to

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do that," and there were a lot of men that did it

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beforehand,

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um, we've still got work to do, from my point of view, you know, from, from the women's side. We're,

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we're still quite far behind because of the access

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and because of the timeframe.

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Um, it's just been a, a really powerful ful- journey, and I

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think it, it's

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nice that it can s- be spread worldwide. And even though it's a British thing

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for me, it still can maybe, um, have an impact elsewhere.

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No doubt. Well, a trailblazer indeed, and obviously you put a lot

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of hard work in for that recognition, as well as your athletic

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achievements. Your achievements are amazing, and we're excited to

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talk about both of your Olympic experiences. But before we do,

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can you provide us some background on who Montell Douglas is? Where did you grow

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up, and what was your childhood

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like?

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Sure. Yeah, so as you guys can tell, I'm not sure about the audience, um, I'm not from your side

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of the water at all. Um, I'm from South London, so any Londoner you'll know in the UK, specific areas

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are very important to mention because we are all very

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different. Um, I live in North London now, but I'm a South London at heart,

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and we call it the Dirty South. So I don't know if you guys,

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you guys have that in the US, do you, Alf? The Dirty South is like the rough and tumble of,

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of the London world.

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Um, and I grew up

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in, from, like really young, young parents, to be honest. My parents were really

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young when they had me. We're very, very much working class. They didn't go to further education,

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so I w- I was raised by almost teenage parents. And the opportunities

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that kind of were... The one thing they gave me, especially growing up, was

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the, I guess, the

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freedom to choose and the freedom to do as I felt.

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I never really felt pressured into doing sport,

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although my, my mum was my netball coach,

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um,

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in primary school. And we first learned in, like, Year 5, which is probably grade,

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I think fifth grade for you guys, fourth grade for you guys. I was about 10, 11Um, I learned netball,

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and, um, we lost, like, 17-nil in the first match

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ever. Um,

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but my mum was a part of that experience, coming to my school and being the kind

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of coach, and someone who just was a mum who loved sport, who wanted to kinda help

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the girls' team. My dad was my first football coach. So I played soccer, as you

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guys would say, um, in my early years. Soccer was my first sport. At 10 years old, I was on

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an all-boy

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football team. Um, I was center forward, so I was

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the striker, the goal scorer

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of the team. And I played all the way through, actually, to high school. I was on the boys' football

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team in high school as well, um, all the way through. And my, my friend reminded me the other

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day, from school, I haven't seen him in, gosh, it was almost 20

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years, literally, and I saw him at my friend's wedding, 'cause

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it was my cousin's wedding.

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And he said to me, "Look," he said, "I still can remember to this day,

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like, the, the, like, we were, like, year 10, 11, so we were 16, 17." So maybe, I

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don't know, you guys freshman and sophomore, I was probably,

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I think, senior leaving school,

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and he said, as, he was like, "You scored the winning goal

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of the season." "And everyone went nuts."

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He

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was like, "I still remember to this

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day." And I was like, "I played football in school?" I was like, "I don't remember that."

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Like, I thought I'd

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stopped my sporting journey in football a long time before then, 'cause I was,

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by then I was a national junior

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champion, um, in Great Britain for the 100 and 200, so I was very much focused on athletics. But I

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just loved doing sport. I ha- I was the second oldest of about 25, 30 grandchildren, and I was the

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only girl for a very long time. Wow. So I was very tomboyish, played football, played sport. But

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in the generation I grew up, I was born, I was raised in the '80s, '90s, so we played outside.

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Like, digital age came way after. So I was climbing trees, I was doing skateboarding. I had a Bart Simpson

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skateboard. I was rollerblade skating every

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Sunday. Like, I did a lot of activity,

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and I think it, I just really liked to be outside, which is still kind of what I like to

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do now. Um, and I just kind of went on from there, and that's, my sporting

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journey just carried on through. But I never envisioned being an

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athlete, and I know now it was definitely because I never saw any athlete, especially female athletes,

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that were performing

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at that high level

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that were also doing it as a career. It just

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wasn't in my, my remit. In my mind,

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at 16, 17, we, you know, we went to work,

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and that was it. Um, it just so happened that

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my first ever trip on a

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plane was me representing my country at 16, going as a junior international.

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Wow. And

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I was like, "Well, this is pretty cool. I got paid to be on a plane. I could keep doing

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this and I can travel the world for free." So I just kind of just zoned in, like, "I really

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wanna do this. I wanna see the world. I

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wanna get out of

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South London." Um, and that's when it really, I guess, took off

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for me. Where'd you get to travel to?

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Where was your first stop? Um, my first stop was some- Oh, yeah ... where was it? I think it

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was somewhere in, in Europe. It was, like, Italy.

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But it was,

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it was, um, Italy versus Russia versus GB versus USA.

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It was like a really, it was like an inter-country meet, which they don't really have that much anymore.

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Um,

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but as a junior age group, so it was all under 18s.

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And we were just seeing, I was seeing,

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you know, you guys from, from our country. I was just like, "Oh, my gosh, there's other people that are

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like me," but they're completely different, because I was so closed off to the world. Like, we never went on

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holiday. I didn't really know the outside

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world. Um, but getting a taste of that and competing at that level was a big, big eye-opener

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for me.

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Yeah. Absolutely. So what I hear from you is, number one, your parents were very involved at a young age

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in terms of being involved with coaching, and that was a really positive experience

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for you. A diverse number of experiences, right? You talked about skateboarding, different,

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netball, football. A lot

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of different experiences. And then being a trailblazer for you is nothing new now.

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Yeah. Uh, you started when you were 15, 16, 17 on the boys'

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football team. Yeah. You know, scoring, scoring game-winning goals.

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I know. It's so weird, 'cause

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it's happened- ... a lot in my life. I didn't realize. I was like, "Oh, yeah,

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I was on the boys' soccer team. I, football

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team." And then I was on the boys', um, in year nine. So for you guys, maybe that's 10th

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grade. Like, you're,

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I was 14. No, I was 15, 14, 15,

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um, our third year in high school,

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secondary school, and, um, we tried to try out for the girls' basketball team, but apparently you need more than,

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at least five people to do that. And it was only me and my best friend, Samantha, who turned up.

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So

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my teacher's like, "Why don't you try out for the boys' team?" And I'm like,

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"Okay." So we tried out, and we were on the boys' basketball

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team,

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um, i- in, in year nine at

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school. So I was constantly, like, just,

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just doing it

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because I could, like, being a part, and not letting the fact that there wasn't a girls' team, that I,

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stop me from doing my sport, or there wasn't that access for

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me to do my sport. I just thought, "Well, why

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not?" If, 'cause people always ask

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me, "Well, why, why do you do that?" And I'm like, "Well,

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why

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not?" Yeah, great answer. So for

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you, you have these athletic achievements from age 15 to 17

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in high school, game-winning goals. And for you, you can't even remember them. See, for me, I had, like, one

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good play, and I can't stop talking

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about it still. Yeah. Yeah.

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So glad that goes. Yeah, it's not...

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So...

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Yeah, I'm gonna keep on that. Yeah, I can see that.

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Yeah. Yeah. So,

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so for you, right, you had all these different types of sports that you were playing

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and you were involved with. When did track and field

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start to, uh, come to the forefront of your athletic

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experiences? So I think for me, track and field definitely came, definitely more prominent from 16, because that was a

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transitional

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year for me. So going from a 13, like 12, 13 year old,

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I used to, I started

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with high jump, because although I'm sitting down, I'm, like, like you said, I'm, I'm a bit of

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a giant. So I was always really tall. I broke all my school records in high jump with no training.

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Like, I didn't train at all outside, even in school. I just turned up at, in, in PE, we just

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rocked up, jumped, and I was just breaking records left, right, and

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center. And then I went to the county, so, like, the regional,

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uh, thing, and then did well there, and then went to, like, the English Schools, which is around the UK,

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um, and just progressed from there. But I got a really bad injury. It was my first,

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I, I had a, um, herniated disc by the time I was, like, within a year, year and a half-From

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obviously not great technique, not great conditioning, but definitely,

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I guess, a, a, a, an ability to be able to put my body through kind of like quite a

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harsh, like harsh forces, but not have the capacity to manage that

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load. So I was taking my, my

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severe exam, like we call them, um, GCSEs, and

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year 11, about 16 years old, with like a cushion on my back, 'cause I was just an athlete. I

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had sciatica for about two, three

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years. Um, so because of

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that injury, the doctor said to me, "You know, if you keep jumping, you're not gonna be able to walk

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one day."

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Um, and so I had to stop jumping, and I was sprinting at the time, and my high

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jump coach was really keen and constantly pushing on my dad, and stuff.

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Was like, "I think she's gonna be a great sprinter." He thought

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I was gonna be a great sprinter. And at the time, my dad was like laughing at him saying this,

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because he remembered me from football, and I was like the last person running back to the line

00:12:52.104 --> 00:12:56.814
every single time. Like, when it was break, he was like, "Get back," like, "Why are you so long?" But

00:12:56.824 --> 00:13:00.934
I was like, "I'm a sprinter." Like, I couldn't go on and on for like 90 minutes. Just not my

00:13:00.984 --> 00:13:06.064
thing. But I was, I was turned off to play, but we didn't understand the transition. So at

00:13:06.284 --> 00:13:07.984
16, my

00:13:08.064 --> 00:13:08.884
co- I started sprinting

00:13:09.224 --> 00:13:13.204
really well, and then my coach got me to be a double sprint national champion.

00:13:13.724 --> 00:13:17.124
So, uh, um, le- I left the age group going into the junior age group, which is under 20s,

00:13:17.504 --> 00:13:18.114
as GB number

00:13:18.204 --> 00:13:21.204
one, and he actually gave me to, um, another

00:13:21.284 --> 00:13:26.024
coach and said, "I've kind of hit my journey now. I feel like you could be amazing, but

00:13:26.184 --> 00:13:29.884
I don't know if I can take you there," which is the best thing that has ever happened to me,

00:13:29.984 --> 00:13:32.944
um, because six years later, I was at my first Olympic Games at

00:13:33.044 --> 00:13:37.344
22. And my coach that, the group that I'd got transitioned into,

00:13:37.904 --> 00:13:40.054
had already had... It was

00:13:40.124 --> 00:13:41.984
2002, and they'd already gone been to

00:13:42.004 --> 00:13:47.294
Olympics in Sydney, and one of my teammates was fourth at the Olympics in Sydney in the 400.

00:13:47.884 --> 00:13:52.034
Um, I already had World Indoor 800 meter medalist. Like, I had a, an elite crew, and I was

00:13:52.084 --> 00:13:53.204
just this 16-year-old,

00:13:53.684 --> 00:13:58.044
like, little thing, like, "What's going on here? This is crazy." Um, but they taught me how to be

00:13:58.064 --> 00:14:01.544
an athlete, and from 16 to 19,

00:14:02.204 --> 00:14:04.264
I was really trying to learn how to be an athlete.

00:14:04.324 --> 00:14:05.854
I was, I was injured

00:14:06.044 --> 00:14:11.514
the whole time. I had n- like inconsistent seasons. I wasn't really competing. I was mashed. I went from training

00:14:11.884 --> 00:14:16.184
ba- barely twice a week to training six days a week. It was just a lot

00:14:16.244 --> 00:14:20.854
to, to, to do in such a sport, short time. Um, so we, we fought for a long time, and

00:14:20.884 --> 00:14:25.024
then out of the junior age group is when I, from t- I think 19, 20 onwards, was

00:14:25.064 --> 00:14:28.413
when I started going, okay, actually going to university, as in like to university,

00:14:28.824 --> 00:14:34.004
was when we really then made those, those real, I guess, those strong markers for what was

00:14:34.024 --> 00:14:34.944
gonna come in the next few

00:14:35.004 --> 00:14:39.044
years. Absolutely. Well, it sounds like

00:14:39.084 --> 00:14:44.044
you had some, a great team of people around you, especially at a early age, some experienced athletes around

00:14:44.084 --> 00:14:46.044
you, and some experienced coaches that were able to help

00:14:46.104 --> 00:14:47.084
you. So

00:14:47.704 --> 00:14:52.084
as you move forward with your career, you're now at the European Athletic Final, and you break Kathy

00:14:52.124 --> 00:14:59.413
Cook's record, right? Which a record that was at least 25 years old, with a time of 11.05 seconds,

00:14:59.744 --> 00:14:59.964
right, for

00:15:00.004 --> 00:15:05.224
the 100 meter. Yeah. Tell us about that experience and the feeling knowing that you've now become the fastest British

00:15:05.264 --> 00:15:07.104
woman ever. Yeah, just

00:15:07.644 --> 00:15:08.084
thrilled.

00:15:08.274 --> 00:15:13.064
Like, um, I remember those words being said to me right after that run by my

00:15:13.124 --> 00:15:16.064
coach, um, because he came up to me, and he shook

00:15:16.104 --> 00:15:19.224
my hand, and he said... I was sitting down after the race,

00:15:19.404 --> 00:15:21.964
and he said, "Well done, Miss Douglas." He was like, "You're the first

00:15:22.064 --> 00:15:24.934
British woman, um, you know, to run sub-11." 'Cause in the

00:15:25.224 --> 00:15:29.224
heat, I ran a windy sub-11, like a 10.95, but it was 2.5

00:15:29.264 --> 00:15:29.504
wind.

00:15:30.324 --> 00:15:33.084
Um, so it was just over the legal limit, and it was kind of

00:15:33.144 --> 00:15:36.064
like, it was just a whirlwind, because the lead

00:15:36.124 --> 00:15:38.064
up to that was pretty insane, which

00:15:38.104 --> 00:15:41.124
is w- what made sense about that event. So in

00:15:41.184 --> 00:15:43.124
training, my

00:15:43.164 --> 00:15:46.033
coach ke- was... I didn't know this until, actually, even the other day,

00:15:46.374 --> 00:15:48.024
'cause one of the coaches that I work with now said to me,

00:15:48.414 --> 00:15:49.984
"It was like your coach coming up to me at the time,

00:15:50.024 --> 00:15:51.084
and he used to come up to me and say,

00:15:51.753 --> 00:15:55.044
'Molly could break the world record. She could run a sub-11 because she did this in

00:15:55.084 --> 00:15:59.004
training.' And it was like we're working to something." And I was oblivious, to be honest, because I was

00:15:59.024 --> 00:16:02.994
just training. And we were c- we were getting closer and closer, and we did it in training,

00:16:03.024 --> 00:16:04.164
and he was like... I remember

00:16:04.264 --> 00:16:06.084
him saying to me, "You can run 10.9

00:16:06.124 --> 00:16:10.224
off of that." And I was like, "Really?" I'm like, "Well, that's a little bit, that's madness,"

00:16:10.324 --> 00:16:14.973
in my head. But knowing that I could do it wasn't, it wasn't a plan. I wasn't thinking

00:16:15.044 --> 00:16:15.104
I'm

00:16:15.144 --> 00:16:15.834
gonna go and do it,

00:16:16.304 --> 00:16:16.684
because

00:16:17.164 --> 00:16:20.003
w- I was trying to make, trying to, kind of, make the Olympic team.

00:16:20.464 --> 00:16:21.943
So our qualifier is first

00:16:22.003 --> 00:16:22.883
to pass the post,

00:16:23.383 --> 00:16:27.284
um, and you get the qualifying time. So I came first too, but I didn't have the qualifying

00:16:27.324 --> 00:16:28.124
time at the time.

00:16:28.564 --> 00:16:32.044
So I had to do like a race-off, which we never do. But they were like, "You

00:16:32.124 --> 00:16:33.954
basically got a race, and who wins and gets

00:16:34.064 --> 00:16:38.044
time goes, 'cause for the three spots." And that was the race. So

00:16:38.984 --> 00:16:40.384
the lead up towards that race,

00:16:40.984 --> 00:16:43.964
as much as I'm talking to you right now, like, I didn't talk for about, like,

00:16:44.244 --> 00:16:46.044
a week. It's true, right?

00:16:46.904 --> 00:16:49.084
Like, if you speak to my mum, she said,

00:16:49.134 --> 00:16:51.724
"I don't know what happened, but you just stopped talking,

00:16:52.004 --> 00:16:56.024
like for a week." Um, my body just went into preservation. It went into battle

00:16:56.104 --> 00:16:58.024
mode, where I was like, I wrote down

00:16:58.084 --> 00:17:02.104
everything. I wrote down what time, like, when I was gonna brush my teeth. I wrote

00:17:02.144 --> 00:17:04.003
down how I was gonna pack my bag, what I was gonna put in it, what

00:17:04.013 --> 00:17:07.983
I was gonna have for breakfast, what time I was gonna eat that breakfast, what time... And I wrote down

00:17:08.084 --> 00:17:13.104
everything, just so I didn't have to think about anything else but that performance. 'Cause I was like, "You have

00:17:13.144 --> 00:17:17.124
to do the best performance. of your life right now, otherwise you're not going to Olympic Games. That's it."

00:17:17.884 --> 00:17:20.104
And I went into that event just going,

00:17:20.503 --> 00:17:20.784
just,

00:17:21.384 --> 00:17:21.944
I almost

00:17:22.064 --> 00:17:25.143
forgot. Not forgot, purposely blanked everything out.

00:17:25.804 --> 00:17:29.034
And a coach asked me, um, about three years ago, and 'cause he was

00:17:29.084 --> 00:17:29.984
just like, "I wanted to ask

00:17:30.064 --> 00:17:30.984
you. How

00:17:31.024 --> 00:17:35.014
did you' d- what did you. think about?" And I was like, "You're probably gonna laugh." And it was

00:17:35.044 --> 00:17:39.074
just like, "No. Like, share that. What did you' think about? What did you. do?" And I said,

00:17:39.474 --> 00:17:44.074
"Do you know what? I just said to myself, stood on that start line, and I said, 'Run to

00:17:44.144 --> 00:17:46.164
that line as. fast as you can.'"

00:17:47.034 --> 00:17:47.124
That

00:17:47.164 --> 00:17:49.084
was it. Like, I literally just said

00:17:49.124 --> 00:17:54.604
it. But what was so prominent about that was because I was getting, um, I was having,

00:17:54.724 --> 00:18:00.756
uh, psychology sessions, sports psychology sessions-And a lot of this help that I was getting was only about my university

00:18:00.856 --> 00:18:03.036
stuff, because I graduated the day' after breaking the British

00:18:03.096 --> 00:18:06.976
record. So I was in my final year of studies, so I was like, you're going to

00:18:07.036 --> 00:18:09.336
university, 10,000-word dissertation.

00:18:09.816 --> 00:18:13.056
I- it was a lot going on. It was a lot. I couldn't even go to... We

00:18:13.056 --> 00:18:16.056
were meant to go to LA for more of the training, to go and train where you guys

00:18:16.136 --> 00:18:20.136
are, which is a lot warmer, and I had, I turned it down. I couldn't go for four weeks,

00:18:20.176 --> 00:18:20.996
'cause I just wouldn't be able to

00:18:21.036 --> 00:18:25.016
concentrate on both. But my, I remember my psychologist saying to me, "You know, I've never heard you

00:18:25.076 --> 00:18:28.876
say you wanna, you wanna win." And I was just like, "Well, I'm sure I must have said it, like,

00:18:29.016 --> 00:18:31.086
once." And she said to me, "No, you've never

00:18:31.256 --> 00:18:33.116
said that, like..." And I was like, "Oh."

00:18:33.446 --> 00:18:35.246
And she said, "Do you wanna win?" And I was like, "Well,

00:18:35.996 --> 00:18:36.356
yeah."

00:18:37.156 --> 00:18:38.156
But I knew inside

00:18:38.176 --> 00:18:42.716
of me that what my coaches say to me, I always run to my company. So it didn't matter who

00:18:42.736 --> 00:18:46.016
was in the race. If I had a 12-second girl, I was running 11.99.

00:18:46.016 --> 00:18:49.076
If I had 11.0 person in the race, I'd run 10.99 .

00:18:49.076 --> 00:18:54.166
Like, whatever I need to do minimum, I'm gonna do. But I was really afraid at that age of my

00:18:54.176 --> 00:18:59.196
potential. I was really afraid of my light, and it was really weird, because I didn't ever push

00:18:59.216 --> 00:19:00.996
myself to the best, 'cause I was actually afraid that

00:19:01.076 --> 00:19:02.036
I would, could do

00:19:02.096 --> 00:19:05.956
something pretty good. And the first time that I ever said, "Okay, just let it

00:19:06.016 --> 00:19:08.176
all out," I end up breaking the British record.

00:19:08.636 --> 00:19:08.736
And

00:19:08.816 --> 00:19:14.556
I left the race thinking, "That's why I didn't... That's all that time why I wasn't really trying," because

00:19:14.616 --> 00:19:16.036
I was just afraid of what was gonna come

00:19:16.056 --> 00:19:21.036
after that. And finishing the race and coming off of for the

00:19:21.096 --> 00:19:23.996
next round, Alan, he was like, "You just gotta do that again."

00:19:24.016 --> 00:19:28.086
And I, I, I felt to myself I can absolutely go forward and move forward with this and, and

00:19:28.196 --> 00:19:30.246
be fine. Um, and it was just

00:19:31.076 --> 00:19:36.176
an insane place to be. And I didn't have a, I didn't realize where I was, what was going

00:19:36.256 --> 00:19:38.336
on. There, it was a super whirlwind.

00:19:38.716 --> 00:19:39.996
Um, and within a few, this was the

00:19:40.036 --> 00:19:42.036
17th of, what? July.

00:19:42.396 --> 00:19:42.735
15th,

00:19:42.786 --> 00:19:45.856
16th of July. And we were at the Games on the, the, the Games started on the

00:19:46.016 --> 00:19:47.006
8th of August. So within

00:19:47.096 --> 00:19:49.456
three weeks, and I graduated from university,

00:19:49.876 --> 00:19:51.816
there was just a lot that w- that went on.

00:19:52.036 --> 00:19:58.116
Um, but it was something that I never planned for, but we were always working towards, which is kind

00:19:58.156 --> 00:19:59.176
of, a kind of a strange,

00:19:59.216 --> 00:19:59.916
that concept,

00:20:00.296 --> 00:20:05.146
to think about. Yeah, absolutely. And it sounds

00:20:05.176 --> 00:20:09.996
like... I'm just laughing because you said, "Okay, I don't even know what I was thinking or

00:20:10.016 --> 00:20:12.776
what I had to do when I, you know, when I finally broke it." And I was like, "You had

00:20:12.796 --> 00:20:14.016
to get home because you had to go graduate

00:20:14.036 --> 00:20:17.536
the next day." Yeah. It's, uh-

00:20:18.596 --> 00:20:19.376
Very true ... very impressive.

00:20:19.536 --> 00:20:25.376
So as a 16-year-old, y- you're doing your first travel outside of dirty South London.

00:20:26.176 --> 00:20:26.556
And

00:20:26.876 --> 00:20:30.976
now you are getting ready for the Olympics in August

00:20:31.036 --> 00:20:39.836
of '08. Tell us what that feeling was like walking into the stadium during the opening ceremonies. Oh. So, so

00:20:39.876 --> 00:20:40.976
we didn't actually go to opening

00:20:41.016 --> 00:20:46.006
ceremony, unfortunately, because we do track, and track's always the first event. And we're either not

00:20:46.056 --> 00:20:50.536
in the village, or you're focused on your event that's gonna happen in, like, the next day. And if anyone

00:20:50.576 --> 00:20:52.986
knows or doesn't know about opening ceremonies at the

00:20:53.016 --> 00:20:53.656
Olympic Games,

00:20:54.116 --> 00:20:54.636
they are

00:20:55.196 --> 00:20:59.996
long. They're the longest three, four hours of your life that you will ever have. They're great.

00:21:00.136 --> 00:21:06.126
It's fantastic. But they're not ideal preparation if you've got to perform very soon after. Like, don't go. Just leave

00:21:06.176 --> 00:21:10.976
it. You'll... Do your performance, go to closing, because it, it, it, it's a tough run. So

00:21:11.016 --> 00:21:15.596
we weren't in the village yet, I think, because track started a few days later. We came in afterwards to

00:21:15.616 --> 00:21:19.916
go and do our event, um, and never got that kind of opening ceremony sit-

00:21:20.076 --> 00:21:21.956
um, situation. I mean, lucky for

00:21:22.016 --> 00:21:26.016
me, I went to the Winter Games in February and got to go to the opening ceremony in the

00:21:26.056 --> 00:21:27.816
same stadium as I did the winter, summer.

00:21:28.036 --> 00:21:34.026
So I was like, "It's, like, my first opening ceremony in the same venue," which was, like, it... Shot- lightning

00:21:34.056 --> 00:21:38.996
doesn't st- strike twice. It did in my, in my world, which is what I'm so grateful for. But we

00:21:39.036 --> 00:21:42.236
didn't get to go. But I remember definitely walking into the stadium,

00:21:42.756 --> 00:21:46.976
and my coach actually really prepared me so well for that, because we had our athletes

00:21:47.056 --> 00:21:49.076
that honestly just lost their mind.

00:21:49.376 --> 00:21:53.156
Like, if you walk out into the stadium and out the, the, the nest, which actually I have.

00:21:53.596 --> 00:21:57.385
This is the, the bird's nest, by the way, on my neck that I got from the Winter Games,

00:21:57.456 --> 00:22:01.236
my necklace. It's got a little diamond in it, 'cause it's very special to me. The bird's nest itself,

00:22:01.296 --> 00:22:07.036
the stadium. But it's a beautiful stadium. It looks like a mirage. But there was, like, 80, 90,000 people in

00:22:07.076 --> 00:22:09.046
that stadium. It was packed full.

00:22:09.656 --> 00:22:13.996
Very noisy, very loud. And my coach had said to me, "We'll go there the, the

00:22:14.015 --> 00:22:17.056
day before to prep." To just kind of see the environment and feel it,

00:22:17.376 --> 00:22:21.056
which we did. So when I went out there for my event, the heat of the 100 meter

00:22:21.536 --> 00:22:23.206
women's, um, Olympic Games,

00:22:23.816 --> 00:22:26.316
it wasn't like the first time experiencing everything.

00:22:26.876 --> 00:22:28.096
And I remember I just looked

00:22:28.136 --> 00:22:31.956
down. I didn't actually look up. I put my bag down and box, and I put my

00:22:32.016 --> 00:22:33.136
stuff down, put my blocks down,

00:22:33.556 --> 00:22:34.056
and I didn't

00:22:34.116 --> 00:22:37.056
look up until I set myself up.

00:22:37.476 --> 00:22:38.096
Because as soon

00:22:38.116 --> 00:22:43.116
as you look up, it was like a wave across your whole body. Like, oh my

00:22:43.176 --> 00:22:49.946
gosh. Like, wow. 'Cause it was, it was n- there were so many people there. And people went out there

00:22:49.996 --> 00:22:55.466
and walked out the stadium and they honestly, they left themselves in the c- in the warm-up area. Because it

00:22:55.556 --> 00:22:58.116
is, it's ma- a really surreal

00:22:58.156 --> 00:23:02.856
feeling to have, to go out there and know that the camera's there in your face. You got 90,000 people

00:23:02.856 --> 00:23:06.206
in the stadium, but you got millions at home watching. You're wearing your, your country's

00:23:06.296 --> 00:23:10.316
vest. It, it's very exposing and very vulnerable position. But you also

00:23:10.356 --> 00:23:15.006
have to prepare yourself to run arguably the, one of the best runs you've ever run in your life, otherwise,

00:23:15.316 --> 00:23:17.336
you know, you're not gonna be able to perform how you want to perform.

00:23:17.796 --> 00:23:17.956
Um,

00:23:18.276 --> 00:23:20.236
and I was just enjoying every running it, to be honest.

00:23:20.286 --> 00:23:24.036
I think definitely looking back as an athlete, 'cause we always look about how we

00:23:24.096 --> 00:23:29.046
grow, I, I definitely would do things differently k- if I went back. But at

00:23:29.076 --> 00:23:34.126
the time, I understand the way that I approached, we, we approached, especially as a team,

00:23:34.536 --> 00:23:35.016
those Olympic

00:23:35.096 --> 00:23:41.064
Games. Um, because they were a bonus really for us. I, I really wasn't planning on trying to go there.At

00:23:41.124 --> 00:23:46.024
all. Like, right, it wasn't in my remit 'cause it seemed so far away. I'd just made...

00:23:46.064 --> 00:23:48.284
I was European under 23 silver medalist

00:23:48.344 --> 00:23:53.844
the year before, and I qualified for the world champs in the senior team at 21 there, and went to

00:23:53.884 --> 00:23:53.964
the,

00:23:54.104 --> 00:23:56.864
my first world champs. So because it was very fast,

00:23:57.164 --> 00:24:01.944
I wasn't trying to, you know, run, sprint before I could walk. I was really trying to progress as well

00:24:01.984 --> 00:24:05.874
as, like, just as we go along. It just so happened that it just shot up, and suddenly I'm at,

00:24:05.874 --> 00:24:07.994
at my games. And I was like, "Yeah, but I haven't finished. I've

00:24:08.024 --> 00:24:10.984
just finished uni, and I haven't really set myself a life yet. I don't know what I wanna

00:24:11.024 --> 00:24:12.064
do." And it's kind of like, "Well,

00:24:12.084 --> 00:24:12.494
you're here now.

00:24:13.264 --> 00:24:19.044
Go run." Um, so, um, the m- the approach towards it was, was very different towards, for example, Beijing

00:24:19.084 --> 00:24:19.134
and

00:24:19.144 --> 00:24:24.214
the Winter Games, knowing that I was trying to achieve something, or what I've, I've done, as opposed to, I'm

00:24:24.244 --> 00:24:28.564
just happy, guys, to be here, if I want fairness. Like, this is a bonus for me, and I never

00:24:28.584 --> 00:24:32.004
imagined myself being an Olympian, even a sports, person, let alone be

00:24:32.044 --> 00:24:38.604
at Olympic Games. But once you got there and you're getting ready to compete, one of the things you had

00:24:38.644 --> 00:24:41.144
mentioned earlier was being afraid of your potential,

00:24:41.884 --> 00:24:44.104
right? That was one of the things that was on your mind as. a young athlete

00:24:44.124 --> 00:24:48.614
competing. When you got to the Olympic stage and it started to settle in, and you're getting ready and preparing

00:24:48.644 --> 00:24:53.064
for, you know, your first performance and first competition, was that something that you were still thinking

00:24:53.124 --> 00:24:54.144
about, or had you moved past

00:24:54.204 --> 00:24:55.964
that? Yeah,

00:24:56.024 --> 00:25:01.894
I think, I think I'd moved past it in the sense that, yes, you could probably do great things,

00:25:02.004 --> 00:25:07.184
and yes, you had the potential to wow s- sometimes in some things. There'd be things that'd be like,

00:25:07.284 --> 00:25:09.934
"Whoa, how did you do that?" But in the same

00:25:10.044 --> 00:25:15.954
breath, I almost still had that, as people call, imposter syndrome. Like, I did have the, I am

00:25:16.004 --> 00:25:17.034
here at the games,

00:25:17.604 --> 00:25:24.024
because it's a very different thing to happenstance to be somewhere, as opposed to work your butt off for

00:25:24.164 --> 00:25:28.724
years and grind. 'Cause when you get there, you appreciate it more because you've had a purpose. It was very

00:25:28.784 --> 00:25:32.344
intentional. Uh, my Olympic experience at that age wasn't intentional

00:25:32.404 --> 00:25:34.964
at all. We didn't... We weren't even at the beginning of the

00:25:35.024 --> 00:25:38.244
year looking at our goals. Olympic Games was, was way down,

00:25:38.364 --> 00:25:43.134
in may- like, if we could, wow, priority. But it' wasn't a real- realistic... And, I'm,

00:25:43.764 --> 00:25:47.104
I definitely think one of my things, and definitely as, as a person, it definitely comes

00:25:47.124 --> 00:25:47.404
into

00:25:47.464 --> 00:25:51.164
p- being an athlete, is that, I' definitely underplay myself, underplay myself.

00:25:51.784 --> 00:25:51.984
So I

00:25:52.024 --> 00:25:54.024
know I can do... I'm really, competent. Like, yeah, I

00:25:54.044 --> 00:25:59.064
can do anything. But I also underplay that, actually, wow, I can ac- can I actually, do that?

00:25:59.844 --> 00:26:00.944
So going there,

00:26:01.004 --> 00:26:05.064
you said, I remember being, looking at, you know, the stars I've seen on TV, and I'd

00:26:05.084 --> 00:26:08.354
been running against them. And now actually, I think I was, like, ranked top 10 in the world and number

00:26:08.444 --> 00:26:11.124
one European. I wasn't even aw- I'm not going

00:26:11.164 --> 00:26:16.074
in there thinking, "I'm number one European, and I can do this now." I was like,

00:26:16.504 --> 00:26:19.984
"They're all, these people are just as good as me." And, and that was one of the

00:26:20.044 --> 00:26:27.063
things that we mentioned, definitely was, like, an, a flooring, definitely, approach. Because if you don't deserve to b-

00:26:27.063 --> 00:26:30.054
b- be there, your intention when you're there is very different than when you

00:26:30.164 --> 00:26:34.044
feel like... 'Cause even if you were delusional and you thought, "I, I should be

00:26:34.104 --> 00:26:36.064
here," you would still attack it differently than if you

00:26:36.524 --> 00:26:39.473
were, could, absolutely had capacity to do it and capability,

00:26:39.844 --> 00:26:43.044
but you didn't think you had. It's like whether you think you can or you think you can't,

00:26:43.084 --> 00:26:43.504
you're right.

00:26:44.044 --> 00:26:45.944
And I definitely was going in there

00:26:46.004 --> 00:26:48.144
with, I'm gonna enjoy this experience.

00:26:48.224 --> 00:26:51.504
But without going, I wanna go in there and make a final. I wanna go in there and my best.

00:26:51.564 --> 00:26:53.004
And also, I was, I was shocked,

00:26:53.044 --> 00:26:57.714
to be honest. Like, my body was very tired. The Olympic Games, like I said, was a bonus. So I'd

00:26:57.724 --> 00:27:00.984
just run my PB, but I was o- on this high for a while, so I had to

00:27:01.024 --> 00:27:05.664
come back down. And I knew I probably wasn't gonna give the performances that I could. But we worked round

00:27:05.724 --> 00:27:10.004
by round to say, "What's the best that we can do and execute?" And actually, in terms of my shape,

00:27:10.484 --> 00:27:12.374
and even in the trai- in, in the village training,

00:27:12.924 --> 00:27:14.994
I was working with other coaches and stuff as well. And one

00:27:15.004 --> 00:27:15.973
of the coaches was saying to me, I was

00:27:16.004 --> 00:27:19.084
running with one of the girls, and he was like, "Oh my gosh, the clo..."

00:27:19.124 --> 00:27:23.574
He was just like, "You, you do know that that's fa..." And I hadn't got a clue. I was like...

00:27:23.664 --> 00:27:26.224
He was like, "What you're doing," he's like, "you're not doing on the track

00:27:26.344 --> 00:27:28.984
right now." And I was like, "I know. I know." Because he

00:27:29.004 --> 00:27:32.204
was shocked. Like, "What you're doing in training is insane."

00:27:32.744 --> 00:27:36.184
And, and to them, he, he knows that's world-class. What I was doing in training

00:27:36.204 --> 00:27:39.024
was world-class. And I couldn't even really appreciate it, 'cause I didn't

00:27:39.084 --> 00:27:43.234
really know. It was like, "Oh, that's me?" 'Cause I remember saying to my coach, I remember,

00:27:43.634 --> 00:27:45.044
"You're the first person to run sub-11,

00:27:45.104 --> 00:27:50.114
regardless of wind." I was like, "What, me? I am?" And I said to him, "You're joking. Surely someone else

00:27:50.144 --> 00:27:53.764
has done that before." I actually said it to him. And he was like, laughed at me and said, "No,

00:27:53.944 --> 00:27:58.144
don't be silly. No one's done it before." And I couldn't believe that it happened

00:27:58.163 --> 00:28:02.484
to be me, rather than it being like, "Yes, of course it's me. I, I'm the bit. I can do

00:28:02.504 --> 00:28:07.514
what I want." It was very much like... And I think my humility is something, 'cause my mum said this

00:28:07.544 --> 00:28:10.113
my whole life. Like, she said, "If I was you, I'd be running the

00:28:10.164 --> 00:28:13.044
world." But she said, "I'm so humble" that I just kind of

00:28:13.084 --> 00:28:17.394
like, I do a bit, certain bits, and then I kind of step back. And that's something that I definitely,

00:28:17.424 --> 00:28:19.104
as an athlete, going into those

00:28:19.184 --> 00:28:22.204
games, um, it definitely shone through in my intention.

00:28:25.304 --> 00:28:27.004
Yeah, absolutely appreciate the insight,

00:28:27.644 --> 00:28:28.024
uh, for

00:28:28.064 --> 00:28:30.394
your experience. So you competed at the games,

00:28:31.004 --> 00:28:35.684
and now you're on your flight home, or you're going back to Great Britain. What was on your mind

00:28:35.724 --> 00:28:40.104
when you got back in the first week or so, and then in the weeks, uh, after that?

00:28:40.173 --> 00:28:41.004
What was your competitive

00:28:41.184 --> 00:28:43.184
appetite like after the '08

00:28:43.224 --> 00:28:45.304
Olympics? I think

00:28:46.304 --> 00:28:46.544
I

00:28:47.004 --> 00:28:48.044
was definitely like

00:28:49.384 --> 00:28:53.364
a kid in a sweet store. Like, competing as mu- many places as you can afterwards.

00:28:53.804 --> 00:28:56.984
Obviously extremely tired. There is something that is very real called the Olympic

00:28:57.064 --> 00:29:00.084
blues. Everyone gets it. Don't know if you've heard about. this. It's

00:29:00.144 --> 00:29:00.964
a- real thing.

00:29:01.504 --> 00:29:05.164
Like, you're on the highest echelon of sporting performance

00:29:05.844 --> 00:29:09.084
arguably ever. So everyone's trying to go there, depending on what sport, you are.

00:29:09.604 --> 00:29:15.124
And then you've got to go back to real life, and your real life is very different to that

00:29:15.164 --> 00:29:22.024
world. It, it's never comparable and, and it just isn't. So you come back and, of course, I've,

00:29:22.084 --> 00:29:26.454
I've finished as well my studies. So now I'm, not studying, like I've got to go back into uni and

00:29:26.504 --> 00:29:30.964
stuff. I'm not doing that. Oh, first time I'm actually probably gonna be, I'm gonna be a professional athlete because

00:29:31.024 --> 00:29:32.064
that's what I'm doing right now.

00:29:32.644 --> 00:29:40.024
Um, it's completely different in terms of thinking where do I' wanna go, and also knowing to myself, that

00:29:40.124 --> 00:29:45.340
I'd already kind of probably hit my peak for, the year and toYou're always just maintaining. You're really struggling to

00:29:45.380 --> 00:29:48.920
maintain. Your body's in a different place. You're very tired. And you're overwhelmed,

00:29:49.140 --> 00:29:52.180
is, is, is the greatest word for it I think that fits

00:29:52.200 --> 00:29:58.180
this best. You're... It's very much an overwhelming experience because it's hard to appreciate it in the moment

00:29:58.320 --> 00:30:04.560
and be taken by everything and everyone you're experiencing. Like, I love meeting all the different athletes from different sports,

00:30:05.520 --> 00:30:06.020
um, that

00:30:06.060 --> 00:30:11.160
were around. Whereas when you come back home, then you're saying like, "Oh, okay," you're back in your room, like,

00:30:11.220 --> 00:30:11.280
on

00:30:11.320 --> 00:30:14.060
your street in your house. And it was... it's very

00:30:14.100 --> 00:30:18.060
much like a... it's just like a crash landing back to Earth, to be honest. And we were... I mean,

00:30:18.120 --> 00:30:19.060
I went to Miami for three

00:30:19.140 --> 00:30:22.840
weeks, so that, that's how much of a break I needed.

00:30:23.000 --> 00:30:25.969
We just... We were gonna go 10 days in Atlanta, 10 days Miami, 10

00:30:26.000 --> 00:30:30.020
days Atlanta. And we got to the Atlanta piece, and then my, my athlete friends that went to

00:30:30.060 --> 00:30:33.040
the games with us were in Atlanta, and they said, "It's cold over here.

00:30:33.360 --> 00:30:36.240
I wouldn't even bother come." So we just stayed in Miami for three weeks

00:30:36.740 --> 00:30:38.000
and enjoyed the sun before we went

00:30:38.040 --> 00:30:41.040
back home. So we got, we got really to decompress, 'cause you need

00:30:41.100 --> 00:30:45.360
that before you go back. Because the thing about obviously triathlon and anything,

00:30:45.840 --> 00:30:50.900
most things, are seasonal. So although you're gonna switch off, you are going back into the grind very

00:30:51.000 --> 00:30:51.220
soon.

00:30:51.340 --> 00:30:53.200
You have four, six weeks off,

00:30:53.600 --> 00:30:58.080
and those first two weeks are just getting your body remembering that you're not gonna have to do training

00:30:58.100 --> 00:31:02.060
anymore. It's, uh, you have to get, "Okay, can I breathe now?" And then before you know it, you're like,

00:31:02.140 --> 00:31:04.020
"Oh, coach has messaged you. Training starts

00:31:04.040 --> 00:31:07.640
in, like, two..." You're like, "Oh, my gosh. D- I've no... I've just come off the games. I need to

00:31:07.680 --> 00:31:11.230
prepare." It's a whirlwind. It really is. And I had a lot of media attention

00:31:11.560 --> 00:31:18.190
then, so I was still doing lots of media stuff and, and interviews and things like that after the games.

00:31:18.220 --> 00:31:20.080
And that, that follow-up, just that, that rush of

00:31:20.100 --> 00:31:23.180
things. So didn't really have... I wasn't really in control

00:31:23.260 --> 00:31:25.020
of a lot of my time. I didn't

00:31:25.060 --> 00:31:28.040
have a lot of pausing where I would say, "Stop. Breathe."

00:31:28.360 --> 00:31:32.070
It was just one thing after another all the time. And I really enjoyed that being

00:31:32.120 --> 00:31:34.990
away, 'cause that was the first time that I didn't do anything. I did- I

00:31:35.040 --> 00:31:41.260
just did fun. I just had fun and was on the beach and eating crab and, uh, uh, like, literally

00:31:41.320 --> 00:31:42.310
just, just enjoying

00:31:42.310 --> 00:31:46.000
holiday. Because, you know, we sacrifice a lot of our time as well, holidays, when you're an

00:31:46.010 --> 00:31:50.000
athlete. You can't just go away in, like, April. You d- It's a long t- year before you

00:31:50.020 --> 00:31:50.960
get to have any kind of

00:31:51.020 --> 00:31:55.120
breather. So really took that on board moving forward after the games.

00:31:57.120 --> 00:31:57.320
And...

00:31:57.720 --> 00:31:57.780
Go

00:31:57.800 --> 00:31:59.140
ahead, Todd, if you have a question.

00:31:59.960 --> 00:32:00.020
Oh,

00:32:00.060 --> 00:32:04.780
I was gonna ask, so o- obviously it's really hard, like you just said, as a professional athlete, to go

00:32:04.820 --> 00:32:06.260
from a game, to have Olympic

00:32:06.340 --> 00:32:11.060
blues, and then you find yourself where you just need to get away from everybody. And as you said,

00:32:11.120 --> 00:32:13.040
when you got back home, and you have a lot of media

00:32:13.060 --> 00:32:18.750
attention, how did you find solitude in those next couple years? Especially in an Olympic cycle,

00:32:19.040 --> 00:32:20.960
um, like, 'cause the news probably was all over you

00:32:21.020 --> 00:32:25.940
all the time. Yeah. Did you have any strategies that you were able to kinda implement, where you were

00:32:26.000 --> 00:32:27.020
able to just

00:32:27.080 --> 00:32:30.080
find peace? I think

00:32:31.000 --> 00:32:31.960
the honest answer

00:32:32.080 --> 00:32:35.040
is yes, and it was probably more about who I

00:32:35.120 --> 00:32:36.220
am rather

00:32:36.300 --> 00:32:38.900
than the support that I had, if I'm brutally honest.

00:32:39.180 --> 00:32:43.920
Like, I don't feel, to be honest, that I was managed the best, and that's something that I'm really, really

00:32:43.940 --> 00:32:46.000
honest about. And I say it because I think it's important for

00:32:46.600 --> 00:32:49.780
e- especially young athletes now. Uh, or- not anyone. I don't even like to always ping on

00:32:50.000 --> 00:32:53.140
young athletes. And the athletes can be any age and perform their best at any

00:32:53.220 --> 00:32:58.900
age, and they still need the support that they need regardless of age. But the vulnerability in the different people

00:32:58.960 --> 00:33:01.100
changes within the time. You're gonna need someone,

00:33:01.180 --> 00:33:04.060
so you might need... Your agent need to be this kind of person at this point in your

00:33:04.100 --> 00:33:05.980
life, and they might move into this kind

00:33:06.000 --> 00:33:06.600
of area of your life.

00:33:07.240 --> 00:33:12.060
And I think just because I'm a very non-stressy person.

00:33:12.380 --> 00:33:18.120
I'm very laid back. I'm very easy. Like, I'm very laughin-it-up calm. Like, people be stressing and worrying about stuff

00:33:18.200 --> 00:33:18.210
A-

00:33:18.380 --> 00:33:21.020
and I'm just like, "Meh, it's fine. It will

00:33:21.060 --> 00:33:22.980
just happen." And I think it saved

00:33:23.040 --> 00:33:28.990
me, being just that chilled, relaxed person, and not really over-worrying about what's

00:33:29.000 --> 00:33:31.000
coming next, what's going on, what's doing all the

00:33:31.069 --> 00:33:36.069
time. Because had I not been that way, that... just being that way

00:33:36.400 --> 00:33:37.180
helped me,

00:33:38.140 --> 00:33:41.420
kind of like sort of recentralize and just

00:33:41.460 --> 00:33:44.860
be w- at whole. So not worrying about the outside thing. That,

00:33:45.000 --> 00:33:46.960
the, the... External pressure to me wasn't even a thing, 'cause

00:33:47.000 --> 00:33:50.940
I just didn't allow it. It was... I just didn't have a thing where I thought, "Okay, but they're gonna

00:33:51.000 --> 00:33:54.860
want that." I probably have it more about me now, where I think, "Gosh, people need this, this, this from

00:33:54.880 --> 00:33:57.160
me. I'm pulled." But when I, when I was young

00:33:57.360 --> 00:33:59.160
then, I, I was really

00:33:59.860 --> 00:34:01.059
naive in the sense

00:34:01.080 --> 00:34:02.060
that the eyes

00:34:02.080 --> 00:34:04.950
are on you, you know? I, I remember one of the coaches, I

00:34:05.000 --> 00:34:07.160
think even the n- I think even my Nike agent

00:34:07.200 --> 00:34:10.909
said to me, he was like, "Yeah, she's one of our highest paid whatever, whatever." He was just moaning about

00:34:10.940 --> 00:34:13.060
the, the money. And I was like, "Me?

00:34:13.440 --> 00:34:13.699
No."

00:34:14.159 --> 00:34:17.020
I didn't even... P- They're stressing about contract. I was like, "All right.

00:34:17.080 --> 00:34:19.060
Whatever." Like, do you know what I mean? I just was like,

00:34:19.380 --> 00:34:24.370
"Whatever." Where I just didn't take that stuff on board. I was... Because I'm just from humble beginnings.

00:34:24.370 --> 00:34:25.120
Like, really humble

00:34:25.179 --> 00:34:27.179
beginnings. I think it just...

00:34:27.880 --> 00:34:30.360
I was still getting used to the world that I was trying to be pulled into.

00:34:30.960 --> 00:34:33.100
I, I... 'cause it just wasn't me. I wasn't someone that was going, "Yes,

00:34:33.139 --> 00:34:35.139
this is what I wanted." I just wanted a really

00:34:35.199 --> 00:34:37.100
simple life. But suddenly,

00:34:37.139 --> 00:34:40.070
as I said, when you're the British record holder, and it was like you said, it was

00:34:40.179 --> 00:34:43.199
27 years, set five years before I actually

00:34:43.260 --> 00:34:48.270
was born. It, it just blew everyone's, like... People that you don't even know from back in the day and

00:34:48.300 --> 00:34:52.030
that performed, they were like, "I remember her doing it from back in the day." And

00:34:52.080 --> 00:34:54.020
it, it was one of the b- the longest standing records

00:34:54.060 --> 00:34:58.680
at the time. That was just the shock. And actually, Olympic gaming, it was just even more of a like,

00:34:58.690 --> 00:34:59.020
"Oh, my

00:34:59.040 --> 00:35:00.940
gosh. What's going on?" It then became

00:35:01.020 --> 00:35:03.040
a, like, suddenly you're on the papers, the one

00:35:03.120 --> 00:35:06.970
to watch. In, as they do, like, the top 10, you're on the one to watch thing. And I'm

00:35:07.020 --> 00:35:08.010
like, "Me, the one to watch?"

00:35:08.380 --> 00:35:08.920
But when I look

00:35:09.140 --> 00:35:10.980
at it now and look back

00:35:11.000 --> 00:35:15.040
at it, I'm like, "Oh, yeah, I was the one to watch." 'Cause I, even I would be watching

00:35:15.100 --> 00:35:15.240
me.

00:35:15.460 --> 00:35:19.940
Do you know what I mean? But I wasn't even aware that I was even in that sphere amongst that

00:35:20.000 --> 00:35:24.970
company. And I think it's just because the... That's why I think it was, like I mentioned, the humility sometimes

00:35:25.080 --> 00:35:30.080
has been my one flaw or something that's, it can hold you back a bit to not be able to

00:35:30.120 --> 00:35:33.040
get certain things. But it's also kept me really, really grounded.

00:35:34.540 --> 00:35:39.050
Now, a lot of athletes return home or return to training, and all they can think

00:35:39.080 --> 00:35:43.800
about is getting back to Olympics, or having another chance at competing at the highest level, or winning a gold

00:35:43.860 --> 00:35:46.140
medal. And you did have a chance

00:35:46.180 --> 00:35:49.020
to do that, except it was 14 years

00:35:49.060 --> 00:35:52.120
later And it was in a bobsled.

00:35:52.900 --> 00:35:53.060
Yeah.

00:35:53.580 --> 00:36:00.050
So how did that happen? Yeah, that journey. Whoo, what a toot. That is a... Yeah, so that's why

00:36:00.120 --> 00:36:04.160
we said the door's open. You can see why I had that mindset, just because for me, it really

00:36:04.220 --> 00:36:04.500
was.

00:36:05.020 --> 00:36:09.020
And if I don't keep the door... If you don't keep doors open, you just don't know where

00:36:09.060 --> 00:36:09.980
you're gonna end up. So

00:36:10.060 --> 00:36:14.680
I, um, it's happened to me, so I could, I'd be stupid to not have that kind of mindset. But,

00:36:14.760 --> 00:36:18.040
um, that journey was insane. And to be

00:36:18.080 --> 00:36:20.500
honest, it was,

00:36:21.100 --> 00:36:24.060
it was one of those things where I think other people saw things in me

00:36:24.140 --> 00:36:26.420
again that I almost didn't see in myself.

00:36:26.980 --> 00:36:27.220
Um,

00:36:28.000 --> 00:36:30.030
especially at the time when I was still competing in

00:36:30.060 --> 00:36:34.360
track. I was running really well, is what I think, and I was running pretty decently

00:36:35.220 --> 00:36:35.980
still, but I wasn't

00:36:36.020 --> 00:36:38.180
making teams, and I wasn't being selected

00:36:38.220 --> 00:36:41.170
for teams. And it got to the point where I was like, "I know I'm getting older,

00:36:41.260 --> 00:36:44.880
and I'm gonna have to do something even better to be on the team," because they're just gonna be like,

00:36:44.910 --> 00:36:49.200
"We don't care about you." Um, and I was very aware of that, and we had, I had conversations with

00:36:49.280 --> 00:36:52.800
senior pe- managers of the team, and they were like, "No, you wouldn't have to do that." But I knew

00:36:53.040 --> 00:36:58.540
realistically, 'cause I'm ex- I'm very much a realist about, okay, what does this look like for me? And I

00:36:58.540 --> 00:36:59.850
remember having a really, just really good

00:37:00.020 --> 00:37:03.980
year. The, like, I was in good shape. I was enjoying my track. I was running fast, and I

00:37:04.000 --> 00:37:06.099
was, I was, I was there and thereabouts.

00:37:06.640 --> 00:37:09.100
Um, consi- considering I was like, I was working at this

00:37:09.140 --> 00:37:13.010
point now. Um, I had a couple of niggles and stuff, but I didn't have the same setup that

00:37:13.040 --> 00:37:15.980
you would need all the time to perform at that level. So I was still doing...

00:37:16.060 --> 00:37:16.690
I knew I could still

00:37:17.060 --> 00:37:17.700
do something.

00:37:18.360 --> 00:37:23.090
And I remember actually one of the coaches, it was more just one of the coaches that I'd been with

00:37:24.260 --> 00:37:25.280
that used to be in

00:37:25.320 --> 00:37:28.200
athletics, and he had said to me, "Why don't you join the,

00:37:28.220 --> 00:37:31.330
the bobsleigh team?" And at first I was like, "Well, what's bobsleigh?"

00:37:31.670 --> 00:37:31.940
'Cause

00:37:32.700 --> 00:37:34.000
that's not a thing. We didn't even know. I, I

00:37:34.040 --> 00:37:34.860
didn't know we had a team.

00:37:35.520 --> 00:37:39.050
Um, and I thought, "Oh, what is this? Okay." And I'd kinda seen some of the guys

00:37:39.080 --> 00:37:42.090
that'd done it, and I thought, "You know what?" It got to the point where I'd had enough,

00:37:42.120 --> 00:37:44.100
and I thought, "You know what? You usually

00:37:44.140 --> 00:37:44.950
like to try new things,

00:37:45.280 --> 00:37:49.820
just go and try." And my testing was actually at Lee Valley. We did, we pushed the robe bob, which

00:37:49.880 --> 00:37:52.420
is the, a sled on wheels.

00:37:52.430 --> 00:37:56.180
We pushed that 60 meters. They time you. You run a 60-meter sprint,

00:37:56.580 --> 00:38:00.000
flying 60-meter sprint. They time you. Um, and then we

00:38:00.020 --> 00:38:00.720
do the jumps.

00:38:01.179 --> 00:38:03.010
And I remember running and then

00:38:03.080 --> 00:38:04.340
jump, run, sprinting,

00:38:04.740 --> 00:38:05.100
um, bob,

00:38:05.180 --> 00:38:09.240
bob, bobbing, and then running a sub seven second, like 6.90-something, flying

00:38:09.540 --> 00:38:09.730
60.

00:38:10.150 --> 00:38:11.000
And then

00:38:11.020 --> 00:38:15.960
them going, "Oh, this is pretty good." And I was like, "Is it?" Again, me, just novice. N- N- Um,

00:38:16.080 --> 00:38:19.469
it's weird how I, I coach now and know a lot about performance,

00:38:20.220 --> 00:38:22.980
but I was really just like, "Is that good?

00:38:23.040 --> 00:38:27.620
Don't know this world." I did the jumps, and he said to me, like, I broke the testing record for

00:38:27.660 --> 00:38:31.980
bobsleigh, in GB bobsleigh. And I went... He was like, "You're nearly on 1,000 points." And I

00:38:32.020 --> 00:38:33.040
was like, "Is that good?" And he went,

00:38:33.350 --> 00:38:33.469
"Uh,

00:38:33.640 --> 00:38:35.070
yeah." And then I was

00:38:35.100 --> 00:38:40.320
like, "Okay." And then within three months, yeah, I was basically a member of bobsleigh, because looking at my transferable

00:38:40.380 --> 00:38:41.240
skills, it was great.

00:38:41.320 --> 00:38:47.020
But that journey into going back to Beijing, as I've coined my, my

00:38:47.200 --> 00:38:49.060
journey, it was, um,

00:38:49.420 --> 00:38:54.180
it was b- that w- it was completely different intentional place. And I used everything that I did

00:38:54.280 --> 00:38:58.540
from the Summer Games, that I mentioned to you before, that I wasn't intentional about, that I'd... Performance.

00:38:58.940 --> 00:39:03.110
I completely, like, 180'd that and made sure that I put those things in place for this

00:39:03.160 --> 00:39:08.020
one. Because I knew it wasn't gonna be easy to do that, and to come back and have that kind

00:39:08.080 --> 00:39:09.220
of journey. Especially

00:39:09.230 --> 00:39:13.940
'cause I came t- I went to the Pyeongchang Olympic Games in 2018

00:39:14.000 --> 00:39:19.190
as a reserve, um, having hamstring reconstruction, like, surgery six months prior.

00:39:19.640 --> 00:39:22.940
Um, that was me trying to still race. So I raced the, that year. When

00:39:23.000 --> 00:39:24.720
I transitioned out, it was 2017.

00:39:25.660 --> 00:39:27.240
And I ran my first outdoor race,

00:39:27.680 --> 00:39:29.460
and I ran 11, like, a windy 11.3

00:39:29.560 --> 00:39:35.900
opener. And I was like, "I never open well, guys." Like, I'm the person that will run 12 seconds. Ask

00:39:35.940 --> 00:39:37.990
anyone. I will run 12 seconds in the 100

00:39:38.040 --> 00:39:39.960
meters, and I could break British record by the end

00:39:40.020 --> 00:39:43.010
of the year, I'm not gonna lie. So when I ran, like, 11.3,

00:39:43.580 --> 00:39:47.000
we were like, "Oh my gosh." I was like, "I'm gonna have a season here. This is insane."

00:39:47.040 --> 00:39:50.060
And training was going mad. Um, and then I, w- we,

00:39:50.180 --> 00:39:50.969
I pulled my hamstring.

00:39:51.290 --> 00:39:52.070
Um, r- pulled,

00:39:52.260 --> 00:39:56.050
tore it off the bone. Was in surgery within, like, five, six days.

00:39:56.360 --> 00:40:01.780
And that was my, obviously outdoor season done. That was in May 2017. Um, after having my fastest opener,

00:40:02.080 --> 00:40:02.980
like, like,

00:40:03.140 --> 00:40:05.060
ever. That was my fastest opener ever. That

00:40:05.100 --> 00:40:08.000
was even after... And at this point, you know, I'm like 31. So

00:40:08.719 --> 00:40:13.300
I was like, "You can still do this." Like, I'm still in incredible shape. I'm still super fast. N-

00:40:13.380 --> 00:40:16.030
I was gonna, I'm gonna probably have run a PB this year, for

00:40:16.120 --> 00:40:19.940
sure, 'cause I could feel it. My coach even said at the time, "You're gonna run a PB in the,

00:40:20.020 --> 00:40:20.980
one of the two, but definitely

00:40:21.020 --> 00:40:26.260
one of them." Um, and I was just flying, and it just didn't happen. But bobsleigh gave me the opportunity

00:40:26.800 --> 00:40:28.120
to, I guess,

00:40:28.760 --> 00:40:30.960
adapt, and just, like, reinvent myself

00:40:31.000 --> 00:40:31.600
as an athlete.

00:40:32.140 --> 00:40:34.060
Um, and that's what I definitely used

00:40:34.100 --> 00:40:38.600
it for in the last four, five years of me doing it. It was a chance to be part back

00:40:38.640 --> 00:40:39.080
on, back

00:40:39.100 --> 00:40:43.920
on a team, but also to develop my skills as an athlete, and then now obviously

00:40:44.000 --> 00:40:51.960
as a coach. So in track and field, you had mentioned your thought process being run to the

00:40:52.040 --> 00:40:52.940
line as fast as you

00:40:53.000 --> 00:40:55.220
can. What was your thought process for

00:40:55.240 --> 00:40:58.020
bobsled? Like, close your eyes and hold on for dear

00:40:58.060 --> 00:41:04.100
life. It's kinda the same, as you can tell. Um, but it is that. Um, 'cause you gotta

00:41:04.140 --> 00:41:07.040
know, I think in, in sort of, in high performance, you have

00:41:07.080 --> 00:41:07.460
to know

00:41:08.020 --> 00:41:09.980
when to do, like, what to do and

00:41:10.040 --> 00:41:11.000
when. So

00:41:11.440 --> 00:41:14.990
it's in n- it's for example, in the 100-meter sprint, I tell my athletes now, and

00:41:15.020 --> 00:41:19.330
I'm going, "Okay, you're doing this here, but you don't actually wanna do that till here. You do these things,

00:41:19.560 --> 00:41:23.860
but not all at the same time, and you have to know when to do them to maximize your efficiency.

00:41:23.940 --> 00:41:26.010
You have to. Like, you cannot be just pushing, pushing,

00:41:26.060 --> 00:41:29.860
pushing to the line. You are not gonna be able to get acceleration, and your max velocity is not gonna

00:41:29.880 --> 00:41:32.100
work." And they're just looking at me like, "Huh?" And I'm like,

00:41:32.440 --> 00:41:32.760
"Okay,

00:41:33.100 --> 00:41:35.040
we do this here, and we do that there." And it's the same

00:41:35.120 --> 00:41:38.140
thing in bobsleigh and in, in when I did the 100.

00:41:38.540 --> 00:41:38.680
So

00:41:39.120 --> 00:41:42.140
when I went to bobsleigh, there w- you have to learn how

00:41:42.240 --> 00:41:44.980
to, when to be technical, and then when

00:41:45.020 --> 00:41:48.000
to relax, because you have to do certain things at certain

00:41:48.060 --> 00:41:51.480
times. And I definitely went in with the mindset

00:41:52.340 --> 00:41:58.092
ofI, I didn't even know what it was about. I was very, very na- like, novice in the mindset

00:41:58.132 --> 00:42:01.032
of what it's about. But I was so on learning

00:42:01.492 --> 00:42:04.002
and perfecting my technique, and I used it. I just started going,

00:42:04.022 --> 00:42:06.032
"Wow, I wanna do this." Looked to the best people in the world, started looking

00:42:06.052 --> 00:42:11.011
at their techniques. I even changed, actually, my technique, which some of the coaches were a bit annoyed about

00:42:11.072 --> 00:42:13.422
because I just kept on going, you know, fighting,

00:42:13.492 --> 00:42:18.832
like, trying to learn the way that we'd been taught. But with British bobsleigh, we'd been, we'd been taught a

00:42:18.872 --> 00:42:24.292
certain way. Um, but I constantly said so. It didn't really suit me as a sprinter. To get me,

00:42:25.012 --> 00:42:28.092
Monty, the athlete, that you want to perform on this

00:42:28.212 --> 00:42:34.172
sled, you ha- I have to do it differently because I'm, I'm tall, for example, number one. I'm not

00:42:34.332 --> 00:42:35.052
small, stocky, and

00:42:35.092 --> 00:42:40.612
powerful. I've got real high frequency, but I'm a puller, upright runner. So how do we maximize that? So I

00:42:40.672 --> 00:42:44.032
changed it. So I, I actually think one of the... Was I on the first one? I can't remember

00:42:44.072 --> 00:42:47.452
if the guys, one of the guys might come up with this. But we, we went from doing a double-footed

00:42:47.532 --> 00:42:50.102
stance like this on the block, to a split stance like

00:42:50.172 --> 00:42:53.102
this. And the reason we're being is because I'm used to being

00:42:53.112 --> 00:42:53.632
in a split

00:42:54.012 --> 00:42:59.032
stance, and actually it set my body in angles better than I would on a double. So most

00:42:59.052 --> 00:43:02.912
of the time, the coaches would be like, "No, two feet better than one. You've gotta push off two,"

00:43:03.032 --> 00:43:06.192
which is 100% correct. Yeah, you need to push off two. But I can push off two

00:43:06.532 --> 00:43:07.012
of a split

00:43:07.052 --> 00:43:11.952
stance, because that way my hip's in a different position. When I go to drive my first step, it's in

00:43:12.012 --> 00:43:16.072
position. I can get into my running and push the sled out in front of me better. It just changed

00:43:16.112 --> 00:43:20.182
everything for me. And I started figuring out how I could bring me to bobsleigh

00:43:20.852 --> 00:43:23.192
and also to the, and how bobsleigh could make

00:43:23.372 --> 00:43:23.652
me,

00:43:24.012 --> 00:43:26.112
like, a better, better athlete, if that makes

00:43:26.172 --> 00:43:34.062
sense. Yeah, absolutely. Really cool to find, you know, your own way even within bobsleigh, and

00:43:34.792 --> 00:43:38.972
the transition from track into that and figuring out what works best for you. And I like the insight

00:43:39.012 --> 00:43:39.122
that

00:43:39.152 --> 00:43:43.272
you mentioned about, um, high performance and

00:43:43.332 --> 00:43:47.032
finding out, okay, when do we have to think about this? When does this have to happen?

00:43:47.152 --> 00:43:49.052
When do we have to relax and not think about anything?

00:43:49.692 --> 00:43:53.252
Uh, that's really great to hear, and I'm sure the athletes that you're working with now

00:43:53.292 --> 00:43:54.042
are trying to learn how

00:43:54.072 --> 00:44:01.162
to appreciate that and learn from your experiences. And the Olympics is a lot about performance, right? Rightly so. As

00:44:01.252 --> 00:44:07.092
consumers, we're sitting at home, and performance is what we're focused on, but there's relatively little talk about

00:44:07.132 --> 00:44:10.192
experience and the athlete experience during the downtime

00:44:10.252 --> 00:44:14.232
of the Olympics. So what is it like hanging out at Olympic Village?

00:44:14.912 --> 00:44:15.052
Uh,

00:44:15.401 --> 00:44:19.982
did you do any tourism when you were there? Did you go watch any other events? Is there anything

00:44:20.052 --> 00:44:23.032
else outside of your own performance about the experience that really stood out to

00:44:23.052 --> 00:44:25.072
you? Um,

00:44:25.992 --> 00:44:31.052
so what was the... Do you know what? It was more about the people. And because I'm such

00:44:31.112 --> 00:44:34.012
a people person, like, I like meeting other people from different places,

00:44:34.352 --> 00:44:35.232
different sports.

00:44:35.832 --> 00:44:38.972
Just getting insight into, like, okay, what, what are elite athletes like in

00:44:39.012 --> 00:44:43.152
basketball? Are they different to us? Are they same, like, are their mannerisms the same? Do they

00:44:43.232 --> 00:44:44.112
do the same things we,

00:44:44.252 --> 00:44:49.272
we do? And when, when you're in one sport and very one-track minded for a long time,

00:44:49.612 --> 00:44:50.032
you only know

00:44:50.092 --> 00:44:50.332
your

00:44:50.632 --> 00:44:52.992
world. Whereas when we go to, for example, the Summer

00:44:53.052 --> 00:44:54.032
Games, um,

00:44:54.672 --> 00:45:00.072
even meeting the athletes across the world from different events. I remember when the shot putter Koji, like, from Japan,

00:45:00.412 --> 00:45:05.192
and speaking with him about performance, just speaking about being at the games and stuff. It's completely different,

00:45:05.202 --> 00:45:09.172
different way to the way that we are in, in Britain, for example. UK track and field

00:45:09.492 --> 00:45:14.212
is a different beast as the US is, for example. So being at the Summer Games,

00:45:14.252 --> 00:45:21.282
definitely them. We didn't get to do hardly any sightseeing because it's so focused. You're, you're in and out basically,

00:45:21.352 --> 00:45:25.912
like, one week in. You perform and perform, and then we do the relay. So we have to go, we're

00:45:25.932 --> 00:45:29.752
on the last day, so you can't do anything because you've got to compete again. And then you're at the

00:45:29.792 --> 00:45:34.052
closing ceremony, and then you're on a plane the next day. Um, we did get to stay and go,

00:45:34.172 --> 00:45:35.132
go an extra day

00:45:35.172 --> 00:45:37.172
because they oversubscribed the flight

00:45:37.232 --> 00:45:42.112
or something. So they said, "Who wants to stay an extra day in Beijing?" We were like, "Uh, yes."

00:45:42.172 --> 00:45:44.132
We went to the Great Wall of China at the time,

00:45:44.592 --> 00:45:49.312
um, a group of us that just got left stragglers behind, which was amazing 'cause it was the only time,

00:45:49.332 --> 00:45:54.122
and the only memory I have actually, of going and doing something that wasn't competing at the games, where other

00:45:54.152 --> 00:45:57.092
people don't get that. Because if they are competing to the end, you just go back

00:45:57.132 --> 00:45:58.092
home. Um,

00:45:58.852 --> 00:45:59.972
whereas going to Beijing

00:46:00.052 --> 00:46:06.722
in the Winter Games, I definitely was like, even though it was completely different climate, the pandemic, we were very

00:46:06.732 --> 00:46:10.092
much in bubbles. You couldn't leave outside the city. You couldn't get outside the village.

00:46:10.132 --> 00:46:16.032
You, you couldn't do anything. There was times within the village itself, 'cause, uh, obviously Winter

00:46:16.042 --> 00:46:17.352
Olympic Village is huge.

00:46:17.392 --> 00:46:23.182
Like, there's different villages, but there's different events that happen. So going on the gondola, for example, up, miles

00:46:23.252 --> 00:46:29.012
up this mountain. Never been on a gondola before. Never seen mountains like that before. Go and experience downhill ski.

00:46:29.132 --> 00:46:29.952
That, go and experience,

00:46:30.032 --> 00:46:34.042
like, different, the, the different events that we could. I really, we went and did that,

00:46:34.072 --> 00:46:35.172
and I was like, "Let's go and do

00:46:35.552 --> 00:46:39.012
as much as we could." Because good thing about going to the Winter Games was that we were first

00:46:39.132 --> 00:46:40.992
in, last out. So we were there for three

00:46:41.092 --> 00:46:45.002
weeks. We were there from the day one, opening ceremony. Went to opening ceremony,

00:46:45.312 --> 00:46:46.932
and we didn't compete until the last

00:46:47.092 --> 00:46:49.942
day. So we were just hanging out for three weeks,

00:46:50.012 --> 00:46:50.692
clawing.

00:46:51.172 --> 00:46:54.082
We're like, "Please, hurry up." We just wanna, we just wanted to compete,

00:46:54.132 --> 00:46:57.012
'cause we were just like, "What do we do?" But we used our time

00:46:57.052 --> 00:46:59.172
wisely by setting up plans

00:46:59.552 --> 00:46:59.952
for,

00:47:00.212 --> 00:47:03.072
um, especially the time zone. 'Cause we were competing at 10 o'clock at night,

00:47:03.652 --> 00:47:05.982
so we were, started setting our time going, "What we're gonna do? Like, we're

00:47:06.012 --> 00:47:07.992
not gonna get up till 1:00 PM." 'Cause we didn't wanna do, like,

00:47:08.052 --> 00:47:10.012
a double, double shift, where you're up and then go back

00:47:10.032 --> 00:47:12.962
to sleep. So we were having really late nights, like 3:00,

00:47:13.072 --> 00:47:18.092
4:00 AM going to bed so you could get up late, like midday. So breakfast was lunchtime for us,

00:47:18.772 --> 00:47:21.942
and then we'd have the, it would get dark by 4:00 or 5:00 anyway. You'd

00:47:22.032 --> 00:47:26.232
have that moment in time. You'd have training. And literally in the, in the village when, when you look at

00:47:26.312 --> 00:47:30.222
stuff, there's not a huge amount of downtime because you do, you know, you have work on the sled in

00:47:30.272 --> 00:47:34.232
bobsleigh as well. You have sled work. You go and watch, I went to the track with my pilot a

00:47:34.272 --> 00:47:38.012
few times 'cause I'd never been. They had a test event there before in October.

00:47:38.412 --> 00:47:40.012
I hadn't been there 'cause I was at home, um,

00:47:40.772 --> 00:47:45.152
nursing injuries. So I hadn't seen the track, so I went down to the bobsleigh track when we had, before

00:47:45.192 --> 00:47:45.232
we

00:47:45.252 --> 00:47:50.012
have training. We have training days, back to back training days where we're there anyway on the track learning the

00:47:50.072 --> 00:47:51.052
track because it's new.

00:47:51.452 --> 00:47:52.162
So me learning

00:47:52.162 --> 00:47:55.222
when to, how to push on this profile because the profiles

00:47:55.232 --> 00:47:57.002
are all different. Feel of the ice,

00:47:57.312 --> 00:48:00.012
when to jump in, what, what's faster, when does the velocity pick

00:48:00.092 --> 00:48:03.992
up, what should we do. All that thing is very, you need to really focus on it.

00:48:04.082 --> 00:48:05.992
They're long days, like three, four, five hours at

00:48:06.032 --> 00:48:14.236
the track alone, and then you've got the whole everything outside of it. So really maximizing the time by-Prioritizing performance

00:48:14.376 --> 00:48:15.976
always. You, and you have to, because

00:48:16.016 --> 00:48:19.076
you always look back and go, "Did I do everything that I could to perform my

00:48:19.116 --> 00:48:22.956
best?" Tick yes. Rather than, did I have a jolly up and have a great time, but

00:48:23.016 --> 00:48:27.016
actually performed like a donkey. No one wants that experience. You always wanna go,

00:48:27.446 --> 00:48:30.036
"I did my best, performed my best, but actually enjoyed my experience,"

00:48:30.136 --> 00:48:32.196
and have that, those, those both,

00:48:32.216 --> 00:48:33.046
um, sides

00:48:33.056 --> 00:48:40.816
to your story. Absolutely. Thank you for sharing that. And, uh, when we f- first followed up after Leaders in

00:48:40.916 --> 00:48:42.166
Sport conference in London,

00:48:42.476 --> 00:48:43.046
where you spoke-

00:48:43.046 --> 00:48:45.866
Yeah ... on stage, you told us that you love training on Keiser,

00:48:46.036 --> 00:48:49.046
especially, uh, when you first started with bobsleigh.

00:48:50.096 --> 00:48:53.416
If you don't mind sharing what you enjoyed about it and how it helped your physical preparation,

00:48:53.476 --> 00:48:54.036
we'd love to hear.

00:48:55.256 --> 00:49:00.076
Yeah. So I might, might... I was first introduced properly, as in, like, an intentional part

00:49:00.116 --> 00:49:05.596
of the program, 'cause we used to use it for testing in British Bobsleigh. Um, one of our coaches was

00:49:05.636 --> 00:49:08.136
a huge fan of it, brought it into, to our system,

00:49:08.776 --> 00:49:12.026
and I miss it now. I really do, having access to it. Some of them always be like,

00:49:12.156 --> 00:49:15.076
"Nah, we need a Keiser." I'm always looking around, like, where, where

00:49:15.096 --> 00:49:21.176
is one? Because what I like, uh, what I like most, I think, and, and I appreciate it more now

00:49:21.296 --> 00:49:27.136
that it's obviously not there, that you think, gosh. So sometimes there's, there's ways and ways abouts that you wanna

00:49:27.176 --> 00:49:33.186
try and attack your performance. And to make it as specific as possible is always what you wanna do, because

00:49:33.236 --> 00:49:39.256
I think variety is great, and I'm a huge fan of variety, especially in my experience of, of, of, um,

00:49:39.256 --> 00:49:43.256
p- performance, athletics, and just my pl- capability. My body loves

00:49:43.556 --> 00:49:46.016
variety because it's done everything it could possibly do.

00:49:46.056 --> 00:49:49.576
Like, I've been I've, I've been in the game for 20 years. There's nothing new you can throw at me.

00:49:49.616 --> 00:49:52.116
My body's like, "Nah, we've done that," and it just adapts so

00:49:52.156 --> 00:49:55.016
quickly where it's just, it's qui- honestly pointless. So I have to

00:49:55.056 --> 00:49:56.076
keep switching

00:49:56.096 --> 00:49:58.196
it up and, like, surprising her with new stuff,

00:49:58.576 --> 00:49:59.016
hence the

00:49:59.036 --> 00:50:00.096
hurdles. Um,

00:50:00.396 --> 00:50:04.016
to be like, "So ha, we haven't done this yet," and then she's like, "Oh, hang on a second.

00:50:04.896 --> 00:50:05.016
This

00:50:05.036 --> 00:50:09.376
part of my body's different." So working with Keiser, what I h- what I found was that just kind of

00:50:09.416 --> 00:50:15.096
making it more specific, um, to, I guess it's the next level up. Like, always sort of levels to

00:50:15.136 --> 00:50:20.056
training. So you can, for example, do... We can do, like, uh, let... We used to use, use it, the

00:50:20.076 --> 00:50:22.056
leg press, specific example, the leg press

00:50:22.095 --> 00:50:24.156
machine, which is the, um, bilateral machine.

00:50:24.536 --> 00:50:29.246
So being able to isolate single leg limbs and, and test them against each other, and know

00:50:29.836 --> 00:50:31.016
is important, especially when

00:50:31.056 --> 00:50:32.236
you're pushing 170

00:50:32.276 --> 00:50:35.096
kilos, and you're pushing. Even if you have two legs, you're landing

00:50:35.116 --> 00:50:35.516
on one,

00:50:36.176 --> 00:50:37.196
um, immediately.

00:50:37.536 --> 00:50:38.836
So how you can generate

00:50:39.016 --> 00:50:43.016
force in comparable to literally what force is, so the, the,

00:50:43.036 --> 00:50:47.665
your strength over time, but how quickly you can generate that, and it's gotta be, still be high force, not

00:50:47.716 --> 00:50:49.225
just light. Because, for example,

00:50:49.616 --> 00:50:55.016
I'm implementing 100 meter sprint. So at seven, 67.6 kilos when I was at Olympic Games,

00:50:55.336 --> 00:50:59.096
pulling myself down a track is very different than pushing 170

00:50:59.136 --> 00:51:04.296
kilos down an ice track. There's so many variables there that you could just pick on straight away at. Environment,

00:51:04.376 --> 00:51:09.986
surface, um, body positioning, all of those things. But one of the things is the push and the pulling, and

00:51:10.056 --> 00:51:12.116
we used to learn it. We used to use it for, um, single

00:51:12.176 --> 00:51:15.056
leg, um, leg press test. It was, like, the fast,

00:51:15.056 --> 00:51:19.016
h- increase the, the speed, and as fast as you could push it and come back up. And you'd be

00:51:19.096 --> 00:51:23.076
able to really draw on things that you could put into your training, and understand

00:51:23.516 --> 00:51:26.076
why as well you looked or felt the way you did when

00:51:26.136 --> 00:51:30.816
you performed. 'Cause it's really important, obviously, to go, "Okay, we got these numbers," but what you do with them

00:51:30.876 --> 00:51:35.856
is also is, is important. Because they're saying, "Well, how do we train that?" Well, actually we get very specific

00:51:35.916 --> 00:51:36.016
and

00:51:36.056 --> 00:51:40.896
good at doing that, and we saw the numbers change. Like, you could actually pinpoint when you can do this,

00:51:41.016 --> 00:51:41.156
that's

00:51:41.176 --> 00:51:43.156
when you're in the house. Um, and we used to use

00:51:43.196 --> 00:51:46.296
it. So now I use it, especially, or my mindset

00:51:46.316 --> 00:51:48.396
is still on focus

00:51:48.476 --> 00:51:54.066
of being able to combine speed, for sure, with the training, because that's sometimes

00:51:54.076 --> 00:51:56.276
the hardest element. You can get strong,

00:51:56.636 --> 00:51:57.976
but a lot of what we do doesn't happen at

00:51:58.036 --> 00:52:00.956
that s- that, that time. It's not at that slow

00:52:01.056 --> 00:52:04.056
pace. But if you can do it slow, you can do it fast. But can you do it

00:52:04.116 --> 00:52:06.056
fast? 'Cause the faster you go, the harder it is to

00:52:06.096 --> 00:52:10.076
do it. Um, so we were able to use the kind, especially machines that we had.

00:52:10.116 --> 00:52:15.096
We had one base at the base at Bobsleigh to use it to really draw on individual, like, programs.

00:52:15.596 --> 00:52:17.076
Um, and then try and change our

00:52:17.096 --> 00:52:21.056
program using kind of those variables to see where do our strengths

00:52:21.136 --> 00:52:25.296
lie. And actually, does it, is it relatable across the, across the team?

00:52:25.636 --> 00:52:27.136
Because everyone's different. We, like you said,

00:52:27.456 --> 00:52:29.186
I'm a completely different runner than you'd get someone

00:52:29.216 --> 00:52:31.096
who's, like, a 5'5", really

00:52:31.156 --> 00:52:31.716
powerhouse,

00:52:32.016 --> 00:52:36.006
um, stocky girl. Uh, my counterpart doesn't look like me, so how does that relate to what

00:52:36.036 --> 00:52:40.856
we're doing on the sled? Does it look different? How can we change and use Keiser to implement those differences

00:52:40.896 --> 00:52:43.076
in our training, and make it specific for both of

00:52:43.136 --> 00:52:44.076
us, which we were

00:52:44.156 --> 00:52:47.976
able to do. Um, so now I really, really, I, I really value

00:52:48.036 --> 00:52:50.036
it. I really, I get it. I understand it,

00:52:50.156 --> 00:52:52.136
and, um, it definitely makes sense to me,

00:52:52.276 --> 00:52:52.936
which is also why I

00:52:53.356 --> 00:52:55.066
was really guided. I couldn't use it

00:52:55.096 --> 00:52:55.406
at this

00:52:56.156 --> 00:53:00.006
Leader conference 'cause I was like, "I really wanna go on the Keiser." And it was like everyone was

00:53:00.056 --> 00:53:01.256
around it. Obviously

00:53:01.276 --> 00:53:03.796
everyone was around, um, kind of in it, which was great.

00:53:04.056 --> 00:53:08.986
Um, but yeah, it's been a real crucial element to our training. Definitely in the past, and

00:53:09.016 --> 00:53:12.036
it w- and I had a strong introduction to it being in bobsleigh more

00:53:12.056 --> 00:53:15.076
than anything. I think, um, athletics here, I would

00:53:15.096 --> 00:53:19.316
probably be the pioneer for going, "Guys, you need to use this. This is how we can use it in

00:53:19.356 --> 00:53:23.616
athletics." 'Cause I mention it a lot, and people always go, "What?" And I'm like, "The machine there that we

00:53:23.736 --> 00:53:24.336
always use."

00:53:25.056 --> 00:53:28.116
And they're like, "Oh." I'm like, "Because it does all of this stuff. Look."

00:53:31.556 --> 00:53:34.176
Yeah. Well, that's great. Thank you for sharing that. It sounds like you have

00:53:34.276 --> 00:53:40.616
a passion, not just for the performance, but the metrics- Yeah ... that go into performance, and you speak about

00:53:40.636 --> 00:53:42.996
it with excitement, which is awesome- Yeah ... to

00:53:43.036 --> 00:53:46.096
hear, and, and a lot of passion. It sounds like you really love learning

00:53:46.636 --> 00:53:48.076
about training, and not just

00:53:48.136 --> 00:53:49.936
training itself, uh, so

00:53:50.016 --> 00:53:54.116
thank you for that. And I recall you said you're now training in North

00:53:54.236 --> 00:53:57.995
London at the Lee Valley Athletic Center. What's your current training like

00:53:58.056 --> 00:54:01.316
right now? So my current training

00:54:01.456 --> 00:54:01.836
is

00:54:02.136 --> 00:54:02.656
very

00:54:03.076 --> 00:54:06.096
free in the sense that try and do what I can when I can.

00:54:06.656 --> 00:54:07.376
But also,

00:54:07.576 --> 00:54:07.816
um,

00:54:08.156 --> 00:54:13.676
I'm really about, uh, 2023, I think for me, and it feels like it's going that way, is all about

00:54:13.856 --> 00:54:16.272
newLike the new stuff, because

00:54:16.792 --> 00:54:19.172
I'm al- I definitely think someone of reinvention,

00:54:19.472 --> 00:54:23.152
and I think with the climate that we've been in for the last three years, since 2020,

00:54:23.672 --> 00:54:28.012
you have to be able to adapt and reinvent yourself, because it's just not the same anymore.

00:54:28.292 --> 00:54:28.992
A lot, a lot

00:54:29.112 --> 00:54:29.792
isn't the same,

00:54:30.312 --> 00:54:36.612
and it has made impacts, and we have to be conscious of how can we constantly evolve, basically, a- as

00:54:36.732 --> 00:54:38.352
individuals, but also performers.

00:54:38.732 --> 00:54:41.152
And also I can transfer, like I mentioned to you beforehand,

00:54:41.652 --> 00:54:44.982
I can transfer those skills from my training into my coaching, which I'm definitely

00:54:45.012 --> 00:54:48.012
seeing. So my training for me right

00:54:48.072 --> 00:54:49.972
now is, i- is I'm, I

00:54:50.212 --> 00:54:55.092
know, like you said, I'm very aware of my body and what I'm capable of doing. Um, I've been training,

00:54:55.152 --> 00:55:00.712
like I said, for 20 years now. At that level, at arguably about at least 17 of those at high

00:55:00.812 --> 00:55:05.132
level. So my body's done a lot, and done most of it. It doesn't necessarily

00:55:05.252 --> 00:55:08.052
need the same stuff that it needed when I was 22, going to Olympic Games,

00:55:08.172 --> 00:55:10.412
at all, because it's done it 50,000

00:55:10.472 --> 00:55:16.252
times. Um, what it does like is, like you said, variation. It likes new stuff. It likes learning new skills

00:55:16.292 --> 00:55:16.392
and

00:55:16.452 --> 00:55:22.412
how to do it, because I also get exposed with how my body can move and what's still actually

00:55:22.872 --> 00:55:28.072
not great. So what things kick my body off. Like for example, doing the hurdles for the first time,

00:55:28.472 --> 00:55:28.752
um,

00:55:29.192 --> 00:55:32.012
with my, with my coach. I literally c- I had a tempo session

00:55:32.032 --> 00:55:37.412
the next day, couldn't warm up. Like I physically couldn't move. I was warming up, I was mashed.

00:55:37.732 --> 00:55:39.252
Like I was really broken.

00:55:39.732 --> 00:55:42.872
And it was... You wouldn't... If you saw me doing it, you'd think, "Oh, they're just doing the

00:55:43.032 --> 00:55:48.072
hurdles." But my body was screaming, "Oh my gosh, we're weak here. Oh my gosh, we're weak here." That's what

00:55:48.092 --> 00:55:54.332
it was telling me the next day. So I'm trying to look at ways where I can develop the,

00:55:54.372 --> 00:55:57.552
the bits of me that haven't had the most attention,

00:55:57.872 --> 00:55:59.212
things that... And the little things.

00:55:59.292 --> 00:56:06.942
But also, I like looking at, um, nuanced things that aren't just like I'm, I'm extremely power- like, powerful

00:56:07.052 --> 00:56:08.052
in terms of Olympic lifts, for

00:56:08.092 --> 00:56:09.852
example. I, I bench,

00:56:10.012 --> 00:56:14.912
and squat, and I mean, and clean the same, like 105 kilo, I can just throw up. Like, just like,

00:56:14.992 --> 00:56:20.032
what's that? 210 pounds, something like that. I can flick up any day, like that's a thing. But

00:56:20.092 --> 00:56:22.022
if we do a little condition exercise,

00:56:22.392 --> 00:56:23.072
um, is my body gonna

00:56:23.111 --> 00:56:26.252
freak out? And it's those things. It's finding out what's important,

00:56:26.952 --> 00:56:31.162
like why is it important for what we do, and then learning that. And so right

00:56:31.192 --> 00:56:33.052
now I'm on, you know, three days a week if I

00:56:33.072 --> 00:56:33.852
can even do that.

00:56:34.652 --> 00:56:36.042
Um, but also just

00:56:36.072 --> 00:56:38.952
doing s- lots of little things. It's a bit like when you

00:56:39.032 --> 00:56:42.012
have a, a diet and you're like, "Well, it's three meals a day." When I'm like, "Well, you

00:56:42.052 --> 00:56:46.901
can have six meals a day, and have little ones scattered throughout." I'm more on like the six meal a

00:56:46.912 --> 00:56:52.922
day plan of, of training, where I'm doing lots of bits of other things, because it's really

00:56:53.012 --> 00:56:56.972
helping keeping my body. Like, if I'm getting sore still, like I'm like,

00:56:57.022 --> 00:56:58.932
"Oh, my neck," I know I've done something

00:56:59.032 --> 00:57:01.372
good and new, because my, my body's got conditioned

00:57:01.412 --> 00:57:03.272
to it. Whereas I could go and literally

00:57:03.312 --> 00:57:06.872
lift a PB in my clean right now, my body would probably not even flinch.

00:57:07.012 --> 00:57:11.222
It would be like, "Oh, we've done this 1,000 times," so. But I'm really enjoying my training.

00:57:11.572 --> 00:57:17.112
I'm enjoying it because there's no pressure to actually train. Like sometimes I'll be getting lactic,

00:57:17.181 --> 00:57:18.002
I'm not gonna lie, and

00:57:18.092 --> 00:57:23.452
I thought, "You can stop now. You don't actually have to go through the lactic. There's no reason." "There's no

00:57:23.472 --> 00:57:28.412
reward for doing this extra rep. Like there's nothing. Just stop." And I'll just stop

00:57:28.472 --> 00:57:28.752
and go,

00:57:29.052 --> 00:57:33.002
"Great, I did five." Wanted to do 615s, I had lactic for three of them, and I

00:57:33.032 --> 00:57:35.032
went, "You've done five. That's a

00:57:35.072 --> 00:57:36.012
good session. You

00:57:36.072 --> 00:57:40.012
can leave." And not feel the guilt as well for going, "Oh, I didn't

00:57:40.152 --> 00:57:43.772
do that." It's like, no, you also don't need to do everything

00:57:44.092 --> 00:57:45.032
that you think you need to

00:57:45.072 --> 00:57:47.212
do. You have to balance, like what's working,

00:57:47.272 --> 00:57:49.192
what's going on. Um, so enjoying

00:57:49.252 --> 00:57:51.972
it, doing things new constantly. And actually having k-

00:57:52.012 --> 00:57:53.352
some compassion for m- myself

00:57:53.432 --> 00:57:59.602
to be like, "You are semi-retired." Like, "There's nothing in the plan right now to go... There's nothing to really

00:57:59.652 --> 00:58:04.712
aim for." But in the back of my mind I still have like goals that I want to achieve, which

00:58:04.772 --> 00:58:09.172
is hugely important for anyone. Even if you're just trying to stay fit on a daily basis,

00:58:09.472 --> 00:58:10.452
you have to have

00:58:10.532 --> 00:58:16.242
a goal. Yeah. I have a question about your coaching. So you've mentioned that a few times,

00:58:16.472 --> 00:58:19.332
and you were a- Yeah ... competitive athlete for 20 years. How have you enjoyed

00:58:19.632 --> 00:58:22.032
switching over to the coaching side and mentoring young

00:58:22.112 --> 00:58:24.812
athletes? Like, love it. Absolutely.

00:58:25.312 --> 00:58:27.332
love it. It is my calling in life

00:58:27.432 --> 00:58:30.922
for sure. Um, I love it. I go, I wish I could do it every day, all day,

00:58:31.041 --> 00:58:34.432
'cause it's, um... I've always been the, I guess, the coacher

00:58:34.812 --> 00:58:37.892
in the group. 'Cause it was my last coach that said to me, "Think of it..." No,

00:58:38.112 --> 00:58:39.212
to the, my last two coaches

00:58:39.252 --> 00:58:42.812
had said to me, "Do you think you'll be a coach one day?" And I was like, "Yeah," I hadn't

00:58:42.832 --> 00:58:46.052
really thought about purposely doing it. And he was like, "Yeah, I think you will

00:58:46.112 --> 00:58:50.132
be." I think because I was always the athlete in the group. If like, you know, if your plank

00:58:50.172 --> 00:58:51.182
is not quite planking,

00:58:51.712 --> 00:58:53.032
I'm like, "Get your bum up." Like, do you know

00:58:53.072 --> 00:58:57.062
what I mean? I'm like, "Squeeze your bum. Get up." Like, make ... Do it properly. 'Cause I'm all about,

00:58:57.592 --> 00:58:58.952
I'm a bit of a perfectionist in the sense that I

00:58:59.012 --> 00:59:03.202
like the, the, the how, not just the what. Like, yeah, great, we're planking,

00:59:03.252 --> 00:59:05.032
but why are we doing it, and why do we have to

00:59:05.092 --> 00:59:08.052
do it well? Because if you know how to do it well, then

00:59:08.092 --> 00:59:12.292
you can repeat it. I've been there before where I could just run fast, and had no idea

00:59:12.332 --> 00:59:12.892
how to do it.

00:59:13.312 --> 00:59:17.922
I could just do it, but I had no idea about my drive phase. I knew how to build my

00:59:17.972 --> 00:59:20.212
acceleration, my, my lower heel recovery,

00:59:20.412 --> 00:59:25.032
nothing. I literally didn't have a clue. I just knew to do it, but it made it very difficult to

00:59:25.072 --> 00:59:25.372
repeat

00:59:25.412 --> 00:59:27.132
performance. Which is why

00:59:27.512 --> 00:59:29.112
I now understand the importance of knowing

00:59:29.152 --> 00:59:29.972
the why, because

00:59:30.012 --> 00:59:32.041
I'm like then you can draw at any time. You know what

00:59:32.072 --> 00:59:34.012
you're going for. So I,

00:59:34.092 --> 00:59:35.302
I love coaching,

00:59:35.712 --> 00:59:41.062
and I love that I'm able to still train when I can, and find things and go, "They're definitely

00:59:41.092 --> 00:59:43.092
doing this." Um, but my coach, my athletes hate

00:59:43.132 --> 00:59:47.132
it b- because I'll do a demonstration and it makes them feel bad, 'cause they're just literally

00:59:47.172 --> 00:59:49.092
like, "You're annoying." So one of my athlete goes

00:59:49.112 --> 00:59:52.012
to me, I've done a jump, something, she goes, "So annoying when

00:59:52.052 --> 00:59:55.132
she does that." She's like, "You do know that you're really s- ridiculously

00:59:55.232 --> 00:59:59.792
strong." When I say to them, "Okay, try and this," they're like, "Yeah, but you're like literally,

01:00:00.052 --> 01:00:01.972
uh, it's, you're like a beast. We can't do that. We

01:00:02.012 --> 01:00:07.252
can't do that." I'm like, "Yeah, but the plan is to get you there, so let's go. Let's, let's go."

01:00:07.292 --> 01:00:10.582
But no, I love it. I love it. And I've actually got like a coaching forum that I started in

01:00:10.652 --> 01:00:16.592
2020. Um, I've got some national level coaches, Olympic level coaches on the forum, where we, we meet weekly and

01:00:16.632 --> 01:00:22.132
stuff like that, um, and discuss topics. So we're all growing still to- towards being, you know... I would love

01:00:22.212 --> 01:00:27.420
to be-When, like churning out Olympians one day, I'd love to be in elite performance, high performance.

01:00:27.780 --> 01:00:30.260
Um, but just, just changing lives, just giving people...

01:00:30.920 --> 01:00:35.290
I want someone like me, who never thought they could ever be there, that didn't, didn't

01:00:35.320 --> 01:00:40.190
realize they were good enough to be there. But with my guidance, I can help them realize their potential, and

01:00:40.220 --> 01:00:45.720
hopefully one day they then fulfill the potential that they have as well, and I would love to be and

01:00:45.740 --> 01:00:46.040
enjoy

01:00:46.060 --> 01:00:50.960
being a part of that journey. That's awesome. Thank

01:00:51.020 --> 01:00:57.120
you. And this is sort of in line with that exactly, your ability to now have the chance

01:00:57.160 --> 01:01:03.180
to go be around young athletes and coach young athletes. To kind of wrap things up, if you were to

01:01:03.220 --> 01:01:07.910
go back and tell young Monty a piece of advice as you reflect, you had mentioned earlier that you would

01:01:07.940 --> 01:01:11.090
do some things maybe a little bit differently. When you think about that

01:01:11.120 --> 01:01:15.100
question, "If I could go back and give myself one piece of advice," what would, what would you say

01:01:15.140 --> 01:01:18.020
to her? Number one,

01:01:18.500 --> 01:01:19.080
I mean, without me

01:01:19.120 --> 01:01:21.080
swearing, I would say,

01:01:21.700 --> 01:01:25.120
"You're the shit," first of all. I would, I would tell her

01:01:25.180 --> 01:01:27.140
to back herself 100%.

01:01:27.539 --> 01:01:27.720
Um,

01:01:28.039 --> 01:01:33.020
and I actually had that on my screensaver, um, going into the Olympic Games,

01:01:33.440 --> 01:01:35.250
uh, the, this, this February Olympic

01:01:35.320 --> 01:01:40.020
Games, because that's one thing that I struggled to do for life, was to back

01:01:40.060 --> 01:01:42.020
myself. And that meant

01:01:42.110 --> 01:01:45.020
to embrace the journey, nurture the

01:01:45.120 --> 01:01:45.660
journey, like,

01:01:46.020 --> 01:01:47.280
like master

01:01:47.320 --> 01:01:49.140
your craft, because you can

01:01:49.220 --> 01:01:49.980
do it, and

01:01:50.040 --> 01:01:50.640
go for it.

01:01:51.060 --> 01:01:52.490
Um, but I would 100%,

01:01:52.980 --> 01:01:54.220
first and foremost, say,

01:01:54.760 --> 01:01:54.940
"Back

01:01:55.000 --> 01:01:56.060
yourself," that

01:01:56.360 --> 01:01:59.180
failure is not, like you said, the end. You, you only fail when you stop.

01:01:59.500 --> 01:02:02.080
And I've, you know, it's been, like you said, 14 years in the game for me

01:02:02.120 --> 01:02:03.220
to get to a point

01:02:03.240 --> 01:02:04.960
where, oh, I've been able to achieve

01:02:05.000 --> 01:02:09.560
this thing. But had you then stopped, then you can't achieve it. You know, the quickest way to failure is

01:02:09.580 --> 01:02:10.020
to definitely

01:02:10.060 --> 01:02:15.200
not do it, rather than is to try and then, oh, suddenly you've failed. But you can go again

01:02:15.220 --> 01:02:19.810
a lot of the time, or you can go differently, and, like I did, just completely change sport and then

01:02:19.900 --> 01:02:23.310
go, "Right, how do we make this still, um, fulfilling

01:02:23.340 --> 01:02:32.000
for myself?" Um, and I would definitely say to ensure that... I would tell myself to set, 'cause I'm a

01:02:32.120 --> 01:02:33.980
real goal setter now, like a really, like

01:02:34.060 --> 01:02:37.179
planner, um, and I think then I wasn't extreme planner.

01:02:37.400 --> 01:02:41.780
I'd say, "What do you want your life to look like moving forward? What it is that you do wanna

01:02:41.790 --> 01:02:43.220
achieve? Um,

01:02:44.180 --> 01:02:49.320
and go for that 100%." Because I think I was so comfortable with

01:02:50.620 --> 01:02:51.220
just doing,

01:02:51.620 --> 01:02:52.300
just being,

01:02:52.640 --> 01:02:52.980
that I,

01:02:53.080 --> 01:02:55.010
I wasn't really... I was, someone called me an

01:02:55.060 --> 01:02:59.570
overachiever the other day. I felt slightly offended, but then I was like, "Oh, am I?" It was just really

01:02:59.620 --> 01:03:01.100
weird. It was actually the Leader Sport Conference.

01:03:01.630 --> 01:03:03.030
Um, think I was multitasking.

01:03:03.060 --> 01:03:06.030
They were just like, she came in and said, "Everyone was just, when you left the

01:03:06.080 --> 01:03:10.040
room, everyone said how much of an overachiever you are. It made them feel bad." And I was just

01:03:10.120 --> 01:03:14.850
like, that's a really strange thing, 'cause I would never say that about myself, ever. 'Cause to me, it, I'm

01:03:14.860 --> 01:03:16.050
always doing the bare minimum.

01:03:16.680 --> 01:03:18.980
So I have to have the compassion for my- with myself

01:03:19.020 --> 01:03:21.260
to say, "Look, you're doing a great job.

01:03:21.640 --> 01:03:27.120
If you just back yourself, enjoy your journey. But, you know, set big goals, because those, set those

01:03:27.180 --> 01:03:33.209
goals. Go for them. Absolutely go for them, because you can achieve them." The number one hitter is,

01:03:33.240 --> 01:03:37.240
like I said, if you think you can or you think you can't, you're right. And for a long time

01:03:37.380 --> 01:03:42.640
I wasn't sure whether I could. And even if I knew that I could, I didn't have the confidence to

01:03:42.680 --> 01:03:44.080
go and do it, not out of fear

01:03:44.100 --> 01:03:49.020
of failure, but out of fear of success, which is just as, just as hard as the failure

01:03:49.080 --> 01:03:51.000
part, of, of knowing that you could be

01:03:51.060 --> 01:03:52.140
great. Um,

01:03:52.480 --> 01:03:54.000
so those are the things that I would definitely

01:03:54.440 --> 01:03:55.020
say to

01:03:55.180 --> 01:03:57.180
a younger, a younger me, would

01:03:57.200 --> 01:03:57.640
be

01:03:58.000 --> 01:03:58.780
s- like set

01:03:59.240 --> 01:04:02.160
ridiculous, unimaginable

01:04:02.300 --> 01:04:06.050
goals. Back yourself, and absolutely enjoy every

01:04:06.180 --> 01:04:13.450
step of the way. Absolutely. That's incredible. And, and thank you, and you surely have an inspiring story. And I

01:04:13.480 --> 01:04:15.220
know I speak on behalf of Todd and Keiser

01:04:15.260 --> 01:04:20.040
when I say we're incredibly grateful for the opportunity to sit down with you today and, and hear your story,

01:04:20.600 --> 01:04:22.040
and we're appreciative of your time, and thank

01:04:22.060 --> 01:04:24.060
you very much. Oh, thank you so much,

01:04:24.140 --> 01:04:27.920
Gabe. I've loved it. Yeah. I've loved spending time with you. Yeah, this was fantastic. Thank you

01:04:28.000 --> 01:04:30.080
so much. You're welcome. You're very

01:04:30.140 --> 01:04:43.110
welcome. We appreciate you tuning in to this episode of the Keiser Human Performance

01:04:43.200 --> 01:04:46.040
Podcast. To stay up to date on all things Keiser,

01:04:46.540 --> 01:04:48.240
follow us @kaiserfitness

01:04:48.360 --> 01:04:50.410
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01:04:51.240 --> 01:04:54.120
For more content, you can visit our Keiser Fitness YouTube page

01:04:54.580 --> 01:04:57.940
and at our website, www.keiser.com.

01:04:58.550 --> 01:04:58.720
Thank

01:04:58.780 --> 01:05:00.040
you, and have a great day.