Olympic Q&A: Jeremy Wariner

Olympic Trials and NCAA 400m champion Jeremy Wariner (20, Waco, Texas) is on the island of Crete for Team USA training camp as he prepares to compete at the Olympic Games. The owner of the world's fastest time this year (44.37) and the youngest member of the men's Olympic track & field team, Wariner is joined at Team Training Camp by fellow Baylor athlete and Olympic 4x400m pool member Darold Williamson, as well as his Baylor coaches. His mother, father, brother, sister, aunt, uncle, grandfather and high school coach all will be on hand in Athens. Wariner, along with his coach, Clyde Hart, spoke to the media on Friday. For a full bio of Wariner and all Team USA track & field athletes, visit http://www.usatf.org/events/2004/OlympicGames/roster_alpha.asp

Q: How has it been for you on your first Olympic Team?

WARINER: It's been a great experience being here with my teammates. They treat me just like anybody else.

Q: What has been the best experience so far?

WARINER: Seeing different cultures. The farthest I've ever been from the U.S. is Jamaica or Barbados, so this is new. I'm having fun so far - this is a great experience, especially at my age.

Q: Do you feel good about your chances at the Olympics?

WARINER: Nowadays, anything can happen. People have bad races at bad times. I've been fortunate so far. For me, it gets better each meet. You can't think about anybody else when you run, you have to think about yourself.

Q: You seem really low-key. Is that your personality?

WARINER: It depends who I'm around. With my teammates at Baylor, I'm different because I know them. I'm starting to open up a bit here.

Q: Did you think you'd be at the Olympics when you began the year?

WARINER: No, not at all. I didn't think about the Olympics until probably two meets into the outdoor season, when I started running really well. Indoors, I was just trying to PR. I didn't think I was going to have the chance to make the Olympic team until I started running 44 [seconds] consistently.

Q: When did your coach [Clyde Hart, who also coached Michael Johnson] start talking to you about the Olympics?

WARINER: Before I signed [with Baylor], he was telling me I'd be on the Olympic Team, he just didn't know which one. He knew I'd make it one day.

Q: Coach, what was it in Wariner that you saw when he was in high school?

CLYDE HART: Well, he was an outstanding high school runner. Jeremy led the nation in the 200 and was second in the 400 in the schoolboy final standings his senior year, so he was an exciting talent. As long as I didn't foul him up some way ... I knew he had good work ethics, and he knows everything about track and field. He loves it, is dedicated to it. I just feel like he's a young man who is good to coach. He loves running, he loves practice. I thought Michael [Johnson] was going to be only one I had to possess all those qualities, but Jeremy has all of it, too. If you have a natural ability to do that, you just go out there and get him ready.

Q: Did he progress more quickly than you expected?.

HART: Yes. Last year, at the NCAA prelims in the indoor 400, he hurt a hamstring. He pulled up in the final, so he missed the early part of our outdoor season. When we did finally run him outdoors, he ran 44. That was a good indication he was on his way. Then we got him going good and he injured his foot at the conference meet running the 200. He missed a lot of training. The foot was a sprain. It's just a natural progression. It seems like it always comes faster when somebody's been held back. He's coming on at the right moment. At yesterday's practice, I could tell he's getting better each day.

Q: Coach, he is another Michael Johnson?

HART: I wouldn't touch that. They are totally two different people. I had Michael for 15 years, I've had him for 2 years. At the moment, let's let him run against other people and not be in the shadow of Michael.

Q: Jeremy, where did your love of track come from?

WARINER: I didn't start really running until I was a sophomore in high school. Whenever I saw Michael running for the first time, I wanted to do it.

HART: Jeremy was recruited as a football player out of high school. My fear was that he might sign in football before he got into track. He was one of the top Dallas area football players as a defensive back and wide receiver.

WARINER: I actually verbally committed to play football for Baylor. When I did, the coach said I didn't have a scholarship. After that I said, 'well I'm just going to run track.' It was probably one of the best decisions that I made.

Q: Did you ever think of competing in any other events?

WARINER: The first events I ever did were long jump, 400 and 200. My coach said I ran a good time for how old I was, so I just kept running.

HART: Jeremy will be running more 200 meter races, but we're in no hurry there. Michael came in as a 200-meter runner, and the 400 was down the road. Jeremy was kind of the opposite. He was experienced in both of them, but for the Olympics we saw they would take four 400 runners [for the relay] and three 200 runners, so it wasn't hard to make that decision. But he is going to be a sub-20 second 200m runner someday.

WARINER: I like the 200 better, but I'm better at the 400.

Q: Do you like running track because you love running, or because you love winning?

WARINER: I love it all. I love running, I love races. It takes a lot of stress off me. I enjoy the running, I enjoy the winning. The workouts - not too much, but it helps me get better, so I can't complain.

Q: Have you thought about what it's going to be like in the Olympic atmosphere?

WARINER: It's not going to bother me. The only time a packed stadium bothered me was the first time I ran at state [championships in Texas, in front of 20,000 fans]. That 's the first time I had that many people watching me at a track meet. I just go out there and run and have a good time. My goal is to win. If I don't win, it's because I didn't run my race.

You've got to go out there with confidence. You have to go in knowing you can win and will win. That's the only way things happen. I always go in there with so much confidence. Coach always teaches me only to think about my race, running the curve and bringing it home.

Q: Were you expecting this kind of success this year?

A: I've exceeded my expectations. My goal this year was to get under 45 or the first time and have a good chance to make it to the final of the Olympic Trials.

Q: Talk about your teammate, Darold Williamson, being here.

HART: Darold Williamson is one of these guys who isn't getting a whole lot of respect. He's running 44.51, and he's beat Jeremy twice. He missed getting second in the Trials by three hundredths of a second. They're best friends, they're competitors, and they truly care about each other. I've never had that. In my experience, you usually go in with kid gloves [when two top-level athletes are at the same school].

Q: Jeremy, what does it mean for you to have Darold here?

WARINER: We're practicing now, so we're helping each other out in practice. I know I have someone of the same caliber with me. It's a great experience for both of us; it makes us a little bit easier for both of us, because we know somebody. We hang around each other the whole time.

Q: What would running the relay with Darold mean to you?

WARINER: It would mean a lot. We've been running together on the [Baylor] relay the whole year, third and fourth leg. I hope we can do that here in the finals.