Monday press conference quotes from Athens

Olympic Trials champions Aretha Hill (Opelika, Ala.), Tiombe Hurd (Marlboro, Md.) and Monique Hennagan (Stockbridge, Calif.) headlined seven members of Team USA who spoke with the media at the Main Press Center in Athens Monday afternoon.

Hill, who competed in the 1996 Olympics, also won the discus at the 2003 USA Championships as well as the 1999 and 2003 Pan American Games. Hurd is on her first Olympic team after breaking the American record in winning the triple jump at the Olympic Trials (14.45m/47-05.00). She is a three-time U.S. Indoor champion (2000, 2001, 2004) and won the 2001 U.S. Outdoor Championships.

Hennagan ran the second leg on the USA gold-medal 4x400 relay at the 2000 Olympics. She also won the 400 at the 2002 and 2003 U.S. Indoor Championships.

Other athletes who attended the press conference were Tiffany Lott-Hogan (heptathlon, Grove, Utah), Lauryn Williams (100, Miami, Fla.), Abdi Abdirahman (10,000, Tucson, Ariz.) and Derrick Peterson (800, Columbia, Mo.)

Lott-Hogan was runner-up in the 2004 Olympic Trials, and she won the 1999 World University Games. Williams won the 100 at the 2004 NCAA Championships, while competing for the University of Miami. She also won the 100 at the 2003 Pan American Games, while running on the victorious 4x100 relay team in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic.

Abdirahman was the 2004 Olympic Trials runner-up in the 10,000. He finished 10th in the 10,000 at the 2000 Olympics.

Peterson, the 2002 U.S. Indoor champion, was third in the 800 at the 2004 Olympic Trials in a personal best of 1:45.08.

For full athlete bios, visit http://www.usatf.org/events/2004/OlympicGames/rosteralpha.asp

Tiombe Hurd (Upper Marlboro, Md.), triple jump

On qualifying for the Olympic team: "Last year I begin training full-time for the first time in efforts to make the team this year, and it worked. I knew if I wanted to get to the top of my game, I needed to compete full-time, take care of my body, and I needed the extra hours in the day for training that I didn't have before when I was working."

On competing legally blind: "It's something I've dealt with since I was young. I just have to rely more on my rhythm in my running since I don't have the same depth perception as other people. It's just something I deal with."

Aretha Hill (Opelika, Ala.), discus

On taking part in the Olympic experience: "When you are young and competing in your first Games, you do everything you can get your hands on as a part of the Olympic movement, and then I think as you get older and start to trim some stuff away and stick to what you've stuck to all year and prepare more to get on the award stand."

On staying motivated after the Sydney Olympics: "Actually it was kind of easy to stay motivated, because after Sydney I made a choice, am I going to stick with it or am I going to quit? It took me a few weeks to figure out what I wanted to do and how I was going to do it. I decided to stick with it and since then it's been a four-year plan. I'm going to get to Athens someway, somehow. It's just been preparation. A lot of the experience, I think being over here more in Europe, competing in Europe, training in Europe and having that experience has prepared me more. Now that there is a familiarity there, hey let's go, let's rumble, let's get in the ring."

Monique Hennagan (Stockbridge, Ga.), 400m dash

On the Olympic Village: "With all the uproar around Athens not being ready, I was very surprised when I came here. They seem very equipped and I've had everything I need to be comfortable."

On the difference in the way she is running the 400 this year: "Well the major difference is through my coaching I have more speed. I've competed this year in the 200 and 100 meters, and because I have more speed I can run the 400 more efficiently. I don't have to take up so much energy to run fast because I am faster."

Tiffany Lott-Hogan (Pleasant Grove, Utah), heptathlon

On what she likes most about the heptathlon: "A lot of it is just the drive of the competition, yet we have a camaraderie between heptathletes. It's not the open events where you are playing mind games with each other. With us, you see each other, you hug each other and occasionally you are actually helping another country."

On focusing on just one event: "Right now I like all events, but in the future I might single out into the hurdles and possibly the javelin. Those are my two best events, so let's see how it plays out next year."

Abdi Abdirahman (Tucson, Ariz.), 10,000m

On his expectations of the race: This year, I'm hoping, if I run well and I run my own race, I can finish among the top five. There are two, three guys who can finish one, two, three and the rest of the field is open. But anything can happen in the Olympics."

Lauryn Williams (Rochester, Pa.), sprinter

On being at the Olympics: "It's gone really good, it's been very smooth. The biggest surprise would be making it here. I think for this year, I was really just focusing on the NCAA Championships (she competed for University of Miami). That had been my goal all year. All this is just an extra bonus, competing for a gold in the Olympics."

Derrick Peterson (Columbia, Mo.), 800m run

On track and field in the U.S.: "I think now with us being a particularly young team, I hope that will revive people's appeal of track and field in our country as well as abroad."