Day 2 Team USA Evening Quotes from Osaka

Day 2 Team USA Athlete Evening Quotes - August 26, 2007

Men's 100m Final

Tyson Gay (Fayetteville, Ark.): I focused on reacting. My coach Lance Braumann, he told me that I would be world champion by morning. He told me to believe it. Jon Drummond (serves as a coaching consultant to Gay) told me I'm the fastest man in the world. At 70 meters I really started to relax and kept pumping my arms. The start was excellent. I know Asafa (Powell) has a great reaction. I tried to react with him. His steps are longer than mine. Once I came out of my drive phase, I went into a relaxed mode and kept pumping my arms. Once we got to 70 meters or so, that's when I knew I had a great chance of winning the race and I just tried to run to the finish line. I was nervous and had a lot of negative thoughts today wondering if people will respect me if I lose. I'm the fastest man in the world running 9.76 and 9.79, but it only matters with this race, so I was real nervous because I didn't know if anyone would still love me if I lost. My family is here and my mother told me 'don't worry about it.'

Women's 800m Semifinal

Hazel Clark (Knoxville, Tenn.): I felt really heavy and tired today. I have no idea why. I just felt like my legs weren't recovered from yesterday. My legs were just heavy. I'm very frustrated. You usually get a day off. We went back to back. I should have been able to pull through it, but I couldn't. I just saw Kenia Sinclair (of Jamaica), who's been No. 1 in the world the all year not make it back. People are really laboring and suffering. I think the heat plus the humidity and everything caught up with some people. Like I said, I should have been able to push that. Everybody is hot. Everybody is tired.

Women's 100m 2nd round

Carmelita Jeter (Long Beach, Calif.): There were a couple false starts in the race and one of them was myself, so I sat in the blocks not wanting to be the third person out. So, I sat there and had to run everybody down. I'd rather run down than not be in the race at all.

Torri Edwards (Corona, Calif.): It felt really good, I was running easy so I feel good about going into the finals. I just wanted to advance using as little energy as possible, save a lot for the final, and I think I did that. I'm probably in the best shape of my career.

Mechelle Lewis (Columbia, S.C.): I didn't get out well. I had a little stumble in the blocks. I wanted to keep my composure because I knew the top four goes on. I wanted to be a part of that top four. (On her start) I was having a few problems with my first step in practice. Unfortunately it continued with the race. But again, I wanted to keep my composure and get to the top four.

Lauryn Williams (Miami, Fla.): I felt real relaxed. I didn't work entirely too hard. I was looking at the video and it looked like I was a little bit intense. I tried to put a good race together. Coach told me to get the top four, and that's what I did. I'm looking forward to tomorrow.

Heptathlon

Diana Pickler (Pullman, Wash.): I wished it had been a better outcome. I learned from this meet that I need to stay focused on myself. I've decided to stay in Pullman and train there for the next year. I need to work on every event, but really focus on the shot put and javelin

Men's 400 hurdles

James Carter (Raleigh, N.C.): Technically, it was a bad race, but I moved on to the final, and that's all that matters. I live to fight another day. I tried to save a little, and when I kicked, it was too late. I'll be fine. I just have to run my race.

Kerron Clement (Gainesville, Fla.): Semi-finals are always the hardest, and I tried to do my best. I need to work on the last half of the race. I've always have had a problem with it. Once I iron out those last few things, I'll be fine.

Derrick Williams (Fayetteville, Ark.): I was doing fine until my legs locked up in the end. I gave it all I got. I hope it's good enough to move on.

Women's pole vault

Nikki McEwen (Medford, Ore.): Things were going very well, but I didn't make 4.45 (14-7 ¼), so you could say I finished rough. I think that this will be a building block for next year. The experience of being here was good; I wished I could've jumped better, but it just didn't happen.

Jillian Schwartz (Jonesboro, Ark.): It was a tough competition. I jumped my season best tonight, so I did what I could. I'm not happy with the outcome. If I had just made more first attempts, it would have saved me a lot of jumps. All in all, the conditions were good, and there's not a whole lot I could've done. I just wished I could've jumped a couple inches higher.

Jennifer Stuczynski (Churchville, N.Y.): Qualifying is easy when you make it on your first attempts. (On her left ankle) I originally hurt it in London, and I got some treatment on it when I got here. I thought it was getting better, but now it's moved into my Achilles. This is the first time I've tested it. I really have not done much, because it hurts. I just taped it tighter tonight.