Jones, Johnson eye hurdle titles

USATF on Friday hosted a press conference with reigning USA indoor women's 60m hurdles champion Lolo Jones and three-time World Indoor men's 60m hurdles champion Allen Johnson. Jones owns the fastest time by an American woman this year with her time of 7.77, and Johnson is coming off a win at the Tyson Invitational February 15. Both will compete this weekend at the 2008 AT&T USA Indoor Track & Field Championships, the final stop of the 2008 Indoor Visa Championship Series.

Below are excerpts from Friday's press conference. For complete bios of Jones and Johnson, visit the Athlete Bios section of www.usatf.org

Lolo Jones

Q: Where does the name Lolo come from? [Jones' given name is Lori.]

A: My mom. She has the exact same name, Lori, so when people would call they'd have to figure out which Lo they are calling for. My family has always called me Lo or BabyLo before that. It got more complicated when I was a teen-ager and got more phone calls.

Q: How much confidence does it give you, having won the U.S. title here last year?

A: It gives you a great confidence boost. When you line up at every track meet, what do they do before you run? They go through your stats [announcing them]. Until you have 'champion' in front of your name, that's when you start turning some heads. Athletes will fight for a title even if it doesn't mean making a U.S. Olympic team, just to be able to say 'I am the champion.' They'll fight for that without prize money. Just bragging rights. It's good to have that title. The Visa Championship is great because it adds excitement ($25,000 goes to the top male and female performers of the Visa Championship Series.) But I want the title. Don't chase after money. The money will come.

Q: What do you to psyche up before a race? Do you talk to yourself?

A: I definitely talk to myself. You see my mouth moving before a meet, and people say 'who are you talking to?' I've been doing the same workouts since college. Coach Shaver has changed nothing drastically, yet I keep coming down on my time. That means I'm getting better technically and getting stronger mentally. I'm maturing as a hurdler.

Q: When you didn't make the Olympic Team in 2004, falling over a hurdle has you ran next to eventual Olympic gold medalist Joanna Hayes, were you running and thinking that you were running right next to Joanna, running with her?

A: First off, I shouldn't be focused on her. As a hurdler you never should focus on any other person in the race. That was just a juvenile mistake. When I look back and say 'oh my gosh I'm right next to Joanna,' that's probably why I hit the hurdle.

It was a bad summer because you get to watch everybody compete in your dream. The fall was hard because the motivation was gone. I was like, 'is this what I want to do with my life? I can go to a company and make a salary but I'm working two minimum-wage jobs to keep my dream '.

Q: What have you learned since 2004?

A: Just gaining confidence every year and getting rid of the doubts and the fears. It was watching people on TV, then running against those people, then beating those people... I've learned to focus on me and keep level headed. If you focus on small things you need to do, that's going to carry you. I don't have to worry about the money anymore. Even if there is a bad year, I have put enough away to focus on my dreams. That helps tremendously. I still have fire in me to do so many things. I've still done really nothing.

Q: Why did you choose such a busy competition schedule this indoor season?

A: From college on, I always ran indoor track. Professionally, I've always run indoor. Why would I change something in an Olympic year? I wouldn't change my coach during an Olympic year, I wouldn't change my spikes in an Olympic year. I'm not making any changes.

Q: What did making the final at the 2007 World Outdoor Championships do for you?

A: That helped me out with a lot of mental issues. That was my first major championship. I'd always heard the rumor that if you are a hurdler and make the U.S. team, you're guaranteed to get a medal, because we're so strong in the event. I had the third-fastest time in the world time going in, so I 'knew' I was going to get a medal. But I let the distractions get to me. All the other girls had PBs [personal bests] in the final. I should have had a PB. It was a good experience. I'm a learner.

Q: How do you deal with all that pressure at the starting line, of difficult competition and being in an event where so many things could go wrong?

A: I focus on what I need to do in that race to win. I say, 'this is what I need to do technically.' At outdoor nationals last year, I knew I had top end speed. I knew I was one of the faster sprinter-hurdlers. I knew if something went wrong, I knew I'd catch them off the last hurdle and would make the team. When I got on that line I was like, I am making this team, there is nothing stopping me.

Allen Johnson

Q: What motivates you?

A: Basically my motivation is I enjoy doing it. It's something I want to continue to do. I want to get another Olympic medal. I never really worry about pressure. The pressure I put on myself is so much more than the pressure outside people can put on me. I've always understood since I was in high school that I'm doing this by myself so it doesn't really matter what other people expect from me. I'm going to get it done. I've always been that way. It's worked out for me.

Q: Do certain personalities gravitate to hurdles?

A: I think there are different personalities in every event. I think hurdles tend to be a lot more analytical, because it's a technical event. If you're not analytical you probably won't be as good as somebody who is. You have to know exactly what you're doing. The variance of technique from one race to another can't be that great. No one step can vary by about 3 inches. If you do, you get in trouble and it goes bad.

Q: Do you find outdoors that if you make a mistake on the third hurdle it's going to kill you on the seventh hurdle?

A: A lot of times I have made mistakes and thought it was over, but the person in the lead then made a mistake and I went past them. I think in rounds you don't make as many mistakes because you're not pressed. The urgency isn't there in the early rounds.

A: Do you take any satisfaction from being the old man in a young man's event? (Johnson turns 37 next Friday.)

A: I don't know if I call it satisfaction. I'm just still here. I don' think about the age too much until I start talking to younger athletes. If I think back to things when I was a teenager, they don't know what I'm talking about, because they were too young to remember or they were barely born. Then I realize some of the younger athletes are closer to my daughter's age than to me. She's 15.

Q: As you mature as a hurdler, what is your strength now in races?

A: I would say technique is probably my strength now. I think technically I'm more aware than I was 10 years ago. With any event like this, as time goes on and you do it over and over and over again, you start to get better. You know what areas you need to stress. It becomes more and more familiar the more you do it.

Q: You haven't competed as much the last few years.

A: I've been injured the past two years. In 06 I was injured, with a hamstring. I think it was both of them at some point. Last year it was my calves, both of them. I was going to skip indoors last year anyway, but this year I came back and ran indoors because I've missed so many races over the last two years I feel like there are some things I need to work on during the indoor season... I honestly, honestly enjoy running, traveling, meeting people. If I could, I would run another 20 years. If I won every single race and got every gold medal, I'd still run.

Q: With it being so difficult and competitive to make the U.S. team, is your focus on the Olympic Trials or on the Olympics?

A: For me, it's mainly the Trials. The Trials is what allows you to get to the Olympic Games. I think you've got to focus 95 percent on the Trials. It's going to be so tough. The talent pool is so deep in this country. Every Olympic Trials, you have somebody you didn't expect to run well runs well .This will be my fifth Olympic Trials. I'll never forget my first Olympic Trials [in 1992], watching Carl Lewis not make it. Growing up, for me, Carl Lewis didn't lose. And he didn't make third at the Trials. Anything could happen - Dan [O'Brien] didn't make it in the [decathlon] pole vault. I'm like, this is what the Olympic Trials is about. They don't care you who are, you have got to make it that day... I don't like the Trials because of the stress, the anxiety. Sometimes when I'm on the line I want to throw up, go back to the hotel and try this tomorrow. It's the worst.

Q: How do you deal with all that pressure at the starting line, of difficult competition and being in an event where so many things could go wrong?

A: For me, I realize it's there [the pressure] and I realize all the things that can go wrong and can go right. I draw on my recent past experiences. Like a lot of times, at past Trials I'll go into the final and I'll say to myself, 'well, when was the last time you got 4^th? How many of these guys have beaten me? What is the chance that all of these guys are going to beat me at the same time?' I come up with plan A, B, C, D. If this goes wrong, here's what I'm going to do. If that goes wrong, here's what I'm going to do. I make sure I'm prepared to be a lot better than everybody in the race so even if I do mess up in the race, I can get in the top three. In 2004, I was prepared to run 12.9. I clipped a hurdle and fell way back in the pack, but drawing on past experience, I said don't panic, you can get third, you can get third. I got third. ... The difference between the person who wins and the person who doesn't win is who made the least amount of mistakes.

Q: Has there been any change in how your competitors see you or interact with you, as you've been in the event longer?

A; When I first started running, they were all older than me. Now I'm significantly older. A lot of times they tell me how they watched me in high school and looked up to me. I sign autographs for them at times. In 1994, none if my competitors had asked for my autograph. ... [Now] On the line, I'm just another runner. Before the race and once the race is over, I feel a certain amount of respect from them. On the line, I'm just like anybody else and I'm standing in the way of their goal.