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Pictured at Millrose Games by Kirby Lee - Gail Devers - ageless California
sprint/hurdle wonder!!
Gail Devers teleconference excerpts
(ed note - former Sweetwater HS (National City) star, where she ran cross-country
(under 20 minutes at Mt. SAC on the old course) - was a sub 2:15 800 star
- ran right at 14 seconds 100 hurdles, on to UCLA and later Olympic glory,
Gail Devers is one of the most amazing stories in recent world history
in Track and Field. At 36 she has kept a sprinting career going far longer
than most, with her thoughts below quite interesting on running, herself,
and the sport).
Thirty-six-year-old Gail Devers on February 7 broke the American record
in
the 60-meter hurdles with her time of 7.78 seconds at the Verizon Millrose
Games, the second stop on USA Track & Field’s 2003 Indoor Golden
Spike Tour.
It was the first time she had run the 60m hurdles since 1994, when she
ran
7.85 in Fairfax, Va.
On March 1, the two-time Olympic 100m sprint gold medalist and three-time
world champion in the 100 hurdles will compete at the USA Indoor Track
&
Field Championships in Boston. The USA Indoor Championships are the final
stop on the 2003 Indoor Golden Spike Tour and will be broadcast live from
6:00-7:30 p.m. on Saturday, March 1 on ESPN2 – Devers’ race
will be part of
the broadcast.
For ticket information on the Indoor Championships, visit the USATF Web
site, www.usatf.org. For a full bio of Gail Devers, visit the “Athlete
Bios”
section of the Web site.
Devers spoke to the media on Thursday via USATF teleconference. Below
are
excerpts from the teleconference:
Q: Tell us about your coaching situation and where you are living:
A: I still live in Atlanta, but my second family lives out here in
California – I have goldchildren out here. I spend significant time
out here
in California.
As far as coaching, this is my second year coaching myself. My training
partner is Kaleb, my 7-pound Pomeranian.
Q: Did you think you’d be in track and field this long?
A: To be honest, track and field was not a career I would have picked.
I
thought I was going to be a teacher. Even if you had asked me in 1988,
I don
’t think I would have said I would make it to ’92. I think
what keeps me in
it is the pursuit of the elusive. There are things I haven’t accomplished
in
the hurdles – mistakes I need to correct. I’m still trying
to run a perfect
race. Because no one will let me retire, I have to keep stepping up my
game.
Q: Who or what is not letting you retire?
A: My fan mail – it’s people of all ages. They say ‘You
can’t retire yet!
You’re doing it for us 30-year-old women.’ Even more than
the fans, it’s
because I still enjoy what I’m doing and I’m still learning
my event. These
last two years, the challenging part is coaching myself. For me, that’s
a
new motivating factor. It motivates me to see how far I can go.
Q. How did you decide to coach yourself?
A: The reason came that at this stage, Bobby (Kersee, her former coach)
was
a little busy, and I’ve always been hands-on with my coach. And
now I’m
living in Atlanta. It was one of the toughest decisions I’ve ever
had to
make because he was the only coach I ever had. I knew that if needed to,
I
could pick up the phone and make the call. But when you move out of the
house, you say good bye to mom and dad and muddle though it if you need
to,
and that’s been my approach.
Coaching myself has forced me to become more of a student of my event.
For
the years I had a coach, I relied on my coach. Your coach will tell you,
‘I’
m your eyes.’ What I started doing last year is I come out to the
track and
set up a video camera. I don’t time myself when I’m doing
technical work. I
set up a camera, keep it running unless I can get someone else to come
out
to the track with me to film it. Then when I get home, I do intensive
studying of that film, of what I did in practice. I’ve never done
that
before. I’m trying to figure out my touch-down times. My godchildren,
godchildren’s mother, best friend, we’re all trying to time
things and
figure out what I’m doing wrong.
I’m still trying to utilize my speed. I’m not known as the
best technician.
Even in high school, I was told that my form was atrocious. I don’t
want to
sacrifice my speed for technique. I try to keep the speed and then try
to
negotiate the hurdles as I go along. My goal is always to start off with
a
fast time and then go from there.
Q: How did Kaleb start working out with you? [Kaleb is a now-two-year-old
Pomeranian that Devers bought from a pet store in January 2001, when he
was
a few weeks old. At the time, she also owned three rotweilers.]
A: He does starts with me, but I don’t let him on the track next
to me. He
can stand in my lane, behind me, or he can be on the grass. If you wait
too
long to shoot the gun or say ‘go,’ he’ll start barking.
When I’m doing
intervals, if I’m over three minutes (for her rest between races)
he starts
yipping. He won’t stop until you get on the starting line. I have
him on
film now, and it’s the funniest thing to watch him. I acquired him
in
Atlanta in January 2001. His name is Kaleb Braxton Devers. He goes
everywhere with me. He goes to the movies with me.
Q: What’s different now with your training and how you approach
it?
A: What’s different for me is that I listen to my body. If I get
out there
on the track (to do a workout) and my body is saying no, I go home. If
I’m
sore from something a couple days prior, I’ll do drills or something.
I do
strengthening to sustain me throughout the year. Last year I got injured
early in Europe. I tried to be the old Gail and push through it. The good
thing is that because of the strengthening, I was able to bounce back.
The
most pleasing thing about my season last year is that I was able to come
back.
Q: What was your injury?
A: My left hamstring and behind my left knee. It’s the same leg
that always
seems to do its own thing.
Q: What will it take to get you that elusive Olympic gold medal in the
hurdles?
A: Idon’t think my focus is the gold medal. I think it’s
more important to
put in fast times. It’s not to take anything away from the gold
medal,
because I’m very happy with the ones I have. In 2000, my first race
in
Sydney, I think I ran 12.63 in my first round. (Devers pulled up in her
semifinal with an injured hamstring.) Nobody ran any faster in the final,
yet I don’t have the gold medal. A gold medal is a gold medal, it
is being
ready on that particular time on that particular day. I left Sydney angry
because I was injured, but I was satisfied because I knew I had the fastest
time. I want to remember myself as the goal I set was to look at the Top
10
list and get my name on that.
This year, I decided I would love to start off this first race faster
than I
have run before. He (God) gave me all that, plus more. Now what we have
to
figure out is how to handle all this speed and negotiate the hurdles.
My
focus is how to keep that speed, keep that quickness, and not back off.
Q: Talk about running a good hurdles race – what will it take to
break the
world record?
A: It’s rhythm – 1-2-3, 1-2-3, 1-2-3 – but you have
to make something of it.
You have to figure out what makes your body accelerate; you have to move
your body down the track. I’m continuing to be adamant about figuring
it
out. I feel like I have so much left after a race, and that’s not
good. I
have to figure out how to use my speed, not back off. To break the world
record, it’s going to have to be a perfect race, and God on my side.
I don’t
go for the world record, I go for fast times and beating the other people
in
my race, taking names off that (Top 10) list.
My biggest thing is to end a race healthy and no worse than I entered.
For
the last two years, this is the best I’ve ever felt. I’m making
it through
practices. This is the first time in the offseason I’ve done absolutely
nothing. It was just Kaleb and me and Tvland. I’m usually in rehab.
My goal
is to get through nationals healthy and get a good time.
Q: Are you a sprinter or a hurdler?
A: I’m a sprinter that happens to go over hurdles.
Q: Tell us about your Foundation.
A: It’s the Gail Devers Foundation, and our goal is to give access
and
opportunity to those that don’t have it, in the areas of health
and
opportunity. We have different reading programs, a scholarship program.
We
keep in contact with our scholarship recipients. That’s been very
rewarding.
One of our first recipients is on the dean’s list every semester,
and now
his mother has been inspired to go back to school. Now we’re trying
to get
big funding so we can get big scholarships. Our biggest programs are the
Holiday of Cheer – we make our own holidays. We help families and
people in
need with food and clothing and gifts. The week before Christmas, we fed
4,500 people. It was in Atlanta, San Diego, Los Angeles and in Florida
and
Missouri. We’re getting ready to do a series of golf clinic for
children,
and we do walks for health.
It’s volunteer-based, and we started it four years ago. We have
five
employees.
Q: What’s the difference between the 60 hurdles and the 100 hurdles?
A: Indoors it’s not just about the start, but it’s a big
part. There are
only 5 hurdles, so if you don’t get out and establish yourself,
it’s a short
race. I use the indoor season to get the first half of my race down.
Outdoors, I’m ahead at 60 meters, and then I’ve got to figure
out how to
hold on. I depend on Gail now. Nobody is there yelling at me to “move”.
Q: How has age affected your career, and how do you compensate for it?
A: I look at myself as being 19, regardless of what my mother might say.
I
know I’m 36, but I don’t feel like that. I view it as a mindset.
I have so
much to learn. It think it’s how you live your life – I have
never had a
drink stronger than grape juice. I’ve never smoked anything. With
that, my
body is clean so I can keep doing whatever I want. I don’t think
I’ve
changed anything. It’s just that always for me, it’s been
injuries. Until
now. I’ve decided I’m going to throw them away and listen
to my body. If you
ignore the signs, they’re going to compile themselves and be magnified.
If
you have a twinge and feel something, you feel it for a reason. If you
addresses, you can go on as long as you want to.
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