Would you consider yourself to be a happy person?
Yes, I do consider myself to be a happy person. It's something that I think about often, and it takes work and self-reflection to make sure that I'm truly happy. I'm always working to be happy by making sure I take the time to do the things that bring me joy and being around the right people. Transcript: "Would you consider yourself to be a happy person? Great question. I do. And it's something that I think about often, am I truly happy? Because I think a lot of people would answer that question just, yeah, of course I'm happy. But not having ever really thought about, well, am I truly happy? What makes me happy? And why do I think I'm happy? I think about that often and always have. And that's something you have to work at. It's a lot of self-reflection, but I think I'm generally a happy person. I'm an optimistic person, I think you can also-- whether or not you're a happy person sometimes is a choice and sometimes it's-- not always, but sometimes it's a choice and sometimes, in some ways, it's what you make of life. If you're not happy, can you change your circumstances and are you willing to work to change this circumstance? So I'm always working to be happy trying to make sure that my quality of life and balance is really good, making sure that I take the time to do the things that I like to do and that bring me joy and understanding what that is, and being around the type of people that I'm happy around and trying to eliminate people from my life who I don't necessarily want to be around maybe anymore, maybe at one point I did. So those things, but yeah, I'm generally happy. Thanks for asking."
Sort by:
Most Popular
27 Answers
Would you consider yourself to be a happy person?
Yes, I do consider myself to be a happy person. It's something that I think about often, and it takes work and self-reflection to make sure that I'm truly happy. I'm always working to be happy by making sure I take the time to do the things that bring me joy and being around the right people.
What is your greatest achievement on and off the track?
My greatest achievements on the track are my consistency and longevity, winning four Olympic gold medals and eight world championship gold medals. Off the track, it is overcoming a stroke and making a full recovery.
Who is the person you most admire alive or dead? Why?
I admire Jesse Owens because of his incredible accomplishments in the 1936 Olympics in Berlin, where he won four gold medals in the 100-meters, 200-meters long jump and 4 by 100-meter relay in front of Hitler, and for his amazing achievement of breaking four world records in one day as a college athlete.
How has your pursuit of greatness in sport influenced your approach to parenting?
As a parent, I have adopted the same approach as an athlete to pursue excellence. I seek knowledge to be a better parent, and constantly self-assess. I rely on advice from friends and others to help me improve and understand my own blind spots.
What was your favorite race and why?
My favorite race was whichever one I was running at the time, as I enjoyed different races depending on the competition. My coaching also helped me to make one event complement the other, so that I could perform to my best ability in both races.
How long did you talk about retiring before you actually did it?
I decided four years prior to my retirement that I was going to retire after the 2000 Olympics. I had also decided when I first started my professional and Olympic career 11 years prior to my retirement that I would go out on top. When I felt like I no longer could sustain the level of commitment and dedication to what I was doing, I retired while still ranked number one in the world in my events.