Posted: January 17, 2006

Athletics: Williams, Campbell Teleconference Excerpts

World Champion sprinter Lauryn Williams on Monday spoke to the Track Writers of New York, in advance of the 99th Millrose Games February 3. Williams will face a field at Millrose that includes triple Olympic medalist and world championships silver medalist Veronica Campbell of Jamaica.

Below are excerpts from Williams' conversation with the track writers.

Q: What meets will you run indoors this year?

A: Five meets - Boston [Reebok Boston Indoor Games], Millrose, Arkansas, USA Championships and hopefully Russia [Moscow, World Indoor Championships].

Q: Why do you compete indoors?

A: I enjoy indoors. I didn't run indoors last year. I wanted to take some time toe recover from the Olympics. I finished school and wanted to take the fall off.

Q: Is indoors a separate season for you, or preparation for Outdoors?

A: I try to treat it as separate season. In the past I liked indoors the most. If it was up to me, I'd say I was a 60-meter runner, and I run the 100 for fun. Unfortunately, the 100 is the premiere event, so it doesn't work like that. ...Indoors, there's no wind, and the people are right on top of you. And 60 is shorter than the 100 meters, so I'm not as tired at the end.

Q: Are you confident in your starts?

A: It's very important. My confidence is 85 percent right now. It definitely makes you or breaks you in the 60. It's pretty much a done deal if you mess up the start.

Q: Are you surprised at your success?

A: Certain aspects of it, I'm surprised. In 2004, I was only training to win the NCAAs. I realized it was the Olympic year, but it hadn't been a lifelong goal to make the Olympics. It was the furthest thing from my mind, even though it kept coming up in interviews. Once I won NCAAs, I turned the focused on, this could be something good for me. This could be a career and a lifetime of running. ... Am I surprised that I'm running? No. But am I surprised that it turned into this? Yes.

Now that I'm professional, I look at track differently. In college, all I wanted to do was go to school. Now that I'm a professional, I view it as something I'm going to love and contribute to.

Q: Was it an easy decision to turn professional?

A: The decision was pretty easy. My coach [Amy Deem] said people were calling and asking all kinds of questions. It came to a day where she said, as your coach, I would love you to stay at the University Of Miami. But as your mentor. As soon as she gave me the OK, it was a done deal. I was waiting specifically for her to tell me that it was time to go.

Q: How did you overcome the rain and weather in Helsinki?

A: It was 'on your mark,' and then the rain came. You're so far gone by then, it's time to race. It was irrelevant. Hail could have been falling on me, and I probably wouldn't have noticed it.

Q: What about the race itself?

A: I usually don't remember much about my races. When I can tell you something about the race, I lost.

Q: Were you surprised to have won the world title?

A: I wasn't surprised. I knew that I had good fall training last year. There were just some unfortunate endings to races. I wasn't putting it all together. I knew there was a good chance I should win if everything came together.

Q: How do you see the Millrose 60 against Veronica Campbell?

A: I think it's going to be an exciting race. I know she's training hard - that's the sort of person she is. There are a lot of aspects of us that a lot of people compare, and I've got to admit they are similar. I can't say anything bad about Veronica Campbell. ... People always confuse me for her - brown skin, short, our build. The big legs. When we're overseas, I'll occasionally sit down and have dinner with her. It's a nice relationship. When I'm training, I'm training to beat Veronica. And it's been that way since 2004. For the most part in college, it was Muna Lee. Since 2004, I know there are other people who have beaten me. But when I'm training, and going to cheat on a sit-up, I say, what is Veronica doing right now?

Q: What do you have to work on?

A: The finish of my race is very important. For the most part, in the 100m, I'm leading at 60. Hopefully that will lead to success at 60 meters indoors.

Q: Do you prefer running rounds or straight finals?

A: The rounds, definitely. I've got to have time to work the kinks out. Sometimes you're sore on the second day, but when you only get one shot, any little thing can ruin the race for you.

Q: What are your goals this year?

A: My goal this year for the whole season is dominance. It's a great thing to be the world champion. Being the world champion is the same thing as being the Olympic champion. To win the world championship felt just a little bit better than winning the silver medal.

To be dominant this year would be more important. Being the world champion was a really good year but I think it would have been better for me to have finished the season and won more races.

Q: Is it still fun?

A: Yes, it's still fun. There are days in practice when it's not as fun. There are a few things to work on in making the sport better, and I'm here to be a spokesperson for the sport and to make the sport better.

Q: You do a lot with the Be A Champion program, and other work with kids.

A: I'm doing what I can. Of course you always want publicity for yourself, but publicity for the sport is important. When I wake up in the morning, it's not how can I get more famous, it's what can I do to make the sport better? Why not do what you can to make the world better and to make the sport better?

My motto is hard work knows no limit. And I always tell kids that no matter what your circumstances, don't use that as an excuse. Work hard. When I was growing up, my mom was working hard for me, and I was working hard in school. When I got a report card, I made a bet with a lot of her friends on what my grades would be. I'd get, like, $5 for an A ... and give money back for a D or F. I did this with about 10 of her friends, and I got straight As.

Q: What are you looking forward to about Millrose and Boston?

A: Just running fast and seeing where I'm at for Boston. I won't be disappointed if I don't do some spectacular time to open up.

Q: In addition to your work with Be A Champion, you also donated a uniform for charity auction through the IAAF, and you recently gave $10,000 to needy families in Miami. Please talk about your charity work.

A: People always say they want to give. It's easy to talk about it, but then the time passes and you don't do anything. I was in church, and we were talking about the spirit of giving. I had passed people at the grocery store who didn't have enough money to pay for everything. And I've seen people without shoes on their feet. I found out there were still misplaced people in Miami from Hurricane Wilma. I thought, there's got to be something I can do. So I teamed up with 105.1 FM, and we came up with a way to give $10,000 to 20 families. People emailed me - I read each one myself, and got about 100 emails. The stories were horrible. I picked 20 families.

I also volunteer at Arcola Elementary School and am learning how to sign. Six are hard of hearing and one is deaf. And I'm spokesperson for Fun4Kidz.org

Q: How do you feel about being the flag bearer for American sprinting right now?

A: I embrace it, but I don't quite feel like the flag bearer just yet. A lot of people recognize me, but a lot of people don't recognize me. At the USATF Annual Meeting, with track people there, I was standing next to Justin Gatlin. Ten people came up to us, and at least half of them didn't know who I was. That got under my skin a little bit.

Williams also joined a teleconference with Campbell. Below are excerpts from that call with Campbell.

Veronica Campbell

"I'm excited to come to the Millrose games. There's a lot of concentration of Jamaicans in New York, so I'm looking forward to competing in New York. I have a lot of friends in New York."

Q: What is your schedule like?

A: I have a meet at the end of this month in Scotland, then Millrose, then the Tyson Invitational.

Q: How do you view your race against Lauryn?

A: Lauryn is a great competitor and I always have fun competing with her. This is going to be a very fun race. It should be a really good competition.

Q: What are your goals in 2006?

A: Everybody always wants to win, and I am no exception. I have a lot of stuff to work on, and aspiration for the future. I plan to stay focused on the future.

Q: Are you still in school?

A: I will graduate in May [from the University of Arkansas], with a major in Marketing.

Q: What makes you a good sprinter indoors?

A: The 60 meters is a very short race. The start is everything. You've got to get a really good start from the beginning and you've got to execute the whole race. There is no hesitation, you've just got to go.

Q: Do you look forward to running against Lauryn?

A: I have a lot of respect for Lauryn and all of my competitors. In order to do well, you have to have somebody there. A true champion always needs somebody there to push them. It should be a really great race. I know a lot of people are looking forward to it.

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