Watauga High School graduate Brenda Taylor returned to Boone recently, visiting friends and her family. The Harvard grad and 2001 NCAA champion in the 400-meter hurdles, Taylor competed in the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens, Greece, finishing seventh in that event. Taylor, who runs for Nike, currently lives in suburban San Diego, where she trains. She was born in St. Louis, and lived in Clayton, Mo. before moving to Watauga County in 1989. She was inducted into the Watauga County Sports Hall of Fame this year in the Hall’s second year of existence. She sat down with Watauga Democrat sports editor Steve Behr earlier this week to talk about the Olympics, her future and thoughts on track and field in general. |
Watauga Democrat: So, how was it being in the Olympics?
Brenda Taylor: “It was amazing. It was amazing wearing the Olympic uniform. It was amazing competing in the ultimate athletic competition for someone in an Olympic sport. It was a little bittersweet because I went there and gave 100 percent of my effort. When I crossed the finish line, I knew that there was nothing else I could have done that day. I was satisfied with my effort, but I was pretty disappointed with my time (54.97) and that was tough, considering that had I been running my best, I would have been a medalist.
“When you’ve prepared to do well that day and you don’t do as well as you would like, it’s hard looking four years down the line and saying ‘I want another opportunity, but I have to wait that long.’”
WD: Talk about the race. It looked like you had a fast start:
BT: “I had a really, really fast start. I had the fastest reaction time in the race. The finals were tough because I was in lane 2. It’s a really narrow turn. I’m tall, so I had a lot of trouble running on the inside. I also had a slight back injury that makes it really difficult for me to run the turn.
I love lane 8, I love to be on the outside. It seems when you run at 110 percent, you get 80 percent out. When you run 90 percent you’re going to get 100 percent. The more relaxed your body is, the faster you run. So I love to be in lane 8 and run my own race. It’s important to be relaxed and run your race.”
WD: Were you surprised at who won?
BT: “It was a surprise. When you’ve got a meet that has the (runners with the) top two times in the world plus the world record holder plus the world champion and none of them medaled, I think it’s definitely shocking.” WD: Do you have to run as hard in the preliminaries just to qualify for the finals?
BT: “Sometimes you have to. Our semifinals were two days prior to the final. Actually, people ran faster in the semifinal than the final. Sometimes it’s like that. You just expect that everybody is giving the same effort to make it. When you have that many women running under 54 seconds, you expect that just to make the finals, I’m going to have to run as fast as I can.”
WD: Did you get to see either Athens or the rest of country?
BT: “Afterward. I finished on (August) 25th and left on (September) 1st. I got to see the Acropolis and I got to walk around Greece and Athens. It was a lot of fun. That was great. Then of course our training site was on Crete, so I got to hang out there for 10 days, which was cool. It would have been cool to have been 10 days after the Olympics instead of before. It was such a great vacation spot.”
WD: What was the reaction to Americans inside the stadium and outside in the town?
BT: “The big moment that everybody was talking about was the men’s 200. It took them 10 minutes to start the race and people were booing, but it was their sprinter who was caught for drugs. So I think it was less about the three Americans than it was who (the crowd) was protesting.
“It’s a tough international environment for Americans right now. You felt that inside the stadium and outside the stadium. I think in Athens, at the time, people were excited about success. After I finished my final, my parents and I were going downtown to get some food and for 45 minutes, we had to push through everybody because they all wanted to get autographs. Everybody was very excited about that. I think their appreciation of athletics transcends any anti-American sentiment, at least for the moment.”
WD: They don’t have the NFL in Greece. Do they appreciate track and field more because there are no NFL, NBA or professional leagues like we have in the United States?
BT: “Soccer is the most popular sport in Europe. The biggest thing there is international competitions. In Europe, the countries are smaller and so instead of rallying around the local teams, they rally around their national teams.
“I think people are just more aware and track is definitely a sport that is more fun to watch if you know more about the people who are competing. They see it a lot and the know who has won which races and because of that, it’s more interesting to watch a final.”
WD: Was there more pressure at the Olympic Trials or the Olympic Games?
BT: “I think they’re kind of equal. You train for the Olympics, but to get there, you have to make it through the trials. Our trial races were faster than the Olympic final (Taylor ran a personal best 53.36 at the Olympic Trials in Sacramento, Calif.). You have to be on that day. Just to make the teams, we ran the top three fastest times in the world. There’s definitely pressure there.”
WD: When you were running at Watauga High did you ever think you would end up in an Olympic Games?
BT: “It was kind of like, I knew I could run faster. At some point, when you know you’re capable of running fast enough, you’re capable of making a team. I think to be a successful athlete whenever you step on the line, you have to feel you can beat the other seven girls competing against you. So yes, I definitely thought I could make it.”
WD: Were you disappointed that you could not attend the Watauga Sports Hall of Fame ceremony?
BT: “I would have been disappointed about not going to the ceremony except that I was at the Olympics. We were laughing about it with Robert Norton. He was on the committee and I was saying I really hope that I can’t be there.
“It was really touching. Coach (Jack) Roten was inducted at the same time. He was a big role model for me. He was one of my coaches in high school and a phys-ed teacher and leader of the FCA at the time. That was really special.”
WD: Talk about your future in track and field. You were also considering attending medical school after graduating from Harvard.
BT: “I’m not going to make a career out of (track and field). For the moment, it is, and that’s great. But this is the first time in my life when my focus has not been intellectual and I miss that. I definitely have to go back to school before I can really start my career, so there is a time line on this. It’s more like a hobby instead of a passion.”
WD: What was your parents’ reaction to pursuing a track career instead of medical school?
BT: “I didn’t have to convince my parents of anything. (Med school) was originally what I wanted to do. But I made the world championship team my senior year in college and 18 hours later I was on a plane to Europe. I think I was in the United States for 10 days that whole summer.
“I went to Japan, I went to China. I went to all different places. It’s a different kind of opportunity. It’s not the kind of thing you can get anywhere else. I’ve been to Croatia now. I never would have chosen to go there, but now I love it.
“I can always go to school and I will go back when I’m done with this. But I have a broader perspective now. I’ve grown up in a different way and I wouldn’t trade anything for that.”
WD: What are your immediate plans?
BT: “My plans are for next year and that’s my major focus. I think I can break the world record and that’s my new goal. That’s what I’m looking at right now.”
WD: Your twin sister Lindsay also competes in the pole vault. Your thoughts on her chances to reach the Olympics.
BT: “She’s going to be amazing. She got third at USA indoors. She broke her arm outdoors, so she didn’t get to train that long. For somebody who is doing something as technical as the pole vault, taking two months off is hard. You’ll see a lot about her.”
WD: Would you like to like to compete with her in the 2008 Games in Beijing?
BT: “As long as we’re both competing, then there is no other goal.”