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[Translation of Estonian interview by fanclub
member Kalvi Noormägi]
Merlene, you have won 8
Olympic and 14 world championship medals, so you are the most
successful athlete ever. But you still prepare for
a seventh Olympics and run as fast as the other girls who could be
your daughters.
How are you able to do
that?
* Sometimes it’s very hard, but I never
have had a motivation crisis. I am very devoted. Sometimes I am sad if
I have to stop the training because I’m weary. If I fulfil my training
schedule, I am very happy. The year 2002 was very painful, because I
had a knee injury and I even couldn’t walk. It was the first time in
25 years when I had to quit competing. |
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You are the ideal for young
athletes. How do you manage to be long time in sport?
* Maybe I am the inspiration, and I have
received many compliments. They say: “If you could, we try to
continue.” And sometimes I’m thinking it’s time to quit. The biggest
problem is recurrence. I have to follow very strictly that I don’t do
overtraining or I don’t treat my body badly. But the pain goes
together with the life.
Indeed, what is your magic
formula?
* I enjoy the training and the
competing; I feel pleasure when I’m running. I have been working
consistently. I have achieved 11.23 sec. this year (the interview was
the day before the Tallinn Meeting) – let’s see if I could run 11.10
sec. This result would bring me to the final in Athens.
Is your long career caused
by your talent or your work?
* Maybe I force my body much more than
other people dare to. They surrender earlier. Yes, I’m talented, but
to stay so long in the sport you have to exercise very much.
Sometimes I force myself that much and there is the risk of
overtraining, but I try to bring myself always to the maximum. Some
athletes quit because they don’t like to loose. You have to overcome
the depression. The wins and the defeats go together.
You should not concentrate only on winning – in sport like life in
general, what is more important is the progress. You should not take
too personally the slogan “the winner takes it all”.
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Two times you won the
world champion title, but nevertheless you haven’t gotten the gold
medal at the Olympics – are you disappointed?
* I had the same result in
Atlanta as Gail Devers (10.94 sec.). So I can’t say I lost the gold
medal. But the rules would not allow two gold medals to be given.
After the Games though, I understood that I would never win Olympic
Gold.
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How much strength do you
obtain from your memories?
* I remember I was very determined. When
I had my first contest, I had not trained at all. Thanks to the talent
I won and soon I was representing Jamaica already. I was very excited
when I heard on the radio in 1976 that Don Quarrie won the gold medal
for Jamaica. Then I thought, wow fantastic, I would like to bring
Jamaica the second gold. My mother gave me an athletics book as a
present: “Read and look, what the others are doing”. We didn’t have a
track and field arena. I would be running in the streets with
intervals of 2-3 minutes, sometimes a whole mile. But I did not have
any clue whether it was right to do so. When I came home from school I
gave the books to my mother and would start running. |
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Have you thought about
being a trainer?
* It would be complicated. I am
accustomed to train on the border of ability. I am scared that I would
affect my pupils to exercise like that, but that could be wrong. If I
could refrain from always requesting the same from others as I do for
myself, I might be a good coach. At the moment I am full of energy and
will – there is burning a fighting spirit in me. Otherwise I have a
fashion design degree and a recurrence therapy business (TMG). I
myself use the services of that institution. Keeping my muscles in a
good shape is the one important reason, why I have been on the top so
long.
Florence Griffith Joyner has the world record
of 10.49 sec. in the 100 metres. It’s a very fast time and many think
it could be not achieved without drug use. How many of
the top
athletes are free from that?
* I believe there are fewer drugs in sport as before. IAAF is checking
the 20 bests, but why not the 21st? I think they should make surprise
tests of every standard athlete. |
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In 1999 you were accused
that in your organism there is much bigger level for 19th
norandrosteron. You denied the using of drugs and later you were
acquitted. Was it a question of your honour?
* No, it was not the question of my honour, but my life. When I
heard about the positive test, I was like in a coma. I wanted to prove
that it was a mistake. I was ready to take the lie detector test to
justify my innocence. I do not need drugs to run fast. We need a
method, which makes sure, when the 19th norandrosteron is produced by
the body and when it is not.
What do you recommend to
the girl who is dreaming about a gold medal?
* If you dream about something in sports
– then that would be the first important thing. Sometimes some
talented kids are commanded, but they don’t have the will. Ambition to
be the best is very important. A sportsman also needs a smart trainer,
because a bad trainer is breaching the talent. And then there is need
of a masseur and a physiotherapist, because the strain and pressure is
very big. The most important is to work hard and patiently. You have
to believe that you could be the winner of the Olympics in an honest
way.
Source: Estonian Newspaper “Postimees”, 21 July 2004
(http://www.postimees.ee/210704/esileht/sport/139820.php) |
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