For those of you who couldn’t make it last week, OUAB held the event “Winning Gold,” a lecture featuring Kerri Walsh-Jennings, Ryan Lochte and Aly Raisman. All gold medalists in the 2012 Summer Olympics, these three athletes talked about experiences before, during and after the London games. Director of Rec Sports, Don Stenta, moderated the event where he facilitated a 60-minute Q&A followed by a 20-minute Q&A via Twitter of audience questions.
Questions varied among topics and included:
What would you consider your favorite thing about the atmosphere of the Olympic games?
Lochte: “I think my favorite thing, because I love food, in the Olympic Village, it’s all you can eat. All the time. And they have this McDonalds stand. I think I ate breakfast, lunch and dinner there every day. I thought that was the best thing about the Olympics.”
Walsh-Jennings: “It’s like the most popular spot and I guess, thank God for McDonalds because it produces gold medalists! On another note, you have people from all over the world. Aly is 5’2 and she’s the best in the world. I’m 6’2 and I want to be the best in the world. And there’re seven-footers. There’re people who are this tall and there are people who are this wide and they’re all the best in the world and it’s just such a cool thing just to know that it doesn’t matter how you’re built. You’re built to do great things, we come in all different shapes and sizes…everyone has a common love and passion.”
What was the experience like of winning your first gold medal?
Lochte: “2004 was my first Olympic medal and it was a relay and I just remember Michael Phelps was next to me and he was singing like a girl. And I just started bursting out laughing and I was like, ‘Crap, this is on TV. I’m laughing right now.’ He’s still singing like a girl and I was like, ‘You’ve gotta stop.’”
Raisman: “It doesn’t really sink in. I mean I still feel like it hasn’t really sunk in and it’s been a year. There’re just so many emotions running through your head. You think about all the hours, you think about all the hard work…it meant everything to me.”
Where do you think you’d be career-wise if you did not pursue a career as an athlete?
Walsh-Jennings: “I think I may be in the business world, but I’d still want to be kicking butt in whatever I’m doing… For me, when I found my path, it gave me my voice because I was a really shy kid…I was just fighting myself. So when I found my path, it helped me learn more about myself. I learned all of life’s most important lessons through sport. So for you guys, I feel like if something falls in your lap that you absolutely love and you know that you’re willing to be uncomfortable for it, you go for it and you put your whole heart into it and I feel like if you put your whole heart into something, it’s impossible to fail.”
Raisman: “I guess I would’ve been a soccer player if I didn’t do gymnastics.”
What was the training experience like in your particular sport?
Lochte: “I don’t know if there’s any other swimmers out there but…[cheers from audience]…aw, JEAH! Well, I train every day. It goes up to 30-35 hours a week…you won’t feel that satisfaction until you’ve accomplished your goals and my goals aren’t done yet.”
Raisman: “You almost consider it more like it’s a job. It’s your dream and you wouldn’t have it any other way but it’s exhausting, it’s mentally and physically demanding. I did, some days, up to seven and a half hours of training…it’s the hardest thing I’ll ever have to do in my entire life, but it’s one hundred percent worth it.”
Do you have any advice to the students on the importance of living a healthy, active lifestyle?
Walsh-Jennings: “Now is the time to get in those good habits… What you do now is really going to set up what you do the next 20 years of your life. You don’t need to be perfect. You don’t need to be a size two. You don’t need to be a size ten. Just be healthy.”
Lochte: “Just have fun with your life… Everyone’s different and everyone’s going to choose a path that is different. For me, I just chose the path of beating up my body. Sometimes I second guess.”
Raisman: “I’m a big believer in being self-confident and just being happy… As long as you’re happy, that’s all that matters.”
Could you speak to us for a bit about your experience on television?
Lochte: “There was no real direction. It was basically, ‘You do you’re thing and we’ll follow you,’ and I was like, ‘Good luck.’ One of the main reasons why I did this was because of the love and passion I have for swimming. I wanted to make it bigger than just the Olympics… I just wanted to bring swimming into people’s living rooms and there was some swimming in there. It wasn’t quite what I thought it would be. For anyone who may do a reality T.V. show, there’re cameras on you twenty-four-seven, just…be aware.”
Raisman: “I could barely walk in heels before the show because I was always in the gym, barefoot on the beam… It was sometimes training for 10 hours a day, sometimes we had to learn three dances in five days which is crazy, but it was a lot of fun. I would definitely do it again.”
There was a great deal that the Olympians discussed beyond the aforementioned questions. Walsh-Jennings even decided to nix the questions all-together at one point and chime in with some advice on college, saying:
“A: Go to class, I learned the hard way. B: I hope you guys embrace these four years and, really, if you have a choice of being uncomfortable by trying something new, going to a new party with new people or trying a new class versus staying safe…always choose to be uncomfortable. I think that’s what college is for. College is for experimenting in healthy ways… These four years are amazing and the people you’re surrounding yourself by, they can change your life and you can learn so much from them, good and bad.”
Lochte gave the students in attendance some general advice, stating, “What I’ve learned through my life is just to have fun. You never know when life is going to sell you one short, so just enjoy life and embrace every opportunity you have. If you do that and you put everything you have into it, you guys can accomplish it.” He later went on to discuss a more amusing topic: crazy fan stories. Saying, “Some girl just showed up…she went to my weight coach and said, ‘I’m meant to be here. I’m meant to be with Ryan’. The funny thing is, she said a hummingbird told her. I don’t know where she moved from, somewhere from overseas. All because of a hummingbird.”
To bring the event to a close, the special guests informed the audience of what plans they have for the future during which each of them stated training in hopes of attending the next Olympic games. For Raisman, she just began training the week of the event, claiming, “I just started training like literally three days ago. I haven’t had a day off since June 2012…I started training when I was two and I competed when I was eighteen…I really needed that break but I can’t wait to get back into it.” Following the lecture was an hour-long photo session, during which students in attendance could meet and get their photo taken with the Olympians.
Photo Source: http://thelantern.com/2013/09/…