Straight Outta The Lair with Flex Lewis
7x Mr. Olympia 212 Champion Flex Lewis presents Straight Outta The Lair, the podcast that aims to bring you vital information for your life's ambitions, providing valuable insight from interviews of the many many different faces that walk through our doors at The Dragon's Lair Las Vegas and a few from the man himself.
Straight Outta The Lair with Flex Lewis
Worlds Fastest Man | Justin Gatlin | Straight Outta The Lair Podcast Ep 85
Experience the electrifying world of elite sprinting with none other than Justin Gatlin, as he shares the adrenaline-pumping details of his illustrious career and his visionary plans for the future. Stride along with us as Gatlin discusses the evolution of his technique and the role longevity plays in the sport. It's not just about speed; it's about the profound insights and wisdom gleaned from two decades at the sprinting summit. Together, we cover the inception of Gatlin's ambitious project – a gym centered on the science of speed – that promises to revolutionize training for the next generation of athletes.
Step behind the scenes with us and discover the intense preparations that define the zenith of athletic performance. From Gatlin's secret gym sessions to his psychological strategies, we uncover the layers of hard work and mental fortitude that fuel a champion sprinter. You'll hear about our personal rituals and the creation of alter egos that sharpen our competitive edge. Furthermore, Gatlin illuminates the complexities of mentorship, the impact of rivalries on personal growth, and the camaraderie that connects competitors even in the fiercest battles for victory.
Rounding off this high-octane conversation, Justin Gatlin reflects on the broader journey of an athlete. Persevering through the highs and lows of sprinting, we discuss not just the grit and glory but also the legacy one leaves behind. Delve into Gatlin's formative years, the financial realities of professional track and field, and the significant role of nutrition and training in sculpting a world-class athlete. This episode is a raw, unfiltered glimpse into the heart of a true champion – revealing the essence of what it takes to triumph on the track and in life.
iTunes:
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/straight-outta-the-lair-with-flex-lewis/id1645418405
Spotify:
https://open.spotify.com/show/45tN2KYO64jpyPrwyHNJMc?si=83afdeb81c4540cd
Google Podcasts:
https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkcy5idXp6c3Byb3V0LmNvbS8xOTg0MjQyLnJzcw
For memberships/merch click HERE:
Https://www.thedragonslairgym.com
----- Content -----
00:00:00 - Intro
00:10:11 - Athlete Mentality and Preparation
00:18:12 - Embracing Alter Egos and Handling Pressure
00:24:29 - Professional Sprinting and Passing on Wisdom
00:27:45 - Justin Gatlin's Journey and Financial Success
00:37:49 - Training, Nutrition, and Travel Experiences
00:47:59 - Legacy, Rugby, and Track
00:51:11 - Rivalry and Redemption
01:00:44 - Reflection on Growth and Legacy
I bleed, I hurt, I cry. But I understand that I got to keep going forward. I got to keep pushing Straight out the lead.
Speaker 2:Straight out the lead. Join today by one of the legends in sprinting, one of the goats in my eyes. Truly honored to have you here in a full circle moment. Justin Gatlin, welcome to the show.
Speaker 1:I appreciate it, man, my man, I've been waiting for this moment, I've been waiting to race you and also I'll settle for the interview today so we can get it in.
Speaker 2:Let's just say he's saying that right now because I'm coming off a celebrity game last night and my knee is blown, and this guy's talking about racing when any of anybody in this room knows any other given day. I'll be out there to the demise of my wife saying, oh my God, you're going to blow an E one day. But I did say if I was going to blow, an E is going to be to you. We could. I'll tie these laces up.
Speaker 1:In that case it would be an honor. You know our fireman carry you back to the starting line. Oh my God, look at this guy.
Speaker 2:That's just worth the footage alone. Man, it's so great to have you as somebody that for the audience who know I have a tremendous history in track and field grew up track and field, played rugby then in the wintertime, but sprinting you were one of the guys one of my poster guys that I looked up to you a big, you, a fast, you were intense and again it was something that I looked at you and thought, wow, I want to be a big sprinter. Obviously I went completely in a different direction.
Speaker 1:You sprinted and you big, so mission accomplished Well, I appreciate that.
Speaker 2:No, but all honesty, it was you as one of my honestly poster boys back then. So for me now, sitting here in my gym in Las Vegas may have gone a different path, but here we are talking to a gold med list right in front of me, so it's an honor to have you on the podcast.
Speaker 1:I appreciate that man, it's an honor of mine and thank you so much, brother.
Speaker 2:Absolutely. I got to show you the gym and we've got a couple of projects that you'll be working on in the future. I don't know if you can talk about them, but oh yeah, definitely Go ahead.
Speaker 1:Definitely, man. I definitely want to be able to create. I want to follow in your footsteps. Now. This is your turn. You know what I'm saying. Now you're leading the way. You're faster than me. I want to follow in your footsteps and create a gym that's going to be able to cater towards speed, speed and agility, where athletes can come for a couple of weeks and understand the angles, the precision, the power output, get their data. A lot of people can help you get fast, but they don't teach you what speed is really about, so you can take that knowledge with you. So I want that gym to be the house of that, the home of real speed.
Speaker 2:What you're trying to do is what I done with the Dragonslayer in Boca Retorn what I was having athletes come in for camp and it was shut down. It was just me and them obviously younger guys. I was trying to give it pass, pass forward to what the term is, and this is where you're not right now with your career. Obviously you're still competing, which we want to talk about as well in the show, but it seems now you have all this knowledge that you've gained and I'll give him back, and I was watching many of your highlight reels of you training different sprinters and stuff. Is that what you're trying to do? Like an academy, an elite academy? Absolutely man.
Speaker 1:I got 20 years of elite experience. Right, and you think about it, you have an understanding of sprinting background. Elite sprinters only go through two cycles. We call them two cycles, which is two Olympics. So eight years is usually the lifespan of a male sprinter. Right, I've went 19 years that's incredible Of just pure, just sprinting at a high level, and that's because I learned along the way exactly how to be able to evolve, becoming a top end runner in the beginning of my career and in learning how to be the best start in the world and then going back to be a top end speed runner because of injury.
Speaker 1:So I think that's what is really credited is the fact that I was never willing to give up. And you find a lot of athletes and you always ask that question. And you always ask that question like, hey, what happened to such and such? Right, it's because whatever got them to that top of that mountain, they weren't willing to evolve, because the crowd is going to catch up to you. You got to evolve as well. So usually they don't evolve and then they usher it out and then you're like, hey, what happened to such and such?
Speaker 2:So what you were saying is in your career. I've always known you as a fast actor, right, but I didn't realize that you just changed it. In what part of your career did you then go to more on the top end?
Speaker 1:My top end was actually earlier in my career, so 2004, 2005,. I was an average starter. I'll get out with the field but 50 meters and on I was just stepping away from the field. Ok.
Speaker 2:So the evolution part. So again, if I relate to the bodybuilding and the viewers watching, what we're talking about is starting fast from the blocks and then ending fast, in two different terms. So with bodybuilding, I've had to train around all these injuries to your point right. The evolution from my side was what got me to a certain point. Then, when injuries occurred, instead of having the mentality of throwing your hands up or this is done, I had to find other pathways, other ways to stimulate my whatever body part I was training at With Sprint obviously a different thing, but it's great to hear that I'm obviously a testament why you've been doing this for so long. What got you there in the beginning wasn't where you're at right now. It's the evolution of you know, justin Adlin.
Speaker 1:Yeah, credit to you as well, because obviously, being in the world of bodybuilding, your body is smart. Wherever you're weak at, another part of your body is going to come in and recruit and help that part out. And now you're going to have overcompensation. So a lot of these athletes don't even understand what they even means to begin with. So that's something I want to be able to break down for them as well. So that's part of what I want to do with my gym. It's to educate people on speed, make them faster and help. At some point in time Hopefully in the near future I can say I help contribute to speeding up the pace of the NFL. You know what I mean. That's really.
Speaker 2:So let's talk about that, the project you've been. We were speaking with just people going on that. That's very exciting, by the way.
Speaker 1:Oh man, it's something I've been wanting to do for a long time and you know it. It's just, it's always that old talk of who's faster a football player or a track athlete right, and I think for me I was like I always want to lay it all to rest. What I'm going to do is I'm not going to race you on the track, not with spikes on, not on rubberized surface. I'm going to take it to your house. I'm going to put on football cleats, I'm going to train and practice in football cleats. I'm going to run the 40 on turf in football cleats and I want to show the world. I said this is what I can do and I can be able to hit the angles correctly and I can still run fast at a high level at a later age too.
Speaker 2:And this is 40, right.
Speaker 1:This is 40. 40 yards, 40 years old, running. 40 yards Running, I'll be. I'm not going to be competing against these guys, but the combine is going to be in March, right, and if I unveil my 40 for 40, which will probably be the end of March, april, I want to show that these guys that are half of my age, I still can compete with them or do better than they can do.
Speaker 2:My, these guys got to watch their back, man. This is again. You say it's not a competition, but it's always a competition.
Speaker 1:There's always a competition, man. It's just you got to make up a competition.
Speaker 2:That's how I am stimulated, Hence me being on a football field yesterday. Never played a game in my life, by the way. I was like what do I stand? Okay, just catch the ball, you good. Okay, my knees are telling me I shouldn't have done that competition. But again, that's where I'm just turned 40 in November. So I totally am on the we're on the same page, hey you in the club now you in the club now, man. Congratulations when you turn 40.
Speaker 1:I'm, I'm about to be 42, man.
Speaker 2:I was 42 tomorrow.
Speaker 1:Tomorrow's my birthday, but listen happy birthday. I appreciate it. You're in.
Speaker 2:Vegas. You're in the right place to celebrate the Super Bowl weekend, and for all of you is that are watching.
Speaker 1:this guy stayed one extra day just to do this podcast, which absolutely so now you got to give me tips on where I can go out and party tonight. Okay, if you need it.
Speaker 2:I've been listening to every horse trains at this gym, so you're good to go. I can connect that straight away, no problem.
Speaker 1:There we go, there we go.
Speaker 2:What? How did you get into sprinting? Because that is a world you're either fast or not right. So there's a story to to ever, then, and I know that you have yours, but what was it that made you want to pursue this world?
Speaker 1:I just I knew I had the talent. I was just always I was always a fast guy in the group. You know what I mean. So I was beating kids on foot and then I'll tell them, my, I'll tell my friends, go get on your bike, I'm still on foot and I will race them and still beat them while they're on their bicycle. So I was always a fast guy.
Speaker 1:I never knew there was organized track and field for so long until I got to like high school. So I looked at it and I took it. I actually took an adult perspective. I was like hold on, so this speed I have can give me a full scholarship to college. I don't worry about no tuition. Cool bet, Sign me up. Then I got to college two years. In college I broke every record you can break. I want every trophy you can win within two years. My goal was actually three years. So then I turned pro after my sophomore year and they were like hey, you could make money, travel the world at 20 something years old. Where do I sign up? So that's what. That's actually how I got into track and field. Wow, yeah.
Speaker 2:So there was no competitions up until you got to high school.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I tried in middle school but it was. I went out there for the girls man Girls in the short shorts eating some pizza and hot dogs, skipping school Like I was doing it all for the wrong things. But when I got really serious at when I got to high school and what kind of what happened in high school that changed your mindset?
Speaker 1:My coach man. He really changed my mindset. He called me something that I even know what he even meant. He said you're world class. Wow, like 16 years old, I'm like what does world class mean? He's, trust me, you understand, you keep doing what you're doing, your world class. And he would tell me before races. He was like you're about to go out here and PR, you're about to run awesome time, not ever knowing that he actually was feeding me the inspiration. So when I stepped in a line, I was actually wasn't running for myself anymore, I was running for him, obviously for his approval in a way. You know what I'm saying, what everything it did for me was it helped me get to that next level. It helped me say okay, I ran this time, I won this award. So guess what? My standard is? Never to go backwards. Yeah, if I beat this individual, never let that individual ever beat me again.
Speaker 2:Was that driving you from a very young age, or was that something that came with time?
Speaker 1:My mom and dad says it's always been there. I was lining up trucks, my toy trucks, in the hallway and jumping over them like hurdles, hurdles, and even though hurdles were so, I think this is what I was supposed to do, you know, destined to be able to go out there and be in athletics the mentality that you have for track and field.
Speaker 2:I just remember I probably was the most nervous I've ever been when I would step on the track. You body been on stage. Yes, I'd get nervous, but I've prepared weeks out. I was ready, but on that given day when you're putting your feet in the blocks, I don't know. I would just get so nervous.
Speaker 1:Thankfully, I always won, but that's another fucking story.
Speaker 1:Well, here's the thing, though. When I fresh retired right from track and field, the first thing I actually was going to do was I was going to get in bodybuilding. Come on, I started lifting real every day, doug. I was like it got so bad I couldn't put suits on, I had to go get a. I was getting big man Cause, like you said, I was a power sprinter right, and I walk around at 205, which is unheard of for a sprinter. Usually, sprinters are light and wiry. They're like they're maxing out at 80. That's heavy for them. You know what I mean? I had to each year. I had to train like a boxer. I had to like drop my weight down. So I'm going from 195 down to 183. That's my race weight. That's what I always call it. My walk around rate was 190s. My race weight was like 183. It was a time in 15, my best year I had. I was like 175, man.
Speaker 1:Wow, I was just a fucking machine.
Speaker 2:Yeah Well, the bodybuilding obviously is. Thankfully it didn't take off. You stayed in your lane, not pun intended.
Speaker 1:I gotta work on my pose, and that's what stopped me, man.
Speaker 2:But you were always jacked though. I just remember you standing out from the park just looking crazy, and obviously men's physique wasn't created back then. But did you even train any type of movements, bodybuilding movements or anything of that nature when you were sprinting back and back in the Olympic days?
Speaker 1:Nah man.
Speaker 2:Nothing at all.
Speaker 1:I just love the gym. I love going into the gym. I love lifting. I'll try every machine. I just I'll come in there with a set idea of what I'm going to do that day and then I'll venture off from that because I want to try something else. I want to do something different.
Speaker 2:So you were a rebel, I was a rebel man.
Speaker 1:I was a rebel. I'll give you an example. We would all live as a team, right. As a training group and once we left the gym and my coach was so strict, he was like I do this and only this right.
Speaker 2:That's how it normally is.
Speaker 1:I would fucking spin the block. I would come back around and park again and go back in the gym for another whole another hour, whole another hour.
Speaker 2:So you go out, wait for a beer, leave and come back in.
Speaker 1:Come back in Wow and work on certain things I felt like I needed to work on because I knew what I needed you know, what I mean and that's all I did. Any injury I really had in my sport of track and field was because I overworked myself. Yeah, now because I was weak.
Speaker 2:That's a double edged sword, right, that mentality. I think I have the same mentality where putting in that extra work like satisfactory and even though I have my coach clearly telling me okay, flux, one hour of cardio and you're done, hit that stop button. I'll do a little more. Just a little bit, but that mentality has served me to and also can hinder too, but I just remember you having fucking incredible shoulders and arms. You didn't, do you work on your arms and shoulders, or is that your? Oh, you did okay.
Speaker 1:My mentality. Even when I went into races overseas, my mentality was when I got there, I thought of myself as like a prisoner or a cage tiger, so I'd always stay in my room. The only time I would ever come out of my hotel room is to go eat. If I couldn't get room service, I had to go downstairs and eat. I wanted to look like a ghost, so I wanted my competitors to know that they second guess if I was there or not. And the moment they would see me is at the Walmart track for the meet.
Speaker 2:Wow, let's talk about that. That's a great kind of perspective of you got champions that are walking around shaking hands. They want to be seen right, they want the Fortress Paparazzi. That was the Hunter you huh.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah. I would literally sit in my room and do push-ups and sit-ups the whole time. I'd walk pace back and forth, listen to music, watch something on TV or Netflix or something like that, and I'll just be in there hitting 500 push-ups, sit-ups and things like that. That's what primes me, that's what made me feel comfortable.
Speaker 2:So I had to do what I had to do. So you would cage the animal until the door left was opened.
Speaker 1:Well, the fucking door was opened.
Speaker 2:Love it, that's a fucking crazy mentality.
Speaker 1:Yeah, but like you said, when you step to the line you were nervous, not because you wasn't prepared, because it's an unknown. You're going into right. So, even if you trained every day, that moment you step to that line, that is fucking do or die you know, what I'm saying. So when you do that, I always wanted to make sure I felt prepared and I would make sure that I would get my sit-ups, my push-ups, and I would do that extra work. That extra work was my comfort.
Speaker 2:So when.
Speaker 1:I stepped to the line, I could survey how I'm going to run. And then, as I became an older athlete and more seasoned, I started watching my opponents. I knew their weaknesses, I knew their strengths, I knew how the race would unfold a hundred different ways. So I would walk the track slowly and I would let the race unfold in my mind. The stadium's packed full of people and I'm just walking the track slowly, my lane, I'll walk to the finish line. I'll stand at the finish line and I'll slowly turn around and I'll walk back. And as I'm walking back, that's the mental warfare that comes in. As I'm walking back, all my opponents are watching me. So, as they're trying to dial in and focus on their race strategy, I'm also part of what they're thinking about, because I'm slowly walking back and I take my clothes off, put my uniform on. Now we ready to rock and roll.
Speaker 2:Talk us through that race day. Do you have nerves waking up that day? Are you so focused? Because I was a mixed bag, to be honest with you.
Speaker 1:I was never nervous man. Dreamy. I was built for the competition man. I had trouble sleeping the night before because I was so excited. I was so excited to go to battle man, so excited. And then when it was time to leave the hotel on race day, I would be very obsessive about time. I was very on point with time management.
Speaker 1:I literally would be like all right, I'm leaving the room in five, four, three, two, one, boop, wow, walk down to the elevator and meet my coach. Give him a dab. All right, bus comes in two minutes. All right, we ready to go. Boom, get on the bus. He's already charted out how far the bus, how long the bus is gonna take to get to the track when we warm up, how long I warm up for, because I didn't wanna leave no stone unturned.
Speaker 2:Why the obsession with such on point timing?
Speaker 1:Because I felt like if I wasn't prepared, I'll be flustered, and I feel like, even if I was a couple of minutes late, I'll be warm up, I'll be rushing. I feel like I didn't have enough time. So, I feel like shit, let me take control, then Let me go ahead and manage my time properly.
Speaker 2:the right way Me throw a curve ball. What happens if there was a little of race delay or a pushback and reschedule on timing on that day? We regroup. We were figured out.
Speaker 1:It's been times like that as well when they push it back, or if it's a rainstorm or something like that happens, like you, just knowing that it wasn't just me, it was the whole field was going through the same thing, I still able to like work through that with no issues. I will walk into a stadium and I will feel the energy of the crowd, the hum, that energy. I would just inhale it. I would inhale it as I walk out, because as you walk out, the 100 meter race is where the lions are at. Everyone loves long jump, hurdles the mile, things like that, but the show is always that 100 meter race. It's gonna define who is the fastest dude out there, right. So as you walk out from under the tunnel and people starting to like edge sit to their seat and they're starting to get up and raise and see if they can get a better look at you. That's that energy man. I never felt nervous. I lived and thrived for it. I loved it.
Speaker 2:Yeah, man, you bring some memories back for my body, but I loved that moment too.
Speaker 1:How was it for you? How was it like preparing and then going on stage? I've been to multiple shows but, I never had the opportunity to like to. Really I really it was on my bucket list. I really wanna perform one time.
Speaker 2:Wow, okay, we need to talk. You gotta do it right.
Speaker 1:Let's do it.
Speaker 2:We gotta make sure that's the W, and then you're done.
Speaker 1:Exactly.
Speaker 2:Good question, now again. Podcast is about you. I had the same vibes, right, I say I was nervous. I guess now I'm reflecting back it was a mixed bag of nervous excitement. It wasn't nerves as a detriment. It was not like, okay, this is it. Fucking. 20 weeks of dieting for this, a whole year all comes down to this. But I had one chance a year. You had to wait.
Speaker 1:Yeah, four. If we're talking about the Olympics, four, yeah, of course yeah, four years.
Speaker 2:But, yeah, mixed bag of feelings. But when I was at the Expo or you come into Vegas and you start seeing all the Mr Olympia signs, there was a few things I used to do. I've got the beard on 90% of the year 90, fucking out more than that. That week for the show I would shave my beard and I would see my face all sucked in and I'd look in the mirror. So I'm adjusting. I look, I'm like who the fuck is this guy? But I knew who the guy was. It was my stripes under my face and it's like that time I look at myself like you, baby, let's go.
Speaker 2:And that alter ego that's what really got me through my sprinting and also got me on my first show of bodybuilding was the alter ego I had to turn. Somebody said this literally met. It's been a life's lesson, it's been throughout my career, and it was moments before I walked on my first bodybuilding stage. Some old guy, master's guy, he's like young buck, why are you nervous? I was like what's my first show? Nobody knows you out there but your parents, your friends. It's like that list alone, that list alone. But he's like alter ego and he probably just set it off the cuff. I was like man that hit hard.
Speaker 2:And then I went out there and everybody was like what the fuck is this guy you?
Speaker 1:seized the moment.
Speaker 2:And that really allowed me then to put it into many other things. Even to this day, I used my alter ego in the gym to get the big sets, because you know you're looking at a lot of weight. If that owns you or you own it.
Speaker 1:Absolutely.
Speaker 2:Did you have an alter ego?
Speaker 1:Always man. My alter ego was JGAT. So JGAT with JGAT was intense, really intense man. He was a fighter either, too. Justin's a more chill guy. You're talking to Justin right now right, they cool. Jgat might peek out a little bit.
Speaker 2:We can bring him in here with that.
Speaker 1:But I would literally on my bathroom mirror, right, I would get a marker and I would write down every name of competitors I'm going to compete against this season and I would put a red check mark every time I would beat them. So I would keep it in my mind. Accountability on myself, receipts, exactly these receipts. When I transitioned back into the sport, it was like I had to show I am who, I am right and a lot of these sponsors. They'd be like we're not sure yet, you know what I mean. And I'd be like why you're not sure I beat this guy, I beat this guy, I beat this guy, I beat this guy three times, I beat this guy four times.
Speaker 1:I would keep those receipts to show and to validate how successful I am, how dominant I am, and it also it fueled me. It constantly fueled me. I was like you know what? I'm going to keep these names and I'm going to keep on just checking them off as much as I can. And at the top of the list was my biggest competitors and I couldn't wait to race them because I was like man. I got to put that red check by the name man. So that's what really fueled me. That's Jay Gatt, right?
Speaker 2:there. That alter ego is something that you just pulled out on race day, or was it also in training?
Speaker 1:Also in training. He was worse in training man. I talked a lot of shit like Muhammad Ali during training. I didn't get a chance to do it so much. You know how it is when you're in competition. You got to have a little grace. So glad to be here, so glad to run against these guys. Absolutely. But, I'll be a practice player. I'm gonna tear all y'all up man.
Speaker 2:How did you fight that, though? Because there's a fine line between trying to prove who you are, but everyone knows who you are. Right? I remember watching Morris Green, and you had that swag and everything else, and certain athletes, shall I just say, throughout the years they kind of projected how great they were when they didn't have to do it right, but that also is you coaching yourself.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:Before the big race, Because obviously a lot of cameras are on you. Before the big race. After the big race how hard was it to keep? True to you and everyone who knows you. And then JGAT.
Speaker 1:JGAT was so intertwined and if I say my circle would consist of training partners, coach, mom and dad, and sometimes JGAT would come out at the wrong time, you know what?
Speaker 2:I mean yeah, that's what I mean.
Speaker 1:I have to apologize to my inner circle. I'm like, hey, I'm sorry man, I didn't mean it that way, I didn't mean to say it like that or with that energy. So I had to learn how to be able to compartmentalize in the right way. But I needed him more off the track and on the track. Earlier in my career I needed to embody him way more. So then later on my career I was like all right, cool, I can bring him out the bag whenever is necessary.
Speaker 2:Right. How do you handle the pressure and expectations that comes with being an Olympia gold medalist?
Speaker 1:Ah, man, I feel like you get to a point where you win, and then it's just always a target on your back.
Speaker 2:So that's how you operate.
Speaker 1:You operate with a target on your back constantly, so when there's new guys come in.
Speaker 1:When you're a top dog, the ego tells you man, I'm not worried about those guys new guys coming in, rookies coming in but when you have that targeting back, you have to focus on these new guys. You got to be able to use whatever tool is necessary and a lot of times these guys were super fast, they were fit, they're ready to pop it straight out of college. And it'll be times where I had to use my seasoned vet knowledge just to be able to combat them and beat them.
Speaker 1:Such as what I mean traveling overseas, how to operate in a different time zone, how to eat properly, watching them warm up. They're warm up, maybe too long or maybe too short. You know what I mean. So I'll look at those kind of things and how they operate and, like I could tell you right then he's going to have a bad race today. Or how he opened his season up, it's not going to be a good season for him.
Speaker 2:Do you ever put that on around them? It's like a big, big brother. Or is that too much competition that you want to try to help you competitive?
Speaker 1:You know, naturally, as I got to the end of my career and realized the guys that I was racing at the end of my career, he, at one guy, actually said I watched you when I was in first grade win your first medal. Wow, right. So that hit me, bro, that hit me so hard.
Speaker 2:That's a hell of a compliment to where you are and what you've done with your career. Yeah.
Speaker 1:And then I had another opponent who was like I used to watch you. I used to get up every morning and watch you on YouTube and middle school, all right, and now I'm literally on Olympic teams with them or I'm competing against them for gold medals. So for me it was naturally to be like man you know what? Let me help you out a little bit, because I'm not going to be here forever and it will be a, it will be a disservice not to teach you the things I learned, so then you can elevate the sport to even a better level, because the people who are at the top now, those are the ones that are going to pay homage to you. Those are the ones going to say, hey, audience, pay respect to Jay Gat. He helped pave the way along the way.
Speaker 1:Those are the ones going to take that story and make it even better and bella shit and make it even stride, and that's when you become a legend.
Speaker 2:You are a legend man.
Speaker 2:What you want to say or not, I'm saying it.
Speaker 2:You are a legend and just hearing that, the damn things that are smaller, the piece of advice at the right times, of course they play so much service. I've had people legends give me some advice. That's something maybe off the cuff, right, but I remember it and I will always give that person many people their roses whenever I have the chance because, again, I look at it as that person didn't have to go to whatever the scenario was right. So, obviously, having a gym like this we have athletes that come in from all over the world and not everybody who stands in my lane for two or three hours is going to be that fun. They may end up and have been, and up standing on stage next to me, but as long as I give them that interaction when they were a fan, as you said, it transitions into when they have the chance to put your name on whatever platform and remember that moment that you put your arm around them and give them that advice when you were whatever you were in your career.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it plays so much service.
Speaker 1:It does, man, and they're, and they're praised to you after you have been successful. The guys who came before you and they look back and be like man, look at you, man, you did it. Yeah, this is your gym man. You've created something special. That act, those accolades and those praises are like 10 times better than the average. Obviously you know what I'm saying, because they're the one to help you get to where you at gave you that confidence and inspiration, man.
Speaker 2:We're talking about the young guys. How has professional sprinting changed since you got into it? To know?
Speaker 1:So professional sprinting is such a wave Like. If we're talking about body types, it can change throughout a generation. So you have, when you say this generation was tall you know what I'm saying.
Speaker 1:Now, coaches were looking for more tall runners. When Maurice Green was running, it was about compact, shorter, stout, moustachy guys, right, so it can change over time. Now it's more of like wiry, more top end frequency runners, like those smaller guys who stand about like maybe five, 11, five, 10, probably weigh like 170, 175 at most. Like those are the sprinters that are out there right now, did you?
Speaker 2:call that short.
Speaker 1:I wouldn't say short because our feel is all about speed, it is. Yeah, what would?
Speaker 2:be the ideal height for a sprinter For the viewers watching this Bro man, Is there one? It's not.
Speaker 1:To be honest the thing I love about track and field is that you can have eight guys line up in a lane right and all eight guys have run sub 10.
Speaker 1:They all done in a different way and they all have a different stature. Some can be tall and big, some can be tall and skinny, some can be short and thin, some can be stocky, some can lose it. They can gain to lose a couple pounds. You know what I mean, but still get the job done. You know what I mean. So that's the beauty of it. There's no real blueprint. You got to find your own way to get to that next level. You got to put that work in. Your work counts for you.
Speaker 2:Talking about putting that work. Let's talk about humble beginnings and where you were born and your trajectory to life. Let's get back to the early days of Justin Gatlin.
Speaker 1:I grew up in the streets of New York, that was all the more. My dad was in the military actually we lived in. I grew up in Brooklyn, new York, that's all the more and he had an opportunity to move because crime was getting crazy. That's when it was on that time, like in the 80s, when kids were bringing guns to school and crazy stuff, he was like man, we're getting up out of here. We moved to the opposite. We moved to the south. We came from like New York City and then we moved to the south and I remember like landing, getting there for the first time and then looking around as we're driving around and the first thing I said is where?
Speaker 1:the sidewalks at it was just grass everywhere it was crazy to me Culture shock. Yeah, it was a culture shock to me, but I actually credit that because I feel like if I did move to the south, metaphorically and literally, I didn't get it. I didn't have that opportunity to stretch my legs in New York and find who I was and be fast. You know what I'm saying. So the south and growing up in Florida helped me find and discover really my speed and my talent.
Speaker 2:What age were you then when you moved?
Speaker 1:to Florida About six, six, six or seven yeah.
Speaker 2:And how long we were in Florida for.
Speaker 1:Man until it was time to go to college, so about 18.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and you went to UT, right.
Speaker 1:University of Tennessee.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:Yeah, knoxville Tennessee.
Speaker 2:Yeah, as I told you earlier, we've got our company Arsenal Strength in Knoxville, tennessee, and Gray Place.
Speaker 1:Oh yeah, man, it's always going to be loved there, man, always going to be loved there.
Speaker 2:Big party players too.
Speaker 1:Oh yeah, we was partying hard on Wednesdays, the middle of the week, we was partying hard. That's a party town right there right.
Speaker 2:Did you have balance in your college life? Because that is always a question and I get asked. Like a lot of guys bodybuilders they want to focus, but then they want to have a college experience, right? What was your college experience like?
Speaker 1:My college experience was, first of all, I was always taught by my dad celebrate for a reason. Don't just celebrate because you're going out with the friends and hanging out. You know what I'm saying. Celebrate for a reason. Celebrate because you have excelled or succeeded in something, you've won something. You know what I'm saying. Drink because you are celebrating. Don't drink your sorrows away.
Speaker 1:And I think, for me, when I was in college, my whole mindset was to be so good that the college itself was going to recognize who I was, alone as an individual. Because you know how colleges are they're going to recognize the basketball team, they're going to recognize the football team, but Track and Field is such an individualized sport. And then, within my freshman and sophomore year, I was making the front page of the local news for Knoxville and for the University of Tennessee, because I was constantly winning championships. I won six NCAA championships and SEC championships within a matter of two years. Wow, you know what I mean. So I was just killing it. So that was always my focus on the more I do, better. Then I can celebrate, yeah.
Speaker 1:You know, what I mean. So I had a lot of time to celebrate.
Speaker 2:I'll say that evidently right. One weekend after the next, but that that that place truly has a great school. And is that where you met your? No, that was college right.
Speaker 1:That was college. Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2:And at what point in time did you start getting the contracts that started piling in for you? Was it a college time?
Speaker 1:Right after my sophomore year, right. So then that's when I declared to go pro Right. That's when the contracts were coming in, and then I moved to Raleigh, north Carolina, for a little while. I was there for about three or four years. Then I moved to Atlanta, georgia, and then I moved back to Florida for about another four or five years and then I ended up moving to Houston, texas. Man, that's where I'm at now.
Speaker 2:You bounced around. Like me, a little bit of a gypsy. Oh yeah, but it's all training related, right.
Speaker 1:Yeah, exactly, it's. All training related.
Speaker 2:The only reason why I mentioned contracts at a young age, to get this money that starts coming in.
Speaker 1:Life changing.
Speaker 2:It could be life changing in one or two ways. It could be life changing and you can excel using that monetary gain, or it can be a massive destruction. How we were able to navigate through people around you that's seen your success went to jump in your court till.
Speaker 1:I was lucky that I had a mom who was super talented with numbers, so like she'd never. She only had a high school degree but she worked her way up into the banking world and she was able to manage my money and manage all my finances. That came into like to the T, Like our first big contract. We put a large portion in the stocks we talked about like 2003, 2002. I'm talking about like Starbucks, Best Buy, Nike. Back then Everything grew with me so as my stocks and my investments came successful, I still was running very fast so I was able to just money was making money, you know what.
Speaker 1:I mean, so that's how I was able to do it. So I anybody that's listening to thinking about it they're getting their first contract. You know what I mean. You're excited about it. Make sure you put that money away. You ain't hurting right now. You're hungry right now, but you're not hurting. So put a portion of that money away and let it grow for you.
Speaker 2:So don't buy 24 inch rims and put them on your fucking charger.
Speaker 1:I can't say not, I did. I had a Cadillac escalator sitting on 26.
Speaker 2:That was a kid man, you're not helping my fucking cars, you're talking about it. I'm talking about invested.
Speaker 1:Am I sitting right now? Someone's going to come back and say wait a minute, I'm going to put it in the seat.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I've got some photos of us.
Speaker 2:No, but you're talking about also making money work while you're sleeping, and that's what we talk about also on this podcast is we have a lot of entrepreneurs, a lot of business guys that have either transitioned from sports or started as you have, invested their money whilst not even really when they're in the prime.
Speaker 2:You are still finding your stride at that point in time. Yeah, so for you to have that knowledge, thanks to mum, to put that money in the bank and let it grow. A lot of the young guys who pick up these big contracts, whatever the sports and, as we're obviously in my office with bodybuilding, some of these guys will pick up a nice contract and then they start thinking of what they're going to pay, what they want to buy, the bucket list of buying, when the biggest investment is in yourself. So, as long as a portion is divided up to invest in you whether it's besides therapy or whatever, something that was really going to propel you to the next level then you, just as you said, if you're not hurting, put it into, invest into something and shout out to mum for taking that finances and putting them to work at a very young age. Yeah Right.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah. I was away from the sport for four years and I never earned a paycheck within that four years.
Speaker 1:She was able to manage my money so well that I was able to just live off my own earnings like earlier in my career. But yeah, man, you got to just put your money away, make it grow you know what I'm saying and believe in what the process is, because we know what sports is. Sports is uncertain. We love to watch sports, participate in sports, but it can be here today and gone tomorrow. Yeah, man, and if you over there worrying about buying the newest, the newest Mercedes or the newest you know what I'm saying Bentley, whatever you want to get, and then who's nose? Within a month you sustain an injury, that's now like sidelining you. Now you're stressed, or even in your career.
Speaker 2:Has there been any pivotal moments in your career that could have put an end to it? And you just there's a story there where you work through it and you can, you know, tell the fans.
Speaker 1:From a physical aspect being injured. Yeah, injured.
Speaker 2:and since we mentioned injuries, where again, for example, you know the I've torn both shoulders, but nobody ever knew about that until I retired?
Speaker 1:I just persevered through, okay. So I have a story similar to yours, man. So in 2016, I just came up with my best season in 2015,. Right, and where we were training at? We were training at an academy and they just discontinued the football team, right. So they took up the goal post and everything that. No trace of football was even left there, right? The only thing that was left is they didn't cut the grass for the weekend over the weekend.
Speaker 1:So as we came back to practice in 2016, which is an Olympic year, right, we started our fall training process, which is like going out jogging certain reps, things like that in the grass, the last step of my rep, I stepped in the hole which was holding the goal post, Didn't even see it. As soon as I stepped in that hole, I was like, oh, I broke my ankle, I'm done. I was like, oh, olympic campaign is over. But what really happened was I had ankle fracture right, small ankle fracture and I was just too stubborn to go get it fixed or even worried about it, because I knew that the doc's gonna say, oh, your sideline, you can't do anything. So what I did is I got up strapped up on two pair of socks every day.
Speaker 2:It went out and straight I'm wearing them today.
Speaker 1:Bro. But I was like my teammates were like dusting me in practice because I'm literally like running on one leg now, but I eventually got myself back healed and I won the Olympic trials and I went on to medal at the Olympics as well. It's just that hard working dedication. I knew if I just succumbed to what somebody was gonna tell me, just sit down, no, sit down, it's not gonna get done, I'm not gonna be ready.
Speaker 2:I was like take a minute, you had it.
Speaker 1:So if that was probably, I did it in November. So all the way from November into probably, I would say, march, Also, it really wasn't that long.
Speaker 1:It wasn't that long, but that part of your training is really critical because you gotta get all your endurance training in right, because once you get into season, you can't go back and get more endurance. You can't go back and run 500 meter repeats. You know what I'm saying? A mile runs when you're a sprinter. You know what I mean. When you're sprinting, it's all about the sprint workouts. So by the time you get to, let's say, the end of February, now you're starting to do more blocks, now you're starting to do sprint. So everything has to be more precise.
Speaker 2:Oh wait, so you had an endurance element to your sprint training. Oh yeah, 100%. I didn't know that.
Speaker 1:We don't just go out and just sprint, just all right first day of practice we sprint.
Speaker 1:That's probably why you never made it. I would've loved to have your training cycles in the LZK's man, I'm out there dry, heaving from repeat 100s. We had a thing called 525. You had to run a 500, you get two minutes rest. You had to run another 500, then you rest six minutes. You gotta do that same cycle over again twice. So that's just one workout itself.
Speaker 1:So it was grueling and I think that's always one thing for me at the end of my season when it's time for championships. I was like, bro, I did all that hard work and you think I'm not gonna go out here and win a medal and get on a podium. I'm not doing this for Vayne, not in Vayne. I'm not gonna go out here and get us something Because, guess what, no matter what happens today, if I'm on this podium or not, by the time November comes I gotta do this whole process over again. So I tell my teammates all the time I was like y'all gonna let this happen over and over again and not reap any benefits from it. That's born line insanity right there.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so your trainer. Still, how many times a week were you out on the track?
Speaker 1:Man about two to three times a week.
Speaker 2:And then the rest of the time, no, oh, back then. Yeah, back then.
Speaker 1:Oh man, it was a job. Yeah, Every day It'll be times where we work on the weekends, depending on what we need to work on. Especially if we're getting ready for a big race, we have to come out on weekends and work on certain things. So it was almost like a nine to five. We would start practice at nine, then we'd be out there for about maybe two hours and then we'll go to the gym the first gym. We'll be there for an hour and a half, then we'll go to the second gym, we'll be there for another hour and a half and then after that is all recovery. So that means like massage, cupping, dry, needling, cryo, whatever it takes to get bounced back and get ready for the next day. So that's really. You're done by five o'clock, four o'clock. So that's really. We was doing a job.
Speaker 2:Absolutely Physically. And then nutrition. Where was that falling in between all this?
Speaker 1:Ah, man, on the track side, nutrition and education. Nutrition lacks so much, man, because I get it. They look at us and say you're burning so many calories, right? So what do you really need nutrition for? You're burning fuel, but at the same time, what fuel are you burning though? You know what I mean. Is it premium fuel?
Speaker 1:You know what I mean Getting that kind of like cheap fuel when a lot of these young kids they're burning that cheap fuel. So for me, I had to learn how to not just check in and check out and say this is my job punching and punch out but necessarily live the lifestyle. So I had to learn to eat better. I had to learn to be able to know when to eat, what to eat, how to eat correctly, and that really helped me out. I was less fatigued, I ran better, I was more efficient once I started doing that.
Speaker 2:So you had a nutritional regime done back then.
Speaker 1:Oh, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2:Because I know a lot of people, high level Olympic athletes. They were just told, like you said, calories, pizzas and everything else just to get in, and I'm sure you had days like that right, but just here in, obviously it resembled in your physique Just having that routine done. Was that something that you studied to demand better, the best version of you, or was there people around you that kind of give you guidance?
Speaker 1:A little bit of both.
Speaker 2:Okay.
Speaker 1:When I started off. When I started off, I had a big problem like especially eating sweets. I'm a snacker. When I came back into the sport I was like 210 pounds man. I was way off from being 180. I was fiendin' too man. So I'll call my coach, probably at 11 o'clock at night. I'll be like coach, man, I'm so hungry. He'll be like man, go to sleep. I'll be like man, I can't. I was like can I eat this apple pie? It has apples in it. He was like man, you crazy, go to sleep, you can't eat the apple pie. So over time I learned okay, I'm tricking my mind to eat bad things. I need to trick my mind to eat good things.
Speaker 1:You know, what I mean Create a good habit. So I had to learn how to be able to do that correctly.
Speaker 2:The fact that you called your coach knowing that he's gonna say no. You know, just so you had somebody to be like okay, I can't eat this, as opposed to your conscience, right?
Speaker 1:Fork was in hand. Bro Fork was in. I was like, can I do it? No, I can just dig through and just grab the apples out of there.
Speaker 2:No, this poor guy's sleeping. Oh my God, it's everything, okay, I want to eat the apple pie.
Speaker 1:It's two in the morning, but the crazy thing is he's always up because his mind was always thinking as a coach. But you're constantly thinking. You're constantly thinking how to get your athletes better. What can he do like that? So I would always play with him, man. I know he's up, so I'll just ring him and be like hey, man, that banana nut bread. It's on the I got proteins in there, got the potassium what's up man, can I have it?
Speaker 2:Standing up to room service because I'm not leaving the room. You gotta have some good stories from on the road, I'm sure, traveling around and seeing all these amazing countries.
Speaker 1:Absolutely man, traveling around at such a young age like I started traveling when I was probably like 20 years old man, people like Buckalist to see the Eiffel Tower. I was doing I did it like five times by the time I was 23. So I felt blessed. But traveling around, I remember one of my favorite places to go is Monaco, because the Prince of Monaco is just a cool dude man, so cool man. I remember going there and he was just partying. This is before he like got married and settled down. So he was the man. Right. He was out partying World championships, was in Finland, helsinki, and we just having a good time. And I come over into his area and he has all the top class models, right, all of them right, they're like centerfold style, right, and he's just partying, not paying them any attention. They're just there and I walk over and I'm like I was like man. I was like you got some beautiful women around you. He's women, you can have them. In fact he said in fact I'll trade you, bring me some track girls.
Speaker 1:You know what I'm saying yeah, man, he's bringing some track girls over and you can take these with you.
Speaker 1:So, I was like it's. So it was a great experience to be able to meet people, and meet people who really were just down to earth. Down to earth and every time you travel, because when you had a season, each season almost brought you back to the same places year in, year out. So then you started creating relationships at these different places. You started being DJs at clubs, you started hanging out having good time All this, obviously, after you finished running. But the fact is, you started creating these little pocket homes around the world that people were like were supporting you, so that was no man.
Speaker 2:Exactly that was love. I've done a lot of traveling, very blessed to see a lot of the world in my 20s, just like you, I didn't have the morning core experience I'm not going to lie to you, so I'm glossed on that fucking thing. But just seeing a lot of the world gave me so much perspective. And also traveling to certain countries in the earth and some really places of poverty, but just seeing how gracious everyone in what they had.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:And it made me a better body below, made me a better champion, because then I could understand the opportunity that I had and what I created. Yeah, I'm sure you can attest to that too. Absolutely.
Speaker 1:Do you ever go home anymore? Do you go back to your?
Speaker 2:Yeah, I went back for Christmas 16 days. I've got a 21, 22 month old child now. This is how I'm speaking in months, right?
Speaker 1:How do you been doing that? Hey, when my son hit a certain age he had 12 months I was like you're an adult now. Basically Listen, you're on your own, I'm not counting this anymore.
Speaker 2:I don't know. My wife talks like that and I think once you hit two it just goes. It's fucking untalked about court.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I'm a three-year-old now I was like you're a little adult, now You're a potty train. You can tell me when you're hungry, you're the bro, come sit over here with me, you're the bro how many kids you have? I have two.
Speaker 2:OK.
Speaker 1:I have a giant 13-year-old. He's my size, my height, where's my clothes, my shoes?
Speaker 2:already he's doctor's your closet.
Speaker 1:He's always in the closet rubbing his hands back and forth, like Birdman Licking his lips. Yeah, looking at, oh, looking at the shoes, all the Jordans and everything. He's like man, I'm about to get somebody.
Speaker 2:He just doesn't know it yet.
Speaker 1:But yeah, he's projected to be like 6'4" 225. So he plays football right now, Of course he loves it.
Speaker 1:He loves it. He has that mindset too, and naturally he has that mindset. And then my three-year-old. He's a fire. He's actually they're firing ice. My three-year-old's a fireman. His body awareness is amazing. He can be playing, walking back and forth on top of this couch and then he'll walk to the edge of the couch while he's looking at the TV and he'll jump up in the air and bounce down on his butt and then walk away from the couch. But that would it with little effort.
Speaker 2:Just like my little one, feel us no understanding of pain, and if he does, uh-oh.
Speaker 1:Exactly.
Speaker 2:I'm like wow. But again, truly thank you each one of us. What's that, tyus? Can you tell them? Hooligans outside the shut the hell up. Jeez Louise, sorry man, we got the podcast light on and we got people outside yelling, but with my little one, that threw me off my little one again, my mother says, like this is payback. This is payback for you being the little hellion that you were.
Speaker 1:I'm coming to the realization that I was the same way when I was a kid. I was like I remember the stories that my mom said. She was like we will go out in public and she'll open her purse before we go into a store and the belt will be in her purse. She said, right, the belt will be in her purse. And she was saying all right, if you want to act up, this is what you're going to get in the store, in the store.
Speaker 1:Because I was always mischievous. I was always like hiding the clothes racks and run around stuff like that, nothing dangerous, but I'll just be out always doing something. So I come to terms that I was a bad kid man. I was that bad kid had too much energy.
Speaker 2:Yeah, definitely that was me. That's what my parents put me in rugby track and field ended up doing boxing gymnastics, anything that I could just get that energy out.
Speaker 1:What's the rugby like? What's that rugby?
Speaker 2:world. I missed the rugby. When I was on the field last night and playing with mutual friend G3, we spoke about rugby tactics, of me putting me on the ball. I played rugby since six years old where I got my nickname Flax. Believe it or not, nothing new about it. Okay and yeah up until 19. So I done my first body when I was showing up still playing rugby. So my path was paved for rugby. My grandfather played professional rugby, my dad was a referee coach, my mom was involved with the admin stuff.
Speaker 1:So basically you was a legacy.
Speaker 2:It was meant to, from everybody's perspective. It was meant to happen, yeah. And then I just turned into the black sheep. I was like I'm going to do this stuff with speed, or something like what you got scholarships, you got offers and yeah, the team, so you went into track because it left rugby.
Speaker 2:I went into bodybuilding. I left rugby, yeah, from rugby for bodybuilding, but the track was of course hand in hand. So summer was track and field and then rugby was in the winter and track and field taught me so much. The problem is for me, I had a lot of foot problems, so I got clapstaches, I had plant to fascia, shin splints, and as soon as I would get rid of all that stuff now that we're comparing injuries because mine's obviously nothing on your, on your, magnitude, but I do remember just dealing with more problems with track and field that really got me excited to get out there to sprint because I was a fast, but I always incurred injuries and I don't think I had a great like dead, I say it like. The great coach in. It was like somebody that lent their time to help me out and they were like you're fast, stand here, put your foot here and run, and I won with that fucking methodology, but nobody taught me how to come out to the blocks.
Speaker 1:No one taught you technique, no one taught you race strategy, race pattern. All that Basic, yeah.
Speaker 2:Basic.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:And again for you now to give back to these already incredibly talented athletes.
Speaker 1:I would.
Speaker 2:Obviously I'm saying I would love to have had you in my corner I think I can write in a different direction, but the opportunity that these people now have, just even being around you, because now your mind said, yes, you're still an athlete and always will be, and still a competitive one, but to have that opportunity to just dissect that 20 years of experience, is incredible.
Speaker 1:It's to be honest, man, it's my honor because I knew what it took to get to the level. I knew what the hard work was and I knew that a lot of the knowledge I gained along the way was actually helped, contributing to my success. And if I, it will be injustice if I didn't pass that on. Yeah, if I am passing on to the next generation, even from a track perspective or a football perspective, it's the fact that these young guys are trying to make their dream happen, and if you don't know something, you just don't know something. So I like to be able to at least give some drops of jewels to a man.
Speaker 2:A couple of things before we end the podcast. We've got to talk about rivalries, Some of the most fear, some of the best rivalries I've ever seen on the track and field. You're always there in the mix of everything going on. Let's talk about your favorite rivalries over the years and some stories that you can talk about. That wasn't me, that was JGAT.
Speaker 1:Obviously you got to talk about Usain Bolt, right? That rivalry we were saying was legendary.
Speaker 2:Legendary.
Speaker 1:I can feel the history while we actually were still in the present. I can feel we were making history Really. Yeah, it was that Muhammad Ali Rumble in the jungle, joe Frazier kind of style, because we both were me coming back into sport, him arriving to be Usain, right, there was no one challenging him. And then as I started to climb that ladder again, one of my goal intentions was to be shoulder to shoulder with that guy. To start line, I remember when he broke the world record, I was sitting in a bar hanging out with some other friends and their mind was blown when they saw him run. When he ran, he literally scared the shit out of people because there were some people who just left the event. It was like I'm going to do hurdles, a long jump. This is crazy, but for me it was like.
Speaker 1:I looked at, saw him, I was like I want to race that guy and I understood at that point in time when people asked to race me, they was like they want to test yourself, you want to see how good you are. And that was a test for me. I was like that's a challenge right there. So as I got back into sport, lost the weight, sharpened my skills back up. I fell in love with competition again and he was at the top of my list. That are wrote on my mirror and it was like every time. I was like we're here, we're getting there, we're getting there, we're getting there. And in 2017, 2013, I beat him in a one off. He wouldn't race me again in a one off race.
Speaker 2:He wouldn't race.
Speaker 1:He wouldn't race me again in a one off race. So, yeah, so we have one off races around the world, right, like a series, like race car or stages, basically. And in that one off race, we was in Rome in 2013. And I was studying him, like for weeks because I was trying to figure out why did Johan Blake beat Usain, their training partners? And there's an incredible height difference, right, this should have been an easy cakewalk, but Johan was putting out such immense power output, right, and his stride frequency was greater than Usain. So I was like, all right, let me study this strategy. And then, as I studied that strategy, I applied it in that Rome meet. I applied it against him. So, as we came out the blocks, we sit in there quiet in the stadium, we raise set, we go off crowds going crazy. We're like neck and neck by the time we get to the 50 meter mark. And I remember watching that race between him and Johan, and that's when Johan transitioned he kept moving forward and kept stepping down. I was like.
Speaker 1:I'm gonna do the same thing, let's see what happens. I kept moving forward and stepping down, so we kept going stride for stride. He never separated from me. We tried for stride all the way till we got to the finish line and I out leaned him and at that moment it was like I remember we was in the press conference for the post interview and Usain is a great guy, man right, never sour, never upset. He gave a great interview. He just said hey, man, it just wasn't my day, you know what I mean. And as we finished the interview he leaned over to his agent and says we're never doing that again. That was embarrassing, wow. And he never ran me in a one off race ever again.
Speaker 1:So only time I ever raced after 13, usain was in a finals of a world championships or the Olympics. That's, yeah, that's. That was a rivalry that I love because we grew both as individuals. He was at a point where he was becoming like bored because no one's really stepping up to the challenge. And then I stepped up and they gave him a reason to keep on competing and then for me it gave me fire, it gave me someone to compete against. So I love the challenge, man and once we finished in 2017, we traded Jersey signed off to each other man. He was like man he obviously in 17,. If you watch that race, I paid homage to him. He's the first one to come over and congratulate me. If I wasn't going to get it done, then it was up to you to get it done, dog, you know what I mean.
Speaker 1:So he gave me homage.
Speaker 2:Isn't it great that you can just acknowledge that you made him better and he made you better.
Speaker 1:Absolutely, absolutely, and there was no ill will. Yeah, there was no ill will, there for sure.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and that's it. Many races just will never be not spoken about without rivalry be mentioned. That is synonymous.
Speaker 1:We were polar opposite kind of people Like he's that guy who's you know what? I'm coming to this race. I'm also going to the after party. I'm DJing at the after party. He was that kind of guy. He was a rock star kind of guy. You know what I mean. So a lot of people were infatuated with that because he had that rock star vibe about him. You know what.
Speaker 1:I mean, I was that quiet killer, so I was always quiet, but we always meet in the middle. You know what I'm saying. We will go out party sometimes, we'll have bottle service, we'll drink and everything like that, because we understood it was high competition. If you can't celebrate with the people that you battling with, then what are you celebrating for?
Speaker 2:You trying to get fucked up in the club. Hey double shots. Yeah, exactly there you go Before the race. I know you mentioned earlier, which I want to point out because this is such a crazy and beautiful story in itself. You're at the bar, jane on TV, and next thing is that competition mindset sparked you to get back up there, because you said you were going through something and then that was yeah, man, it sparked me to actually get up and train.
Speaker 1:So the next day I started getting back into it. I started training harder, I started training with the intent of really coming back and battling at the top.
Speaker 2:Was it just because he was the new kid on the block and getting that exposure, or what was it that got you fired up to get back out there?
Speaker 1:Flex. I can't even describe in words what it felt like. It was just that you know, when you see somebody that could be your equal or even better than you and you're not intimidated by it and actually you're intrigued by it what makes you tick, what makes you better than me? I want to figure it out. And can I be better than you? Can I get to that level? So it was always that hunger. It was always that hunger man. So watching him actually just truly inspired me. I had no fear at all. That's the guy right there. I want to race him.
Speaker 2:How much younger is he than you?
Speaker 1:He's eight or nine years younger.
Speaker 2:But then again, that motivation was there's all you needed. That little click. And next thing, how long did it take you to get back into? You would say that strive again.
Speaker 1:Not too long to be honest man. It took me about maybe a year and a half. 2012 was the Olympics in London, and I competed against him in London. I ran 9-7 in the finals, so I was back by then. It's just about opportunity, man, that's where it was, and I just seized the opportunity.
Speaker 2:What was it that took you out of that?
Speaker 1:Out of this sports period.
Speaker 2:Just losing that momentum and motivation.
Speaker 1:It was just life, man. Life was going to hit us so hard. I didn't lose a parent, I didn't grow up in poverty or I wasn't homeless or anything like that, so I didn't go through a dark time and that was actually my dark time. So, being away from the sport, I was depressed, man. I was depressed before I even knew what depression was. I was drinking and partying every day as if I was in Tennessee. And I remember that I became heavy on the alcohol.
Speaker 1:And one night I was driving my Porsche and I was going across this dark bridge and I realized I was like, bro, if I don't make it across this bridge, no one's going to know where to find me. No one's going to know where to find me. And I remember, before I even got on that bridge, a cop stopped me Just to say what's up, hello, and I know I smelled like alcohol. And he let me go. And I was like, if I get across this bridge, I'm changing shit, because I know where I can see. Rock bottom is coming. You know what I mean. So I was like let me change who I am, let me get back to where I need to be. Because it didn't feel like me. I just felt like I was just floating through life and it felt scary. It felt scary when you float through life. You don't have no real direction.
Speaker 2:I've been there. To be honest, that was a we call it two things Gypsy warning and a sign from God. That cop was definitely a reality check. Because, that could have gone a lot worse and the media and all could have been because easy pickings, right. But the fact you recognize that and then obviously, these other signs after the fact with the same bolt on TV, and you be like fuck, let's go.
Speaker 1:Oh yeah, definitely you got to listen to the whispers of the universe. They talk and they're always talking to me right at that point in time. Get your shit together.
Speaker 2:Absolutely, and I think that every great athlete, as long as they are. You fucking serious right now. What is going on outside? This is ridiculous. Welcome to Armageddon, I meant.
Speaker 1:You're running a tight ship.
Speaker 2:We don't normally podcast at this time, and yeah, look at him. Anyways, this is like with our podcast. It's two friends talking, that's what it is, and we get some obviously incredible people on you from all over, of course and now we can add you to the list and all the sound bites and all the fucking noises that come in the background to it.
Speaker 1:It's organic, it's organic.
Speaker 2:Exactly. But in landing the plane, what do you want to be known for? Outside of the medals? The legacy is obviously built. It's set in stone On the track. Everybody knows who you are and what you've accomplished.
Speaker 1:Outside of that though, besides being a fast mofo, a fighter, a human being, a lot of my, a lot of the things that drove me, especially in the second half of my career, was to make sure that my kids were proud to have the Gatlin name right, but also the fact of I fought for everything I earned. I mean, nothing was given to me, I fought for it. I fought for it twice, I mean I came back, got to the top of Mount Olympus and I came back and got to the top of Mount Olympus again. And but also, I'm human. I mean I bleed, I hurt, I cry, I have my bad days. It's like anybody else has their bad days, but I understand that I got to keep going forward. I got to keep pushing.
Speaker 1:If I dwell on what I'm at right now, I'm doing myself a disservice. I'm not growing myself to the level that I know I can get to, and that's what really hurts the most. I remember crying at one of the races that I was beat, and I cried because I let myself get beat, not because I was beat by another individual, because I didn't get. I didn't rise to the standard of execution that I knew I could rise to, and I let myself down. If I want to be remembered, I want to be remembered for being a fighter and being a human being.
Speaker 1:Beautiful man, appreciate it man.
Speaker 2:And that's just a chapter in many more to go. I obviously I've known you for the sprinter, but then getting to know all these new endeavors that you get into off camera, I'm excited to see all these new chapters and new feathers that are going to be added to the hat. I think your legacy is cemented in the sprinting world. I know it is one of the greatest to ever do it, but I think the most exciting thing is still yet to come. I appreciate that man.
Speaker 2:And I for one, as many of you guys should be following this guy. He's putting out incredible content, but more so on anything else An incredible human, obviously. Champion of champions, gold medalist and many more accolades, including dad. It's an honor to have you. You're a full circle moment for me and, yeah, we got to get in the next session. It's got to be in the gym, my friend. I think it's my world to then to give back to you in there.
Speaker 1:Hey, it's going to be my full circle then too, Because by the time we get all this done, man, I'm going to be like man. You remember when I talked about getting my gym going? Man, You're like yeah, you did it. Yeah, so I appreciate you, man, Definitely I appreciate you, man.
Speaker 2:Thank you again for staying an extra day for the podcast. We are going to get you set up tonight for a birthday celebration, happy birthday and from me and this legend, we are out.
