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Team USA coaches, athletes meet the media in Osaka

Posted August 23rd, 2007 at 8:00 AM by Martin Kennedy

Section: News & Results, Track & Field

Team USA head coaches Pat Henry and Amy Deem and athletes Bryan Clay, Allyson Felix, Sanya Richards (Pictured right), Michelle Perry, and Wallace Spearmon appeared at a Team USA press conference Thursday in Osaka.

Excerpts from Thursday’s media event, courtesy of USA Track & Field, are as follows:

PAT HENRY
(Team USA Men’s Head Coach)

Q: What’s the mission of the Team USA coaching staff?

A: As coaches here with this group, our main goal is to get people to feel comfortable with the environment and give them every opportunity to be successful. The coaches have worked very hard with them up to this point, and our job is to try to organize some things for them to help them be successful.

Q: How are the facilities, transportation and logistics working out thus far?

A: The facilities have been very good. We’ve have a very nice hotel and this is a very gracious society and these people have been very nice.

Q: You had a very successful training camp prior to coming to Osaka, could you talk about that?

A: We did. I think the acclimation period here is pretty good. It takes about three or four days and these people have all been here and it’s been a good time for that to happen. We have no major injuries, we have lots of little things but no major hurts, so I think they’re excited about things.

Q: Team USA won 25 medals in 2005 in Helsinki, do you think this team is capable of matching or surpassing that total?

A: We’re going to try to do everything we can to put our athletes in a position to be successful. I don’t think that you sit down and count medals.

AMY DEEM (Team USA Women’s Head Coach)

Q: What are your expectations of the athletes you’ll be leading here in Osaka?

A: I’m very excited about being here. I think we have a great team and I think our athletes are ready to compete well. Although we’re a young team we have quite a bit of experience and I think that will help us to be successful. Being in the village, especially since we moved from the training camp, you can see the excitement, and I think it’s going to be a great championships for the women.

Q: Do you look for many of the younger members of the squad to learn things from the veterans that can help them be successful?

A: I’ve watched them the way they’ve handled themselves all summer at different competitions and you can’t tell them that they haven’t been here before. I understand that the World Championships is a different place, but if you put an athlete in Paris in a filled stadium on their first time over and they compete well I think that shows that they’re ready to compete at this level. I’ve seen nothing in their preparation that shows us that they are not ready to accept the challenge and perform well here.

Q: What are your goals in preparing this team to compete well in Osaka?

A: I think Pat and I have worked very closely in making the environment conducive for success and trying to perceive the problems that may arise for the athletes and really putting them in a situation that allows them to have success. The more comfortable and familiar they are with their surroundings and the fewer distractions there are, the better the environment is for them to be successful so they can focus on what they have to do and perform well.

BRYAN CLAY (Reigning World Decathlon Champion)

Q: With all your injury problems the last couple years, are you coming into this World Championships a bit under the radar despite entering as the reigning world champion?

A: I’ve been the underdog many times. I don’t think I was picked to win a medal this year and I’m not sure why. Track & Field News didn’t even have me in the medal count. So for me this is usually the position that I’m in and it was the same in Athens, and I don’t think there were many who thought I’d do well in Helsinki either. It’s a familiar position for me and where I like to be. I like to know that I’m the underdog and then go out and show everybody that I can do well.

Q: How do you expect to do here?

A: All of my throws have been going very well and technically I’ve been doing very well, so I expect to be on American record pace throughout the meet, but more importantly for me I expect to be ahead, or at my personal best, and how far ahead I don’t know, that will depend on the conditions and how the competition is going. All in all, with no mistakes, I think it’s going to be a very good competition.

Q: Are you concerned about the weather playing havoc with the technical aspects of your competition?

A: You always worry about the weather when you’re a decathlete because you’re out there for so long, but you just keep it in the back of your mind that everybody is competing in the same conditions and you know it’ll come down to your mental toughness and how much you want it. The crowd will play a big role and if they can help us to get excited you’re going to see very good performances.

ALLYSON FELIX (Reigning World 200m Women’s Champion, Olympic silver medalist)

Q: How are you feeling heading into the Championships?

A: I feel really good. Everything is going according to schedule. I feel so blessed just to be healthy and I want to take advantage of it because I feel really good.

Q: What are your anticipations here?

A: I’m kind of anxious to get on the track and get started instead of just waiting around to get going.

Q: Are you getting tired of just practicing all the time?

A: Oh yeah, but you kind of expect it and you just have to wait it out until it’s time to compete.

SANYA RICHARDS (2006 IAAF World Athlete of the Year)

Q: How are you feeling with the Championships about to begin?

A: I’m feeling really good. I’m really looking forward to the 200 and really running well there, and I’m excited about the track meet.

Q: Have you gotten over the disappointment of not competing in the 400 meters?

A: Oh yeah. I had to get over that really quickly when I had to step back on the track to make the team in the 200. I’m definitely over that and I believe everything happens for a reason. I want to be known as a complete sprinter and adding the 200 to my forte is exactly want I wanted to do. I would’ve love to have been able to win the 400 especially here at the World Championships, but I have a chance to win the 200 and of course hopefully, next year everything will go according to plan and I’ll be an Olympic champion at 400.

Q: Who will be your toughest competition here in the 200?

A: No doubt Allyson Felix and Veronica Campbell. I think Torri Edwards will run really well too, but I think Allyson will be the favorite going in, she really knows the 200 and she’s the defending world champion, so I think she’ll be the toughest competition, but I think I’m prepared to run with her.

MICHELLE PERRY (Reigning World 100m hurdles Women’s Champion)

Q: How is your health?

A: I’m healthy and looking forward to the 27th, 28th and 29th (of August when she will compete) so everything is on pace.

Q: Are you getting anxious to compete?

A: No, I’m just focusing on practice day to day, and taking it one day at a time.

Q: Being the defending world champion, is there extra pressure on you now?

A: I definitely have a target on my back because everybody wants to be the world champion. I guess it’s pressure if you allow it to be, but I just simply go out there and do what I have to do to keep the success that I do have. You don’t worry about everyone, but you are aware of who has the potential of taking it from you.

WALLACE SPEARMON (2005 World Outdoor Championships 200m silver medalist, 2006 World Cup Champion)

Q: After winning the silver medal at the World Championships in Helsinki, would it be wrong to assume that you have even more on your mind here in Osaka?

A: In 2007 I’m shooting for nothing less than gold. That’s my main focus this year.

Q: Could you talk about your season up to this point?

A: In the beginning of the season I ran a few indoor meets going into outdoors, and everything’s been going well. I’m staying healthy and everything’s been focused on USA’s and towards the World Championships. Now it’s time to perform.

Q: There’s so much depth in the 200 meters these days than perhaps ever before, does that keep you motivated to be the best you can be?

A: We have a group of young guys who all want to be the best. None of us like to lose and all of us like to win. Two of the guys are at home right now, Xavier (Carter) and Walter Dix, but myself, Tyson (Gay) and Usain Bolt (of Jamaica) are all here and it’ll be a great competition.

Q: Is an American sweep possible in the 200 meters here?

A: We have myself, Tyson and Rodney Martin, and we have a great chance of repeating. We can’t do a one through four like we did in 2005, but one through three is very possible.

Fans can watch Team USA on national television broadcasts on NBC and Versus, or online via live, daily webcast at www.wcsn.com. For complete TV listings, visit http://www.usatf.org/events/2007/IAAFWorldOutdoorChampionships/TVSchedule.asp

For more information on Team USA at the World Outdoor Championships, visit www.usatf.org/events/2007/IAAFWorldOutdoorChampionships/