Fastest woman alive, but I cherish more the bronze won with a torn quad in 2013: Carmelita Jeter

Carmelita Jeter. Roll that word around. See how it sounds. Let it linger, giving you a taste of the feline grace and smooth power of the person who answers to the name, of the woman who scorched the world sprint scene for a decade and is today content to sit back and happily relive it all.
The world's second-fastest woman ever, here in India as brand ambassador for the Airtel Delhi Half Marathon 2019, was the Times Guest Sports Editor on Friday.Fighting off jet-lag yet sharp as ever, The Jet fielded questions like the pro she is.
Excerpts:
How has India treated you so far…
This is my first visit here. Everything's going on pretty fast. I experienced the ice cream at India Gate, that was pretty cool. You had electric cars with kids riding it, that was cool.
You are a sprinter but are associated here with half marathon….
I'm coaching now at Missouri State University, where I'm the sprints and hurdles coach. I'm also actually coaching two 800m girls back home, so I'm pretty excited about stepping into another lane. So coming here for the marathon is the same as me educating myself to be the best coach I can possibly be.

What elements of sprinting do you impart to the 800m training?
It matters which type of runners you have. If there's a runner which has a lot of sprint background, then it's kind of 50-50 thing. If it's a runner which is more distance kind, then you have to put a little bit of sprint into workout to get that full speed going during the race. I have two 800m runners that have a sprint background, so I am able to do a lot of 300m, 600m with them. I just did 1000m the other day and they didn't complain about it. I have great athletes who listen to me. It's important that your trainees listen to you, understand what you are trying to teach them.
Can you teach someone to be the fastest? 100m athletes are supposed to be of different breed…
I wouldn't say that you can teach someone because you can. Some people are genetically born and more gifted. But someone more genetically gifted doesn't mean they used their gift in reality. You can have someone more talented, bigger and faster. But, if they don't train, then what? You can train someone less gifted to beat them, of course. You can train someone to run fast. It's more about talent sometimes.
Who would you consider the most gifted 100m runners in the world?
Usain Bolt was extremely gifted, he has broken all the world records. But every decade, you have a gifted runner. Before Bolt, there was Asafa Powell. Before Powell, there was Maurice Greene. So, every decade you have a gifted runner. I wouldn't say that he (Bolt) was the most gifted, yes, he has broken world records. Every decade we see a phenomenal athlete emerging. Every decade we see a new star.
THAT WINNING MOMENT: Anchoring the US 4x100m relay team at London Olympics, Carmelita signals a new world record. (Getty Images)
Thessaloniki 2009, 100m, 10.67sec. A week later, Shanghai GP 2009, 100m, 10.64s. How confident were you of recording those times?
I was confident because my training was confident. When you are prepared, fear isn't going to be as strong. When you are excited about your practice and training, when you practice your craft every day, then you line up with shows and performances
You've spoken of fear not being strong, so what goes on inside your head then?
I would be lying if I'll say there was no fear. Yes, there was fear (during the record runs), but of a different kind. It's more not messing up things. I tried not to think about the race before the race. I was able to sleep well the night before. I did toss and turn, but was able to sleep. I would watch movies, talk over phone, just not to think about the race the next day.
When you are running the race over and over again in your head, you are bound to become mentally exhausted. You have to block those thought because by the time you reach the actual event, you need all of that energy which you probably use the night before to win the race 100 times in your mind.
Always try not to think about the race, think about the week of training and preparation. You have to get there and get the deal done. When I am heading into the stadium, all I think about is to execute my training and preparation. One thing you always remember execution wins you the races. If you don't execute, you will fail.
During Maurice Greene's time, there was this huge alpha male, strutting culture in the sprints. Usain Bolt changed it, making the track a happy, friendlier place. How is it with the women?
We weren't friends on the track. We definitely meant our business, just the same as men. It's just that we ran our business differently. When I was on the track, in Lane 3, the only person I was worried about was the 'Lane 3'. When you start worrying about (lanes) 8, 1 or 2, that's when you get beaten. Because you are too overly worried about others. I am not going to say that we hated each other because we didn't. Off track, we were like, 'Hi, how are you doing,' 'I heard you had a baby'. One thing about the women was there was a lot of respect. But, on the track, we were more about the business. We were assassins on the track (laughs).
ALL FOR CHARITY: Carmelita (left) at the Athletes vs Cancer Celebrity Flag Football Game in Los Angeles in 2018. (Getty Images)
In men's, the 100m record has been broken again and again. But in women's, Florence Griffith Joyner's 1988 record of 10.49 secs has stood the test of time…
Flo Jo's record has stood because nobody has broken it. I came closest to it, but it's still right up there. But all records are meant to be broken someday. Just like we broke 27-year-old record in 4x100 (London Olympics, 2012) when nobody thought that it would ever be broken. I am sure people think no one is going to break the 10.49s, but somebody, someday is going to break it. Hopefully, I will be coaching them (and) they will run 10.48s (laughs).
A decade ago, did you ever believe that you could break the record for the fastest woman?
You know, I was actually there already. To run fast, you need combination of things like perfect track, perfect energy, right people to train you, positive vibes. I would have loved to break it, but it wasn't my day and time. It's possible for a human being to run 10.49s and it could happen someday.
Of course, I believed that I could do it. But believing and actually doing it are two different things. Having said that, you have to always keep on believing.

Your reaction at the 4x100m finish in London is one of the iconic images of modern athletics...
There was nothing surprising about that reaction. We knew we were ready for it. We were a group of women who had come together to win the race. Many a times, teams will come together because the country has put them together to compete. But, we were different, we had a chemistry and believed in each other. We knew we will win. There was a happy and confident energy.
Of the four (Tianna Madison, Allyson Felix, Bianca Knight and Carmelita Jeter), many believed you carried the team…
I am not going to say that. I didn't carry the team. We all ran amazingly and that's why we were successful. You can't say that one person won it for all. If other three didn't do the kind of things, no one was going to win. It was definitely a team effort. Look, the US has had several faster teams than us over the Olympic Games, over certain periods of times. But they never broke the world record. So, was it a bad having four of us people, or was it a bad for people to actually believing in us to do the job? The team we had was not faster than Chryste Gaines, Torri Edwards, Nanceen Perry, Passion Richardson in Sydney 2000. But we put the team together and believed in each other. From the chemistry and energy which we felt during the training, we knew we were ready.
How much of a track purist are you? How do you see the manner in which Eliud Kipchoge broke the two-hour barrier in the marathon last week?
Well, records are supposed to be broken. We are not supposed to sit on records.
Bolt had 3 Olympics. You just had one. Do you have regrets that you couldn't get another Olympics?
I have had a great career. I got three medals in one Olympics, broke a world record, I'm the second fastest woman, and the fastest woman alive. When you're chasing things, you're not happy. I am a pretty happy person. Knowing that I have achieved so much - of course I would have loved to go to another Olympics, I would have loved that, but it wasn't in my cards to do so. So if I harp and cry and have that regret then I am like an athlete that is chasing something. And, I'm not an athlete that needed to continue to chase anything. When you're fulfilled, you can walk away.

Olympic medals or world records, what's more dear?
Everyone loves an Olympic medal because that's the highlight of being an athlete. Just like in NBA it's winning the Finals or in NFL it's winning the Super Bowl. As a track athlete, winning the Olympic medal was definitely the highlight. That's the first thing people mention when they see you - they say Olympian, Olympic gold medallist. But my best medal was the bronze that I won at the 2013 World Championships (Moscow) when I ran with a torn quad. It just meant more, it showed my perseverance, my mental capacity, how mentally strong I am - it was the hardest medal to get for me because I had to dig deep. So that's the medal that I cherish most because it means a little more. When you've to fight for something, like really fight, and you're not at your best and you still pull it off, it just has a different tinge to it.
Where do you, as a woman athlete, stand on the Caster Semenya episode?
I never had to run against Caster. So when someone asks me this, I tell them go and ask the people who actually ran with her because that's when you get your truthful answer.
What's the biggest crisis in athletics today?
The biggest setback for athletics is lack of funding with getting the sport on television. Another setback is not having enough races in the US. So the sport in itself in the US is declining because for the lack of funding for showing it on the television. We have less meets in the US now than we ever had. We used to have the Adidas Classic, the New York Meet, the USA Championships, and now we're down to two or three meets. The sport itself is declining for lack of attention. The World Championships just passed and you could barely find the World Championships to watch them.
We should be talking about how we could upgrade the sport again. Let's talk about how we could get the funding back. Let's talk about how we could make the sport bigger again. Let's talk about how you can get more India athletes at the Olympic Games. Let's talk about how to make young girls to would want to be in athletics. Let's talk about that…
Heat played a huge factor in Doha recently.
If the championship is held in a colder place, then the distance runners run better and the sprinters don't run better. So if it is really raining like in Helsinki then sprinters aren't running fast and the distance runners are running fast. So the situation can't be always a win-win one. There is always going to be a situation when there will be one particular event where an athlete will be upset. Say we are running in Netherlands, then the sprinter is going to be upset, but the person who is running the 5000 will say 'Amazing!'
What's your dream track?
Well, I love Monaco's track because it was right next to the hotel we stayed at. It's a fast track and so when the wind comes in, sometimes you get a little assistance (laughs).
Can you break down the 100m run for us?
When you start, you get in the blocks, you set your block. For me, I was taught dry phases were always important. If you watch Maurice Greene and all those runners, who have also trained under John Smith, you know that they are dry for about 20-25 steps. It becomes harder, sometimes, for a woman to stay down as long. Shelly (Ann Fraser-Pryce Fraser) does a really good job of staying down long.
I teach my girls 15 steps. So you're dry for 15 steps and then kind of gradually come up. And then as you're moving through the line, you are standing tall, swinging your arms, all of your energy should be going towards the finish line. Sometimes people run like this (makes upwards hands movement) like a pole. You waste so much energy like that instead of going this way (points ahead). One thing I was always taught was to jump down the track. So you're drying in 15 steps, you come up, hands to your cheek, to your waist (imitates hand movements while running), cheek to waist, knees up high and you run through the finish line.
My coach would always say that he knew that I'd run the know whether I've run the race well if I could stop right after the finish line. Because if you could stop right after the finish line, then you've stopped a long time ago in the race. Basically you should be able to come all the way to the middle of the curve.
There is a feeling that global superstars don't stand for their community anymore...
I don't think people aren't standing up. That wouldn't be true. People pick and choose what they stand up for is the difference. One of my biggest pushes is for breast cancer awareness. I lost my aunt in 2012, she was diagnosed in 2009. So my push is a little different. My push is more on the health side. Different athletes push for different things because you always want to push for something that you are near and dear to. So if I can talk about breast cancer because it comes from a place of love, from a place of heart, so that mean you're going to listen to me a little more. You are going to take in more. So you're always going to go towards a thing that you're passionate about. You fight what you want to fight.