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Go out hard and don't look back
Four years after the Olympics came to his hometown of Atlanta, Georgia, 21-year-old Angelo Taylor is headed to the Olympic Games in Sydney. Taylor, a management student at Morris Brown, won the 400-meter hurdles at the U.S. Olympic Trials with a personal best time of 47.62 seconds -- the fastest time in the world this year. Check out Taylor's diary on CNNSI.com as he prepares to compete in Sydney.
August 22, 2000
When the Olympics came to my hometown, Atlanta, Ga., in 1996, I wanted to be part of it. I had just graduated from high school, though, and didn't have a time in my event -- the 400-meter hurdles -- that met the qualifying standard needed to enter the United States Olympics Trials. So, I set my sights on the 2000 Olympic Games and worked hard for the next four years to improve. I attended Georgia Tech, where I worked with my coach, Grover Hinsdale, and then turned pro two years ago. I worked on my start, my speed, my endurance and my technique. And my times started to improve. At the World Championships in 1999, I was expected to win my event. I thought I would, too. But I made a mental mistake. I went out too easy in the first qualifying round -- and was out-leaned at the tape. I didn't get to move on. That was a huge disappointment. It also taught me a lesson: Run hard every race, every time. Attack from the get-go. Go out hard and don't look back. That is the approach that I took into the 2000 U.S. Olympics Trials. When I arrived in Sacramento, it was with the idea that I was going to run fast and finish strong in every race. That is what I did, running a 47.62 to win the event and qualify for the Sydney Games. The time was off the world record, which is 46.78, but I am not concerned about records right now, only with running well and winning a gold medal. My mother, Subrena Glenn-Everett, a guidance counselor at an elementary school in Atlanta, will be coming over to watch me run. My 12-year-old sister will go with her, but my 19-year-old brother will be staying behind. But when I get back, I expect there will be quite a party.
I'm heading out to Europe to run a few meets before the Olympics, to help me stay at my peak. Then, I'll come back to Atlanta before leaving for San Diego on Sept. 8 and then leaving for Sydney on Sept. 10. As an athlete, you want to get there a little early to get used to the climate and to the time change. I'm running very well, now. I feel real strong, and it's great to be the best at my event in the country. But it hasn't always been that way. I was a fast kid, always beating the others in races around the neighborhood, but it wasn't until I was in the 10th grade, running junior varsity track at Southwest Dekalb High School, that I started winning regularly. Now, running the 400-meter hurdles -- a race that Edwin Moses and Kevin Young (the current world record holder) mastered -- is almost down to a science for me. I know that there 20 steps to the first hurdle, 13 steps to the next eight hurdles, 14 steps to the last two hurdles, then all speed to the finish line. I've been thinking about winning a gold medal a lot, recently. About crossing the finish line. Winning. Thinking, "It's finally over." A lot of friends come up to me every day and say that they know I'm going to come back with the gold. It's as if it's a sure thing. I wonder, sometimes, like, "Dang, what if I don't get the gold medal?" I will go and do my best. Pretty much, if I run like I should, I will win. I am going to take it one race at a time. But you won't see me making the same mistake I made at the Worlds last year. I will take it one round at a time, and run hard each round. Who is my main competition? Everybody! I am not taking any prisoners. And with the speed that I have, it will be hard for others to beat me.
-- Angelo
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