A Quote by Dane Bird-Smith
All my life, I have been surrounded by the track. The week I was born, Dad took me to training. I do recall at some stage being pushed around in a pram on a track. I have a lot of inspiration from him. To see him carrying the Sydney Olympic torch really ignited my dream. As a coach, he knows the in and outs of race walking and technique.
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I don't remember getting to see my dad race a lot until later in his career. I remember being at the track a lot. I still see a lot of pictures of myself around my dad at the track as a little kid. The racing I've known him more for is during his time racing with Ray Evernham. The rest of it was before I was ever around.
No one runs fast without an extreme amount of training. Like today, you see kids walking around dribbling a basketball. I had a bag with track shoes in it, and I used to go to the track every day.
I learned in high school that I was going to have to outwork people. I remember running around the track, training for football, and a faster guy ran past me. I just figured, I can outlast him. If I work harder than him, I'll beat him. And to this day I overprepare.
I felt like I already knew how to race by the time I was four. I was always at the race track with my dad. I watched him race thousands of laps in a sprint car standing on top of a trailer watching him, getting down and cleaning the mud off his car. That's just what I grew up doing.
My plan was to put him on a go-kart track when he was six years-old but he was with his mum at a track in Genk and he called me up crying because he saw a younger guy driving on the track. He said to me 'Daddy, I want to do this,' so when I got home from the Canadian GP, I bought him a go-kart and that's how he started.
I went and took golf lessons so Dad would let me play with him. I was just terrible... but I was able to have a wonderful time just walking around with Dad. I can see the real pleasure of that game.
This friend of mine had a terrible upbringing. When his mother lifted him up to feed him, his father rented the pram out. Then, when they came into money later, his mother hired a woman to push the pram - and he's been pushed for money ever since.
I love short track. I competed in short track, I was a world champion in 1986 but at that point in time it wasn't in the Olympic Games so I moved into long track. Short track is a blast to skate and it's a blast to watch.
I didn't get a ton of interest from colleges in baseball and football, but I was outstanding in track and had the sense that this would be my meal ticket... Track was a sport where I saw immediate improvement, and I had a lot of good support behind me... and the coaches had a lot of experience and pushed me in that direction for sure.
My family always helped me. I had people around me who always pushed me to be the best: my dad, my mum. My dad used to play and coach as well. But I wasn't born with shiny things.
My dad helped me understand songwriting because of him playing Babyface a lot. I don't even know if my dad realized that him just being him, him just living his life, loving what he loved, poured more into me than anybody ever would know.
My dad was a huge basketball influence in my life on and off the court. Playing for him and having him around, having him push me harder than maybe another coach would have was a huge blessing for me. Getting to play with my brother was an unreal experience at Oklahoma, in college, it's some of the funnest times I've had in basketball, and I'll cherish those memories forever.
I wasn't even born when dad swam in the Olympics. I've seen videos of some of his swims, although I don't think I've ever seen him in the Olympics. He's been a massive support right through my career, and it's good to have someone so close to talk to who knows all about what it's like to compete in an Olympic Games.
I'm good at separating my personal life from racing. When I'm at track, it's race time; when I'm away from it, other than the fact I'm training to be fit for it, there is nothing at home that makes me even want to think about racing. I just want to enjoy my life, and by the time the next race comes around, I'm ready and excited for it.
I went and played football so I can support my family like I wanted to. Track has been my real dream, to be an Olympic champion and God gave me another opportunity.
My grandmother has always been my biggest fan, and she was my whole life. The only thing that kept me living after her death is my commitment to training. I took my pain out on the track.
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