Nightcap - Nightcap - Best of Olympics Interviews: Noah Lyles, Michael Johnson and Gabby Thomas join

Episode Date: September 11, 2024

Shannon Sharpe and Chad "Ochocinco" Johnson relive the best moments of their interviews during the 2024 Paris Olympics. 100m champ Noah Lyles stops by to discuss how he came the world's fastest man, criticism he got from NBA players, his back and forth with Anthony Edwards and if he will ever race Tyreek Hill. Later, Unc and Ocho are joined by Men's 1500m Gold Medalist Bobby Finke, 200m Gold Medalist, US track and field legend Michael Johnson, and much more!03:10 - Intro03:53 - Noah Lyles joins23:00 - Bobby Finke joins31:37 - Gabby Thomas joins38:00 - Michael Johnson joins49:44 - The 400 mixed relay team join54:30 - Rai Benjamin joins01:04:30 - Nyjah Huston joins(Timestamps may vary based on advertisements.)#Volume #ClubSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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In the fall of 1986, Ronald Reagan found himself at the center of a massive scandal that looked like it might bring down his presidency. It became known as the Iran-Contra affair. The things that happened were so bizarre and insane, I can't begin to tell you. Please do. To hear the whole story, listen to Fiasco, Iran Contra on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

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Issued as one bonus bet based on amount of initial losing bet. Bonus bets expire 168 hours after issuance. See dkng.com slash promos for deposit wagering and eligibility restrictions terms and responsible gaming resources hello ladies and gentlemen and thank you for joining us for another episode of nightcap i am your favorite of shannon sharp He's your favorite number 85, the rock runner extraordinaire, the bingo ring of fame honoree,

the pro bowler, the all pro, the legendary, you know it from Samo Juco, the Oregon State, all the way to the Bengals where he made a name for himself and from Liberty City, that's Chad Ocho Cinco Johnson, but you can call him Ocho. Please make sure you hit that like button.

Please make sure you hit that subscribe button. Please make sure you hit that subscribe button. And guys, make sure you go subscribe to the Nightcap podcast feed wherever you get your podcasts from. Every subscriber counts. And remember, you are the reason we enjoy a level of success that we've enjoyed thus far. Thank you. With no further ado, we got no more introductions to make.

Here he is, the current world's fastest man, Olympic gold medalist in the 100 meters. He's a three-time 200-meter champ at the World Championship. He anchored the gold medal winning team in the World Championship last year. Here he is, ladies and gentlemen, Noah Lyon. Noah, how you doing, bro? Feeling good, feeling good. That race. Leading into it, you ran your fastest time, the Diamond League meet.

I think you ran 9.81. Yeah. You know, Kashane Thompson has run 9.77, and everybody's talking. That's the man to beat. That's the man to beat. And you had never run sub 9.8. To run it in the finals when you absolutely had to have it. Tell me what was your strategy going into that race and how were you able to pull it off? To be honest, I had many strategies. They all kind of, you know, were thrown out the window.

The closer and closer we got to the finals, you know, in the first round, I'm like, OK, you okay, I'm going to work on my first 60. I'm going to get out. But I have ADD. So my brain is working on overdrive. It's like, well, we could get out easy and then hit it hard, or we can get it hard and then shut it down, or we can run fast all the way. And the problem was I thought too much, and then I

underestimated my competition. It's like, nope, see, now you messed up. I'm like, all right, all right, I need to calm my my brain down i needed to get it set on one goal so we get to the semi-finals now i'm like all right aggression mindset power everything like that and it produced you know a really good time 93 you know it tied again my second fastest time what which was my pr before london so i'm like all right you know i'm good i'm good you know, I feel I can go even faster. You know, I didn't want to get beat, you know? So here I am coming, getting second in the semis. I'm like, you know, what's going on? So my, my therapist calls me and she's like, you're running with aggression. You're running

with a Noah that is not you. And I'm like, okay, fair enough. That that's not me. You know, that that's an older way of thinking. That's just not how I run. It's like you need to run free, need to run with no pressure. Just go out there and run. And I'm like, all right, cool. That's what I'm gonna do. I'm gonna go out there and I'm gonna just run. And she said, if you control the crowd, you control the race. And I know I'm like, well, shoot, that's that's how I do. I'm gonna show me. That's that's what I do. You know, all I got to do do is be right if that's all it takes i'm gonna win the race but we get you know we're getting out there i'm just like just be me just be me just be me we get out there and you know

they're doing the intros and you know because shane comes out because shane he ends up yelling and i'm like oh hold on that's my that's me that's what i need but i didn't hold him for it i i liked it though because i love to see more personalities come up than just look at the camera, say hi, walk out. It's like, no, no, bring that energy, like get me excited to run. So, you know, there's another YouTube video that NBC put out where it's like you can see us in the back of the car, you know, Fred on the side, you know, banging on the wall. It's like, let's go. You know, Shane's doing his yelling. I'm over here singing Dreams and Nightmares. I'm like, yeah know, banging on the wall. It's like, let's go. You know, because Shane's doing his yelling.

I'm over here singing Dreams and Nightmares. I'm like, yeah, this is an Olympic final. This is an Olympic final. So, you know, I go out. I'm jumping around. I'm running past the cameras. I'm yelling at the crowd. And they over here like, yeah, excited.

I'm like, yeah, this is my race now. And, you know, from that point on, it was just repeating, you know, God got me. God got me. God got me. Because at this point, I've done everything that I need to do to win this race. Everything that I need to do has been done in months in advance. You know, we're already here. Now it's just a believing in myself that it's going to get done.

And it's not about running fast times. It's about running to win. The times will come when you run to win. No, I think you got a lot of pushback. You run the world championship last year and unprompted. You said you see these hats and they have world champions on it, which we've always called

the basketball players. We've always called the NBA, the NFL, the Super Bowl champ. We've always called MLB. We've always called the world champ. What? And I think that's where a lot of the blowbacks,

because it seems like one of America's best athletes were taking another was taking a shot at some of america's best athletes and i think it kind of put you under the eye because then you know basketball players said what they said some football players chimed in also and then for the first time i actually saw some of these athletes like openly rooting against you. I mean, you might not, I mean, something you would probably never see in another country. You're not going to see, uh,

the Dutch, somebody from Dutch rooting against Femke or rooting against, uh, uh, Carson, uh, he's from Norway or Inga Britson. We're not going to see that.

Do you think you brought some of this on yourself with that comment or what were you hoping to accomplish by making that comment? I think the last question that you asked, what was I trying to accomplish by making the comment is the most important one. Everybody sees the clip. Everybody sees the thumbnail. Everybody sees the 16 seconds,

but did anybody decide to ask what was the question that he, that was asked to me? The question that was asked to me is how do you feel knowing that when you go back to your own country, unlike these other countries that celebrate their athletes on such a humongous

stage, when Taboho won his gold medal, he went back to a stadium filled with 30,000 people celebrating. Yes. When I showed up back home on my filled with 30,000 people celebrating. Yes. When I showed up back home on my flight, of course, some people recognized me. And I'm very thankful for that. But there was there was no 30,000 people.

There was no limo driver ready to take me home. There was no bus waiting. If I had my mom, I had my pops and they were ready to take me home and I was ready to go to bed right right there was none of that there was none of that the difference I can understand

the difference because we have a different way in America of seeing our sports the problem that I had was you were given the title of a world champion. The people who weren't facing the world. That's where I drew the line and said, that's hurtful because you already have those. But you're given the title of people who aren't doing that. Nothing wrong.

With being a national champion, they are great. They just didn't have the title. Is Nikola Jokic one of the best players in the world? I'm going to be honest. I don't know who that is. Okay. Luka Doncic.

Is he not one of the... Okay. Giannis Antetokounmpo. Yeah. Okay. What's the question? Are they good? They're great.

They're great players. Great players. But they're world players. They're not from America. And the problem that you're going to run into, Noah, is that Botswana doesn't have a whole lot of athletes to celebrate, as opposed to Americans. If you look at probably Kenya and Ethiopia and Sudan

and some of these other countries, the Dutch, the Norwegian, we got NBA, we got MLB, we got football, we got baseball. And so, yeah, teams, they have parades. Nobody is getting, for the most part, even Michael Phelps. I don't know if they, did they have, how many people showed up at MIT? I don't know if Michael Phelps won eight goals. I don't know if he had 30,000 show up. I know they might have had a big contingent cheering him on.

I just think that the difference is Noah, is that in a sport, in a country like Botswana, or you're talking about a country, he's their hero. He is, to Botswana, he's LeBron James. That's what he is to Botswana. Yeah, I agree.

Usain Bolt, what he is to Jamaica, he's LeBron James. That's what he is to Bo Sparks. Usain Bolt, what he is to Jamaica, he's their Michael Jordan. I agree. Michael Jordan went to Chicago, they showed up for the parade, but probably when he went back to Wilmington where he was from, ain't no 30,000 show up for it.

No, I agree. No, I agree. No, I agree. A hundred percent. I'm not expecting that. I'm not expecting the parade. I'm just showing that the difference of how our sport is shown in, because the question that was asked again was how does it feel knowing that when I go back home, it's not what somebody like to Boho is getting when he goes home.

And again, I know what it and again i know what it i know what it is i know we have you know football and basketball baseball golf those are all above my sport i know that i'm cool with that i of course i want to make that better but i understand that again the only problem i had was you have world champions, but you're giving the title to people who aren't facing the world. World champions, yeah. And you're giving them the title of world champion. That's the only thing. No, can you provide some

context? There's this Time Magazine story that came out that revealed that while you were negotiating your contract with Adidas, they offered you an invite to a shoe release for Anthony Edwards. And I think everybody's read the quote. Can you provide context for what transpired? I mean, look, we don't need to get into negotiations,

but what transpired is what's being reported. How accurate is that? So what was going on at the time? I was in negotiations for over a year with Adidas to get the contract. Them offering me to go to Ants for shoe release had nothing to do with the contract. They just thought it would be cool that I would show up as one of their Adidas athletes. Unfortunately, they asked for it very late. They asked for it probably about two weeks in advance. And I was already scheduled

to walk in a Hugo Boss show in Milan, which was a day and a half before his shoe release. So at first we were trying to figure out ways that we can get there. And it was like, yeah, this isn't going to work. There's no way that I'd be able to walk

and then get on the flight and have energy enough to be able to go to this event because it wasn't just a shoe release. They were also going to have us go to a little baby concert and we were going to be just signing autographs. It was going to be a lot. It was going to be a lot. And I was already drained from, you know, flying over, already doing the fashion shows, doing the walks, you know, going to other events. You know, I was already drowned. Like, there's no way that I'd be able to physically do this. I agree with you. Flying overseas and then it's someone that's flown

overseas and then come back, you're kind of jet lagged. But you probably should have left it as that. It's that the other stuff where you get into trouble, where people are picking apart what you said, is because like, hold on, I'm the world champ and he's getting this and you have the wherewithal, the forward thinking to see that he's going to be special.

And why can't you guys see that with me? Now, I will say. Being very vulnerable in this moment, I felt very unheard at that moment with Adidas. OK, I felt very unheard. And we and to give an example, people do a lot of things. What do you do when you feel unheard? You try to shout louder. Yes. And I felt that I've had many conversations trying to shout and it hadn't gotten through.

Right. And unfortunately that was one of my moments where I felt I had to shout to even get them to look my way. Okay. In that time article. And cause they asked me if I wanted to take it out and I decided I was not going to, because I had to stand on my decision at that moment.

I felt that I had to shout to get even a conversation about what I wanted to happen or what was going on at that point. I mean, that's to be at that point to move forward. Could it be handled better? Probably. Was there more ways to do it? Probably. But in that moment,

I felt that I had taken so many steps in other ways that I had to shout at this moment. Do you regret your decision not to have that removed from the article? I don't believe so at the moment. This conversation

could be had in a year and I could have a different answer. At this moment, I do not feel so. Because I still feel if I did not shout at that moment, I would not have had a preamble to, oh, he is serious.

And when I said it at the Olympics, they knew it was still on my heart. In track and field, there have only been two men that's ever had a shoot. Michael Johnson and Usain Bolt. Two. Yeah. Michael Johnson had the world record in the 100 and the 200 and he don't know anything but gold medals I think he's a four time world champ in the 400 two time world champ

in the 200 he's a two time champ in the 400 and he's a one time champ in the 200 and you say I just say Usain Bolt I don't need to say anything else why do you believe that you deserve to be in that category with those guys

looking at their accomplishments not to say you're not done yet but looking at their accomplishment accomplishments looking at yours why did no allows believe he deserves a shoot the reason i believe it is twofold one we look at michael johnson michael johnson is he Johnson, he is a track guy through and through. That's all. He's track and he loves track and that's what he decided his lane was going to be. I don't feel that in his time period we had the

social media, we had the marketing, the self-marketing to be able to push it forward. Of course, he had Nike and Nike was doing very well, but they wanted to keep it. I don't think that they really wanted to keep pushing it, and I don't know if

Michael Johnson wanted to do the work or not to market it as well. I don't know how much they had in their contract to keep that shoe alive. That's where I'm going to leave it with that. The time period wasn't right with you saying, but the CEO that actually gave,

um, both his shoe is now what it is. And I've, I've had conversations and I think you saying was very excited in the moment. And then he got excited about something else when it was time to do, you know, the, the underground work, the marketing, the commercials and then he got excited about something else when it was time to do you know the the underground work the marketing right the commercials and stuff like that and that scared a lot of

companies i think in that moment also you saying is jamaican the marketing in the u.s is different i feel one of our in the u., is a, it turns out when it comes to marketing entertainment and marketing is the U S is bread and butter. We know how to do that. Like we, that's just our thing. So now that I'm an American in a time period where self marketing is very popular and it's very, you know, it's strong you know everybody wants to do it everybody's looking at they want the brand they want the identity you know a person's identity is more marketable sometimes than a brand at times and and now we see them as brands i know that i can do the work i know that i I can get the medals. But at the end of the day, I think that it comes down to, guys, you now have the title of the world's fastest man.

What do you do with that title? You tell them, don't you want to have the shoes of the world's fastest man? Don't you want to put those shoes on your feet? I'm wearing the same shoes as the world's fastest man. It's going to be so fast. It's the same thing. But the shoes that the world's fastest man. It's going to be so fast. It's the same thing with my shoes. But the shoes that the world's fastest man wears, track spikes.

No, he only wears track spikes on the track. But he trains in tennis shoes. And when you see him out, he's in tennis shoes. And when people go out and run marathons, they wear tennis shoes. And when you're in the gym, you wear tennis shoes. Guess what? You're wearing tennis shoes. Everybody wears tennis shoes. And when you're in the gym, you wear tennis shoes. Guess what? You wearing tennis shoes.

Everybody wears tennis shoes. And the only reason that you don't see more marketing for tennis shoes and individual runners is because they just haven't done it. Tyreek say you want some of, you know, I can't believe you know who Tyreek is. Don't do that. Noah,

you know who re-killed? I'm going to be honest. I forget his name all the time. I'm going to be honest. If it's not about track and it ain't about League of Legends, my... Yeah, I got... He's saying come get some.

He's saying come get some. Tyreek is just chasing clout. The man, anytime somebody fast comes up, he says he wants to race them. If he really wanted to race people, he would have showed up like DK Metcalf. And the man raced in the 60 meters this year in the Masters Division.

The man dodged a smoke. I don't got time for that. Reek. Hey, Reek, he calling you out? Reek. Hey, you know what? Let's get a couple of, hey, let's see if we can get some sponsors.

Would you be willing to race Reek in a 60 or 100 if we got some sponsors to put some money up? He's challenging me. We're racing in 100. We can race. If we got some sponsors to put some money up, he's challenging me. We're racing in a hundred. We can raise it. If he's serious about it, if he's truly serious about it, I'm not talking about you just talking on the internet and you ain't actually coming to me and talking to my agent and saying, let's set something up. You are seriously about it. I like that. You'll see me on the track. Made for this mountain is a podcast that exists to empower listeners to rise above their struggles, break free from the chains of trauma, and silence the negative voices that have

kept them small. Through raw conversations, real stories, and actionable guidance, you can learn to face the mountain that is in front of you. You will never be able to change or grow through the thing that you refuse to identify. The thing that you refuse to say, hey, this is my mountain, this is the struggle, this is the thing that's in front of me, you can't make that mountain move without actually diving into that. May is Mental Health Awareness Month, a time to conquer the things that once felt impossible

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if all you're doing is living to please people. Your mountain is that. Listen to Made for This Mountain on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. I'm Michael Kassin, founder and CEO of 3C Ventures and your guide on Good Company, the podcast where I sit down with the boldest innovators shaping what's next. In this episode, I'm joined by Anjali Sood, CEO of Tubi, for a conversation that's anything but

ordinary. We dive into the competitive world of streaming, how she's turning so-called niche into mainstream gold, connecting audiences with stories that truly make them feel seen. What others dismiss as niche, we embrace as core. It's this idea that there are so many stories out there, and if you can find a way to curate and help the right person discover the right content, the term that we always hear from our audience is that they feel seen. Get a front row seat to where media, marketing, technology, entertainment, and sports collide. And hear how leaders like Anjali are carving out space and shaking things up a bit in the

most crowded of markets. Listen to Good Company on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. In the fall of 1986, Ronald Reagan found himself at the center of a massive scandal that looked like it might bring down his presidency. Did you make a mistake in sending arms to Tehran, sir? No. It became known as the Iran-Contra affair. And I'm not taking any more questions in just a second. I'm going to ask...

I'm Leon Nafok, co-creator of Slow Burn. In my podcast, Fiasco, Iran-Contra, you'll hear all the unbelievable details of a scandal that captivated the nation nearly 40 years ago, but which few of us still remember today. The things that happened were so bizarre and insane, I can't begin to tell you. Please do. To hear the whole story, listen to Fiasco, Iran Contra on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. He's a two-time Olympic champ at 1,500 meters. He's a one-time Olympic champ at 1,500 meters. He's a one-time Olympic gold medalist at 800 meters. And he won the silver medal in the 800 meter in the Paris.

He swam at the University of Florida under the great Anthony Nesty. And he saved the man. Because had he not won a gold medal, it would have been the first time since 1900, no individual man had won a swimming gold medal. Welcome to the show, Bobby Fink. Bobby, how you doing? I'm doing good. Thank you for having me.

And over 100 years, had you not did what you did, the men would have been shut out of the individual goals. Did that add pressure to you? Oh, yeah. I mean, I'm someone who personally likes reading all the comments and everything um, so I'm, like I read the story's like major news site I was I was going through like every article reading every comment everything and like There's a bunch of comments saying like bobby better be listening to like lose yourself on repeat right now or something because he's he's a last chance

um, I I knew about The record going in before i knew how hard it was going to be um and you know i'm just fortunate enough i was able to get it done because i did not want my name attached to that to for that to be go down um so yeah we got it done now are there any middle strategies that you go through to prepare for a high competition race especially like for one represent an entire country you're over in paris it's the olympics none of us have meddled in all the pressure and the eyes are riding on you are there are there any mental strategies that you do any superstitions yeah um i i don't know if i really got i call them like superstitions for me um but everything is really just how I prepare for the race um especially over at the Olympic Village the I don't know if you guys

have heard but like the food was um very controversial um a bit um food wasn't the best but I had so much pasta um just in the days leading up. I was carbo loading like crazy and I hate pasta. Like I, Oh my God. But like in the day leading up to that 1500, a lot of it was motivation on how angry I was after the hundred when I lost. Right.

Because a silver medal is great and everything. I understand that. But for me, deep down, I was pissed after that race because I didn't win. And I needed that kind of fire in me to be motivated for the 1500 because I want to stand on top of that podium. I want to hear the national anthem.

I haven't heard it much all meet, and I need to hear it, and I need to do it for our team. And, you know, behind the blocks, I was just telling myself to stay calm. But not like a power is in you, but, like, you know what to do and you know how to swim. You've done it a hundred times. It's really a whole mental game you're having with your brain is just telling yourself that, you know, you've done it a hundred times. Um, it's really a whole mental game you're, you're having with your brain is just telling yourself that, you know, you've done it, you can do it again.

It's, it's nothing new to you. When you look at the situation and when you broke the world record, um, you really, and you didn't get normally when people break world records, they're getting pushed. You finished four seconds ahead, but I mean, what the hell? I mean, it's like you have a motorboat and they had paddles. And so I'm watching you and I'm seeing your stroke and it's so smooth. When you're swimming in a race of that distance, obviously, you know, you got the 50 meters, you got 100 meters, you got the different strokes. But when you're 1500 meters, there's a lot of time for you to be in your own head what are you thinking about when you when you swim in 1500 meters yeah so i normally race my competition and i'll start behind them for the most part or i'll stay right next to them

so i like the 100 to 200 when i when i had like a body length lead i was kind of like what's going on right now um because it was just so abnormal for me uh but i could kind of see the scoreboard a little bit when i was racing and on the scoreboard they would show the world record line um so i was kind of mentally racing that the whole time and i was mentally racing yeah so i saw the world record line like three times during the race and that got me going in the race so hard. But also like I'm very aware of like what is going

around me. So I knew Greg Puccinelli, the Italian who was in lane five, two lanes over. I knew he started to inch up on me a lot. And same thing with Daniel Whiffen, the Ireland representative who won the 800 previously i knew he started to catch greg a bit um i was kind of peeking over there

but i knew as long as i stood or stay ahead of greg that i would be able to stay ahead of dan um so i was kind of keeping it that mental it It's just like, just stay ahead of them. I don't have to be too far away from them or drop back to be at their pace. I just needed to stay right ahead of them. And that was really a big mental game for me. It was just trying to

be aware of where they are. Even though they're behind me, make sure I have a safe distance from them. So that's really what I was focusing on. Bobby, I just wanted to, on behalf of Shay Shay Media and Nightcap, we're very proud of you here.

I know my subscribers are proud of you. I know the U.S. is proud of you. And to show you how proud we are of you, I don't know if you can see that. Can you see that in your screen? Hold on. Kinda. Hold on. We're going to make sure you can see it.

I'm going to take my glass off. Okay. He's going to zoom in. My camera guy is going to zoom in. We're going to zoom it in. We're going to make sure you see this. Can you see that, Bobby? God. Yeah. Oh, my God.

We got your information. So, by the time... Wait a minute. Wait. Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. Whoa, whoa. Bobby, in order to get that in its entirety, when you come back

to Florida, we have the race. 800, 1500, whatever you want to do. I'll do whatever you guys want. I'll do anything. Hey, if you can beat me, it's all yours. Oh, my God.

Congratulations, though, man. Oh my gosh. Wow. Congratulations though, man. Get us up and get us up. I'm proud of you, bro. Congratulations. What you've been able to accomplish thus far. Stay healthy. Good luck down the road. I mean the world's the next year. And then

in two years after that, you got the Olympics in LA. So we look forward to following your career, continued success bro and congratulations again on all your accomplishments no you guys I don't even know what to say

you guys, oh wow you guys are amazing yeah Jesus hey Bobby thank you what I just thought about Bobby you riding Clearwater right? you know I live in Miami

how far are you from me? about four and a half hours you more like Orlando down that way near Tampa near Tampa? yeah yeah I'm near it's just because sorry I'm just my brain down that way? Near Tampa. Near Tampa? Yeah, yeah. It's just because...

Sorry, I'm just in my brain. I think it's just because of the way you have to get to Miami. Right, right, right. Not straight through the Everglades, but you have to go to Naples first and then cross over. Yeah.

We'll catch up. We got to get this. I mean, you guys are already legendary in your sport, but you guys are legendary for this. I can't thank you guys enough. Enjoy and I appreciate you stopping by this morning.

We appreciate you stopping by Nightcap this morning and look forward to talking to you down the road, bro. No, thank, thank you. I appreciate everything you guys have done for,

for your sports. And then obviously for, for the Olympic games this time, especially for the athletes. Yeah, that is a, is a dream. This is a dream.

And you guys are well apart of it. And thank you. Thank you so much. Have a good one. We have a dream, and you guys are well a part of it. And thank you. Thank you so much. We have a very special guest joining us, the reigning 200-meter Olympic champ. She's a member of the winning world championship 4x1. She ran a blistering third leg. They qualified this morning with the fastest time,

even though they had a little hiccup between T.T. and herself with the exchange. They're going to correct that. Going to win another gold medal. We're going to talk about her possibly running on the four, running a leg on the four by four. Welcome us, ladies and gentlemen, Gabby Thomas. undergrad degree in neurobiology and she has a master degree master's degree in epidemiology is that correct and she's currently in austin where she serves underprivileged underprivileged women is that correct also yeah yeah i volunteer at a health care clinic where i i provide health care services to people who don't have health insurance let me ask you this how much pressure is that correct also yeah yeah i volunteer at a health care clinic where i i provide health care services to people who don't have health insurance let me ask you this how much pressure because you

got the bronze at um at the last olympics you got the silver if i'm not mistaken at the past worlds you're the face of this big ad with toyota you're the face of this now sharika jackson she steps out that's even because there was pressure on you to do better than what you did at the last Olympic. Now, Sharika has withdrawn. Now there's a ton of pressure. We had Justin Gallen, who's a world champion and an Olympic champ. We had Michael Johnson, a world champ and Olympic champ. He says sometimes the things that can wait an individual and athlete down is expectations.

How much? What type of burden were the expectations? You're the face of this Toyota ad. Okay, Gabby, you're out there. Okay, we see you. You better bring home gold. I know. Everyone kept texting me talking about, oh, I see you on Toyota everywhere.

Like before trials, even before I even made the Olympic team. Yes. You know, they were showing my face on the Toyota ads everywhere. So I hadn't even become like the Olympian yet. So there was definitely a lot of pressure. And for me in 2021, like coming from Harvard and not having any, you know, medals or having made any USA team, it was just a lot of fun for me. Like I was going out there and running and no one had any expectations. So I was having a great time. I was like, all right, let's go. Let's go wind up next to Alison Felix. Let's go see what happens. It'll be great. And then as soon as I made the Olympic team, it changed. And then as soon as I got a bronze medal, it changed. Now,

suddenly people are talking about, okay, if you don't medal now, you know, that's an L, right? If you don't make this team next year, you know, that's a big L. And so it immediately changed my mindset. And then even going into this year, yeah, I'm going that's a big L. And so it immediately changed my mindset. And then even going into this year, yeah, I'm going in as a favorite. And there, I mean, I was telling people before I even stepped up to the line for my prelim, I have never felt this type of pressure before in my entire life. I mean, you walk, you walk out there and you're just, you're by yourself. Like you don't have a team to take that loss with you. If you, someone messes up, there's no, there's no redo. There's no next play. There's none of that. It's like, all right,

you're going to go out there by yourself in front of 80,000 people. And then, you know, the millions of people watching at home. And if you don't get it right in this one moment, especially in the short sprints, it's over. So it's definitely a lot of pressure. But for me, I practice, like I meditate, I practice like focus. So if you can dissociate in that moment, you know, that separates the good athletes from the great athletes. If you're over there on the line thinking about how many people are watching you, you're going to mess up. And you can, you can see it in people's faces when they line up to the line.

You can see, you can tell when you're watching an athlete, you look in their eyes and you can see like, okay, this person has figured it out. They're about to knock this race out and someone who's scared like all right this is going to be they're going to fight for this are there any more world records that the americans can get will you guys challenge that word that 40.82 that the women ran uh in beijing is that possible can we see sid and fem cabal lower that 50.65 in the 400 meter hurdles for the women? Will we see Carson Warhol, Rob Benjamin?

You have Alison Dos Santos. We have Samba from Qatar. Will we see anybody go up on the world record in any of the remaining sprints? American. I think so. I think y'all are going to have to open up your wallets a little bit because I hate to say it, but I do think, I mean, I think the four by one girls, we can definitely challenge the world record. The previous world record team, they spoke to us just last week about it.

And I think we are very capable. And the hurdles. Yeah. It's a wrap. It's a wrap tonight. I don't know if it's going to be Shemke or Sydney, but I think it'll definitely go down. Somebody's going to have to run low. If Femke beats Sid, she's going to have to go low 50, maybe even sub

50. Sydney is in great, I'm talking about in great form. She's in great shape. She's a flawless. I mean, she can run, she can run the one, she can run the hurdle,

the lower for the women and be good. Her technique. She has tremendous strength coming into it. That 2207. That's still like what? The eighth or ninth best time run at 200 meters. She's run 48, 75 at 400 meters.

She's probably, if you run a workout to get a start, right. She might be sub 11 at 400 meters. She's probably, if she were to work at it, get a start right, she might be sub 11 at 100 meters. And I know Femke is unbelievable. She ran a blistering sub 48 split on the anchor leg. We've seen her win the world indoor at 49.17. But see, this is an upset. I don't care what anybody tells you.

If Femke Ball beats Sydney McLaughlin-Leveroni in the 400 meters hurdles, this is a huge upset. Ain't happening. Ain't happening. Ain't happening, Captain. No, sir. One thing Sig gonna do, like you said, it's all about moments. And whenever that moment arises.

She's always been good. She shows up to the cage. Yeah. Always shows up to the cage. always show the that's one thing bobby the one thing if you go back and study bobby curse's history his runners at big meets they perform if they if they if they line up they run they they run well and so that's not the short chain film because she's been unbelievable i actually kind of want to see that thing come down in the 400 meters,

the four by four. I won't see it in Femke to get the baton at the same time. Let's see what happens. Let's see what it's really about. Ocho, I told you we're going to try to make this thing the real Olympics. We're going to have people that actually participated in the Paris Olympics and we're going to get, we're going to have former greats. The guy

that's going to talk with us for about 45 minutes today is a former two-time world champion uh 200 meters he's a former four-time champion to 400 meters he was a former world world record holder at 200 meters at 300 meters at 400 meters he's still the current american record holder at 300 meters and 400 meters. And he ran the anchor leg on the world-breaking World Championship 400-meter relay team

of 2 minutes, 54, 29, Mike? There you go. He's a two-time Olympic gold medal in 400 meters. He's a one-time Olympic champ at 200 meters. He's the only man to successfully defend his 400-meter crown in back-to-back Olympics in 96

and 2000, and he's the only man currently to win the 400 and the 200 in the same Olympics. One of the greatest sprinters in the history of sprinting, arguably the greatest sprinter in American history, Michael Johnson. Mike, what's up, bro? Good to see you both, man.

Good to see you. I haven't talked to both of you guys in a while. Mike, when you hear the accolades, you know, four-time world champ at 400 meters, two-time world champ at 200 meters, a two-time Olympic champ at four, Olympic champ at two, back-to-back, nobody in the history. The game's been going on since 1896. And we see some young guys come in and they win the 400 early in their

career at 18 i mean 19 20 years of age and can't replicate that you did it later in your career why has it been so hard for men and women to repeat i mean it's more common than women repeating but why has it been so hard for men to repeat the 400? It's a difficult event, man. It's difficult for people to get consistent in that event. Like, you will see somebody come out, run 43 seconds, become a 43-second 400-meter runner, but then you'll see them in some races running 44 high, 44 mid, not consistently under 43 seconds. The 400 meters is one of those races where you need to be consistent in order to deliver that type of performance when it counts at the Olympic Games.

And what happens is, is you have somebody run the Olympics, they get it right then. And then if you see them in those races outside of the championships being very inconsistent, running 44 highs and that sort of thing, then there's a likely chance that when they get back to that next championship, they're going to run worse, not better. It's just the way that it goes. You have to try to get consistent with that event. It's a really difficult event to run because it's such a long sprint. There's a lot of room for error.

There's a lot of ways to make mistakes in that race. It's hard to get it right. Easy to get it wrong. How different is running a 400 as a two? Because we understand two is half the distance of four. But what's the difference? Because you were able, you kind of started like at a 200. You won the first world championship at 200 meters in 91, if I'm not mistaken.

And then built up. And then you got the courage to say, I can do both. I can in the Olympics. Boy, do you know what kind of brass kahunas you got to have to say, I could be the world's best at four and two in the same. Yeah. It's probably never going to be done again on the inside. Yeah. So a couple of people have tried since, since I did it, nobody even tried before I did it. You couldn't even, the schedule wouldn't even allow for it. So I had to get them to change the schedule.

But yeah, I started as a 200 meter runner. But when I was at Baylor, I was on the four by four and I was always splitting 43. So I knew I could run 400. But like in college, you always, you can't really go back and forth between the two and the four very much because you're always preparing for,

got to qualify for nationals. You got to get ready for conference, you know, then the same thing outdoor and both of those seasons are pretty short but i knew i could run the 400 then when i when i started my professional career i was primarily 200 but i was running 400 at at meets on the grand prix circuit and i was running low 42s ranked number one in the world but the first couple of championships like that 91 championship like you talked about um shannon so i chose the 200 major team in the 200 won the world championship in the 200 but i'm sitting there in the stands and i'm seeing antonio pedigree win the 400 meters i'm like i've been beating him all season i should be the world champion in the 400 but i can't run the 400 now somebody else is world champion so i was telling was telling my coach then, like, you know, I want to run both.

And he was saying, coach was like, yeah, we can do both. We just got to get them to, you know, work out the schedule for us. So over time, that became, you know, my thing. I'm going to go to the championships. I'm going to run the boat to two and the four. Nobody had done that before. The races are very different. The 200 meters is an all-out sprint for most people.

There's, you know know some of the guys that's 100 meter runners that's not really don't have that type of speed endurance to be able to hold it they can't run the whole thing but if you come from you're like me like having a 400 background as well i can run the whole thing so the difference you know is there's less room for margin or margin for error in the 200 you may be able to make one adjustment in that race because it's so short, 19 seconds. Whereas in the 400, you can make all kinds of adjustments. The problem is there's more room for error in the 400.

You can make a lot of mistakes and you probably will. Whereas the 200, it's much more technical. In 93, I think that was the time that you guys broke the world record at the World Championship in the 4x uh andrew volman led it off i think he ran split 44 5 uh he passed the quincy watts i think quincy ran sub 43 5 he passed it to butch reynolds and then with you with nothing to prove mike you got it you guys have got this you already got a 30 minute you got already got a 30-meter lead. They hand you the baton.

You go. What's going through your mind? Because that was the first time in the history that somebody has subbed 43 split into 400 meters. You stepped on the gas. I think you ran 42.9. What's going through your mind as you're going around the track and you got nothing?

You got a 30-minute lead, Mike. What possessed you to do what you did? This is a story. This is crazy. So we broke the world record the year before, 1992, right? We just broke it by a little bit. 1992 Olympics, I ran the 200. I didn't run the 400 at the trials. I make the team ran the 200. I didn't run the 400 at the trials.

I make the team in the 200. There's a debate about whether or not I should be on the 4x400 meter relay. Uh-oh. Uh-oh. I tell you, go back the year before that, 1991,

my first world championship in the 200. U.S. lost the 4x400 meter relay to Great Britain because they didn't put me on that relay. Yes. The hurdler. The hurdler ran down Pettigrew. Ran down Pettigrew.

That's exactly right. Chris Akabusi ran down Pettigrew. The team coach that year didn't like me. So he said, hey, we don't need Michael Johnson on our 4x400 meter relay. He didn't run the 400 meters at the trials. We don't need to put him on 400-meter relay. He didn't run the 400 meters at the trials. We don't need to put him on. We can win it without him. I'm ranked number one in the world, undefeated for two years, right?

He does not put me on the 4x4. They lose. The next year, 1992, I'm on the 4x4. I got food poisoning right before the Olympics. You remember this, Shannon. We talked about this. I do. Back then, what happened? I got food poisoning. Didn't make the final in the Olympics. You remember this, Shannon. We talked about this. I do. Back then, what happened was,

so I got food poisoning, didn't make the final in the 200. We still need you on the 4x4. I'm like, man, I'm not even. I'm a shell of myself. I can't even run that fast right now. They're like, 75% Michael Johnson is better than anybody else.

So let's go. We need you on this relay. I'm like, okay. So my split in 92, when we broke the world record, I was the weak leg on that relay. I still remember. I remember.

I lost weight. I'm still feeling. I think I split like 44, nine or even maybe even 45 flat. It was horrible. But we still broke the world record. So fast forward to what you're talking about, 93. I had just won the 400,

beat all of those guys. Now we're coming together in the 4x4. Yeah, at that point, it's like, I'm going to make up for last year. And then also, if we broke the world record last year with me at 45 flat, if I can put it down like what I'm normally used to doing,

we're going to put this world record to a point where ain't nobody going to break it for 30 years. And that's where we are today. Nobody has still broke that record because those guys ran 5'10". I ran 42.9 on the anchor. What are your thoughts on the current state of track and field right now?

And how do you see it evolving based on where we are now? Because you did just say it comes in waves, it goes in waves. Do you think we are right on the right track to kind of dominating the sport again? And maybe the one, the two, and obviously the four. Yeah, that's a good question, Ocho. So, look, the Jamaicans have been taking it to us for the last 15 years.

You know, I mean, you got to give them credit. I mean, this is a nation of less than 3 million people. And they go toe to toe. And sometimes, like I said, for the last 15 years, they've been handing it to a nation of 300 million people. That's crazy. Where else does that happen? It's amazing. That's why the Jamaican brand from a sprint standpoint is so significant. They own around the world as the sprint capital. They got great coaches. They got a lot of talent. And it used to be back when I was in college,

all of the Jamaican athletes would come to the U S what better training and facilities around 2006, seven, they stopped. They started, they got some great coaches down there and they started saying, hey, just stay at home. We'll train you here.

And that's when you saw that explosion. So, you know, and it's just been, it's been amazing. But, you know, for us as the U.S., we saw what happened here in Paris, you know, Noah, Fred, you know, those guys. I mean, it's not, and look, the Jamaicans have found some new talent. Shane Thompson, Sabiko, you know, those guys, I mean, it's not in the end. And look, the Jamaicans have found some new talent. Shane Thompson, Sabiko,

those guys, they got some talent. You know, they had a little bit of a void after boat left, but now they got some more talent, but us got some too on the men's side, on the women's side, the Jamaicans have been, it's been ridiculous. I've never seen a situation where they had two of the greatest sprinters of all time and then found another one on top of that with Sharika and converted her from a 400-meter to a 100, 200-meter sprinter. Now you got another one.

It's been crazy. That doesn't happen all of the time. So now what we're seeing is, okay, Elaine is pretty much done. Her body's just not going to be able to, her former coach even said. Her body's just not going to be able to, her former coach even said that her body's just not going to be able to do that anymore. So she's probably on her way out and probably going to retire here soon. Shelly Ann is done. She's the

greatest of all time. She's done enough. She's retiring after this year. And so this is her first time. Like, in this Women's 200 last night, the other day, I mean, Gabby, what Gabby won, there was no woman, Jamaican woman in that, in that final. And a Jamaican woman has, I saw this stat the other day,

a Jamaican woman has medaled in the 200 every year, every Olympic year since 1976. So it goes in stages and goes in waves. I think the U S is, is at a position where, I mean, we're always at the top of the medal table, but the events you talked about, Ocho, the sprints, a bit of an avoid for us the last few years. But I think it's, yeah, it's coming back.

It's coming back. We got the world record silver medal winning 4x4 mixed relay, Vernon Norwood, Bryce Dedman, Kalen Brown, and Samir Little. Vernon, I'm going to start with you. You're the elder statesman here. Going into that, did you guys think you could set the world record in qualifying, or what was your strategy going in? Obviously, you want to qualify, but did you think world record

was a possibility? 100%. We already talked about it before. Once we saw the lineup and the talent that we had, we was like, oh, yeah, we – world record gone. Because we knew world record was going to win the race anyway. So we, like, we just go out there and do our thing. I mean, from me starting it off, getting it to Shamir, to Bryce, to KK,

I mean, I already knew world record was gone. And then we heard y'all comment about, you know, y'all coming out with this cash. Yeah. They're coming out there. They're coming out there easy. Look, look. As soon as he crossed the line, I said, oh, yeah, I'm going to hit him up right now.

Tell that boy I'm coming in today. Guys, did y'all know Bryce that when he got back to his room, he DM'd me about Unk running me my money? Oh, I saw you. Yes. That man DM'd me. Bryce, you just told him, Bryce. I don't know. That's what I'm trying to know. him, Bryce. You should tell him, Bryce. I don't know.

No, Bryce, no. No, you, bro. No, no. I said, tell him. I heard y'all was talking about it one time on the show. I was like, man, hold up, man. Let me see them boys come through their world. I'm like, them boys from around the waist.

I know they're going to come through. And then y'all actually came down. I was like, Danny, y up now. Let me see them boys come through their world. I'm like, them boys from around the waist. I know they're going to come through. And then y'all actually came down. I'm like, Danny, y'all some real ones, man. I appreciate y'all. And then there's a mutual friend. He hit up a mutual friend and said, man, I'm trying to get an uncle. I don't know if he's going to see my DM. Hey, yeah, I appreciate y'all.

Hey, it's all love. Hey, y'all good as my hood. Y'all come down to Baton Rouge. I got y'all. Nah, man. Nah, guys, we just want to show you guys some love uh the crew at nightcap here myself and ocho and all of our subscribers and listeners and followers man we wanted to show you guys that we really appreciate what you do the hard work the sacrifices the time away from your family the times that you don't feel like training, that you go out there and you push yourself

farther than you ever thought you could. And so for us at NICAP, it was easy because to run a world record, that means everybody contributed. Everybody did their part. And we wanted here at NICAP wanted to say, thank you. Not only for your effort, but for what you've given before that race,

because the race is the easy part. The hard part is the training up to the race. not only for your effort but for what you've given before that race because the race is the easy part the hard part is the training up to the race and so from us from the bottom of our heart here at Nightcap thank each and every one of you every last one of you make sure y'all

get some McDonald's with that money now. Man, burning. The way burning hit me, I'm burning money. Oh, no. Nah, I ain't rocking like that, man. I'm chilling. I'm chilling. I'm chilling. I'm chilling, man.

Made for This Mountain is a podcast that exists to empower listeners to rise above their struggles, break free from the chains of trauma, and silence the negative voices that have kept them small. Through raw conversations, real stories, and actionable guidance, you can learn to face the mountain that is in front of you. You will never be able to change or grow through the thing that you refuse to identify. The thing that you refuse to say, hey, this is my mountain, this is the struggle, this is the thing that's in front of me. You can't make that mountain move without actually diving into that. May is Mental Health Awareness Month, a time to conquer the things that once felt impossible and step boldly into the best version of yourself to awaken the unstoppable strength that's inside of us all. So tune into the podcast, focus on your emotional well-being and climb your personal

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What others dismiss as niche, we embrace as core. It's this idea that there are so many stories out there, and if you can find a way to curate and help the right person discover the right content, the term that we always hear from our audience is that they feel seen. Get a front row seat to where media, marketing, technology, entertainment, and sports collide, and hear how leaders like Anjali are carving out space and shaking things up a bit in the most crowded of markets. Listen to Good Company on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. In the fall of 1986, Ronald Reagan found himself at the center of a massive scandal that looked like it might bring down his presidency.

Did you make a mistake in sending arms to Tehran, sir? No. It became known as the Iran-Contra affair. And I'm not taking any more questions in just a second. I'm going to ask... I'm Leon Nafok, co-creator of Slow Burn. In my podcast, Fiasco, Iran-Contra, you'll hear all the unbelievable details of a scandal

that captivated the nation nearly 40 years ago, but which few of us still remember today. The things that happened were so bizarre and insane, I can't begin to tell you. Please do. To hear the whole story, listen to Fiasco, Iran Contra on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. He's been chasing Karsten Warhol, the world record holder,

for the better part of three years, and he finally tracked him down the norwegian and the right here he is ladies and gentlemen your 400 meter hurdle champ with a time of 46 46 rob benjamin sir obviously you have an outstanding season you have been performing really really well give us your mindset going into the olympics you had raced him i think you raced him uh once before at a diamond league meet pre-olympic and so you had to feel good because you beat him and you had beaten him three times since he last beat you i think at the uh at the olympics yeah in budapest they won budapest last year and then we went to pre-fontaine i won that meet then we went to uh monaco before the olympics uh that was a big one. We were all there.

I won that one. So going into the Olympics, I felt really confident. I was calm. I really trusted myself. I think mentally I was in a way different place than I was. Yeah, I could tell. Yeah, previous years and previous seasons. So, I mean, I just went in.

I had the confidence. You know, like, I felt good felt good energy in the stadium was ridiculous. It was actually like I've been to a lot of football games. I've been to Death Valley, LSU. OK. And I have never heard a stadium get that loud in my entire life. It was crazy. So it was it was it was phenomenal phenomenal experience so um just you know i went in with a completely different mindset and i was like yeah like i'm i'm the guy to beat and the only person that's gonna beat me is me so yeah i have a question speaking of that

race at the olympics did you understand his strengths and weaknesses and did you have any type of strategic game plan going into that race and knowing what to do and when when to kind of hit it when to back off i think so over the past three four years we've raced so much so i have seen every single race plan every race strategy and i think for me right uh work the three of us are so good that very little separates us and it's it's about who can be on on that day who's going to get it on that day and i think right you know throughout the entire cycle of the semis i mean the heat semis finals um you know i got dealt the right hand and and those guys ran out ran fast like the first two rounds so i knew being out in lane eight i was

going to be the one to kind of dictate what the race would look like so in my head i was like all right like i need to i need i need to really push the pace but not do too much so I have enough to come home that last 120, 150 meters. Yes. When we got out, like, he gets out really, really hard. So he covered me a little bit. And my whole thing was, all right, just run in lane eight. Like, focus on your 10 hurdles in your lane and get off that turn. Like, put your foot in the ground and just go.

And Coach Watts, Coach Watts, he has a – we have this – we joke around sometimes. And he's like, yeah, if it's leaving, I'm leaving. So, you know, we got off hurdle seven. And I was like, all right, man, I'm out of here, man. So whatever happens, happens. And I don't know if you guys saw, but, like, was coming out right yeah for seven and i stumbled a little bit i was running so fast that like the centrifugal force pulled me out to the outside of the lane and i kind of like stumbled a little bit and i think that kind of costed me like maybe 46 flat but at the same time like i just had so much

momentum i just kept going so that was just that was my uh that was my game plan going in to be honest with you just run my pattern do what i've been doing in the entire season i mean we talked um you know uncle sent me a message sometimes after the race even if it went good or bad so i mean yeah it was it was it was phenomenal man and i'm i'm on cloud nine right now. Right. We had Michael Johnson on. And I remember in Stuttgart when they broke the world record

in the 400 meters, they ran 254.29. And I can go back in my head. I know Andrew Ballman laid off with 44.5. And he went to Quincy, your coach. And I think he ran 43.3, 43.5. He had it to the world record holder at the time, Butch Reynolds, and he ran low 43.

The race was blown over. Michael Johnson got the baton, and he said, because we had almost broke the world record, we broke it, but I ran like mid-44, almost 45, because I was asking him, I said, Mike, you do realize you ran sub 43 with a 30-meter lead.

And I said, why? He said, because I didn't want to hear their mouths. He said, they had talked about me so bad. So he ran 42.9. Did you think you guys had a chance going into that race? Did you think this was going to be the second fastest 400 4x4 in the history i thought we could have broken it last year so after budapest like if you if you go to my instagram you look at my my last relay post from budapest i was like let's go after the world record next year

because we had all we had all the pieces uh quincy's running well v's running well i mean i could get on a relay and give you a really Hot split Michael Norman he was Coming back to run well Chris Bailey Bryce Deadman And then we had Lil Quincy just Like you know just shoot up out of I mean I'm not gonna say out of nowhere but like

No one was expecting him to run 44 low And it's just phenomenal so we Had all the pieces The issue is it's figuring out who to put on what leg to maximize those legs and okay i think because uh quincy had that little tweak in his hamstring um in his final like we had to reshuffle the order but i knew we still had the pieces because v had split 43 twice in the mix. And I knew.

Well, three times because he ran the mix relay twice and he opened in the qualifier. Yeah. So V had the 43 in him. I knew Bryce had 43 in him as well, too, because he was consistently running 44 lows. So I knew if Bryce lights come on, he he's gonna bring that stick around because he's from texas nm so he's gonna run right and and it just all came down to what my leg would be i actually wanted to run second this meet because i knew if i ran second i would run 42 8 or 42 9 on that wow because i i yeah i i just know second leg is the best it's the best leg because, nine on that. Wow. Because I, I, yeah, I, I just know it's second leg is the best.

It's the best leg. Cause you can on that tangent, when you cut in, you can kind of cheat some meters. If you do it right. That's why all them second leg splits were so fast. I mean, you still got to be fast to be on that second leg, but like, if you do it right and you run a good tangent, like I'm telling you, you can cheat it a little bit and you can get that split. So initially, so when that happened, you know, you know, Coach Mike Marsh came and was just like, hey, man, like, I need a dog on ankle leg because. Yeah, you had to be on ankle. So I don't know. Rye, I don't mean to cut you off, but Rye, I don't know if anybody could have held Tobago off other than you.

Because, like you said, you had a strategy. He didn't put you under the gun because of your pace. I think somebody else would have panicked. And if you panic in that situation, he's going to chase you down like the great Britain did Antonio Pettigrew. We saw Lowe, a good friend of mine, Angelo Taylor. Same thing in the Olympics. If you panic on that anchor leg, because everybody got their boy dog on the anchor. Right.

So everybody can go sub-43, could go sub-44 on an anchor leg. Every single guy's first leg was 43. Them boys came to run. They really came. They were not playing around, man. They were not playing around. Oh, Joe, you didn't know this, but Rye was a quarterback. Rye, what made you a quarterback?

I played wide out, man. I was a wide receiver. Yeah. You didn't play quarterback? My dad said the wrong thing. Yeah. I played wide receiver and free safety in high school. Okay.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. I was – Okay. So why did you give up football and went to the track? Because I'm from New York, and people in New York don't get good scholarships to go to big D1 schools. So I was like, I ran track and it was like, you know, like I wasn't really getting we weren't getting good recruits or recruiters coming out to my high school because we were small high school in Westchester County in New York. So, you know, we had one or two guys like, you know, go to big universities, but it wasn't like we were going to like LSU or USC or Clemson, you know what I mean? So it was just one of those things where, you know, that was my avenue out, you know, and

I was really good at track my freshman year. So I just stuck with it. So. You originally went to UCLA? Yeah, I was. I thought about walking on, to be honest with you but they were like yeah you gotta give up your track scholarship because of title nine there's no way in hell but uh yeah like a part of me wish i played in in in college to be honest yeah um i'm not gonna pull a tyreek and say like you know i'm fast and nor i could go catch him yeah how you know i'm gonna ask you that how you know i'm gonna ask you that hey do you believe on this show i'm tired of the no allow slander man that's my guy okay we'll talk to him talk to us about slander i'm not saying like i can go out and do what you

guys do and catch a ball across the middle. I know how hard it is. I know how hard it is to read plays and memorize stuff and go out there and put your body at risk every day. But, Tyreek, you're not beating Noah in 100, man. There's just no way in hell. You probably wouldn't even beat the top collegiate guys, man.

Now, when it comes to men's skateboarding there's no one more accomplished than this gentleman that we're about to sit down and have a conversation with now he's from davis california his name uh you talk about world championships you're talking about uh x game when it comes to men's skateboarding he is the de facto guy he has his own nike skateboarding shoe and here he he is, ladies and gentlemen, Nigel Houston. How you doing, Nigel? Doing good, boys.

Doing good. Your first two rounds, flawless. You land some huge tricks. You're in the moment. And at that moment, tell us what's going through your mind. You got one more run to make. Right now, you're in gold medal position.

You just got one one more round one round to go what what's going through your mind at that moment and then the pressure did you start to tense up did you start to feel the pressure i mean i like to say that i'm sure you guys feel this too is like anytime someone is very competitive and you care you're gonna get yes you're gonna you're gonna feel the pressure you know that's just a part of caring about what we do and having that passion for what we do um so yeah i mean i definitely felt the nerves out there but i feel like i was handling it pretty well um qualifiers went smoothly um first run in the finals i landed my last fixed

sketchy which really bummed me out because i got 87. If I would have landed it clean, I would have got a 90. So the second run, I definitely had the pressure on me, was able to pull through. And then when it comes down to the trick section, it's I mean, it's I like to say that you go out there with with confidence, but you can't ever go out there expecting to land these tricks every single try because the stuff we're doing is just too technical and too difficult. And like so many things need to go right every time to land them every try. But it was going really good for me. I was in a good spot. I landed my first trick.

I landed my second trick, which got a little bit of a low score because I also landed it a little bit sketchy. You could see that my back foot was hanging off the got a little bit of a low score because I also landed it a little bit sketchy. You could see that my back foot was hanging off the board a little bit. Okay. But I still got a 93 for that one, so that was solid. And then that last trick, man, I was going for, it's called a switch heel crooked grind down the hubba. Hubba is a down ledge. And it's a trick that I've been looking forward to trying ever since I saw the

design of the course a few weeks. Okay. Yes. The trick I've been practicing a lot lately throughout the past couple of years. Um, and man, I felt, I felt really confident going into it. Um, the first one didn't go so well, second one got a little closer. And then when it got down to the third one, um, I, that's when I got bumped down from being in first to second then to third um and honestly i i think back on it and when i was dropping in i got my headphones in i like listening to house music so good vibes got the hype going um i felt i felt good man i felt really confident dropping into it i felt like the energy was right I didn't feel my legs shaking or anything like that. So it's hard to really pinpoint exactly what goes wrong in those situations to not be able to put down the trick.

But, man, really, you can't you can't think back on it too hard or it'll just torture yourself. Because, like I said, the stuff we do on the skateboard is so technical that like, you know, it could be your foot being in a slight wrong position, leaning back a little too much, going a little too fast, going a little too slow. There's a lot of things that come into play there. And I feel like that's something about skateboarding that's really, man, it's frustrating because I feel like what you guys do in football, it's like you make, I mean, correct me if I'm wrong, but I feel like you make a wrong play or a wrong move and you kind of know what you did wrong. Yeah. Yes, absolutely. It's so frustrating because you just play it back in your head.

You're like, damn, what went wrong? What could I have done differently? But when it comes down to it, man, it's hard stuff we're doing out there, and it's not easy to land those tricks every time. You've been credited with taking skateboarding from what Tony Hawk started four decades ago and making it more mainstream, making it more popular. What was that transition like? Because everybody knows Tony Hawk is the godfather.

I mean, if there's a godfather of anything if there's a godfather of anything he's the godfather of skateboarding and you were you credited with like okay it's mainstream now we see it on television now we see it's in the Olympics what more can you ask for because it's a global sport now yeah what what's what when you hear that what does that make you feel Nigel I mean just being in the same you know conversation or compared to at all to a guy like tony hawk is a is a true honor my first skateboard ever was a tony hawk board i grew up going to his demos and being like oh shit tony like even though even though he wasn't a street skater he was was a bird skater, the big rank. Um, he was such an inspiration and I guarantee skateboarding would not be

where it's at now in the Olympics if it wasn't for Tony Hawk. Um, and yeah, I've heard some people say a similar thing about, about me, you know, pushing the progression and getting more eyes on street skateboarding. Absolutely. Man, skateboarding is a special thing especially when it comes to street skateboarding because it really it really is what it's called it comes from the streets you know people first started skateboarding on the sidewalk cruising around here in southern california and then people started flipping

the board and they started skating little curbs and then they're jumping down handrails and then there's contests and then now it's in the olympics so i think the i think that's the most special part about skateboarding is it's it really is so different from any other sport out there to the point where it is if it still feels weird for me to call it a sport because i see it more as a way of life well way of life and, you know, a lifestyle creativity. That's the gold medal winning 400 meter. He just ran the second fastest time in Olympic history. He won the gold, put us back on top of the podium for the first time in the 400 meters since 2008.

That is Quincy Hall. Chris Bailey, it was reported that you're dealing with a little hamstring issue or leg issue and you weren't able to run. So they led off with Chris Bailey, who handed to Vernon Norwood, Bryce Delman, and Rob Benjamin. And if Vernon Norwood,

he's had an unbelievable because he's ran extremely well at the mixed doubles and yesterday, he ran us back into qualifications running 43.5. Today, he split another one. But it came down to that anchor leg. And you know you got to be a boy dog and stand tall on that anchor, Quincy. You got Leslo Tobogo who run low 44.

And you got Rob Benjamin, the reigning Olympic champ at the hurdles. When they got the baton, tell me what would have been your strategy and what did you like about how Rod played it? Rod played it smooth, man. Rod knows that Tobogo's a quicker runner, so Tobogo can't really, like, trail him as much. But if I was Rod, I would have took him out a little bit faster and made him chase a little harder.

But Rod played it smart, man. Ry had a long week. Ry's an Olympic champion, so Ry played it smart and if Tobogo would have tried him, I feel like Ry would have ran a little faster, but yeah, Ry played it real smart. Ry's a good dude. I thought Ry didn't step on the gas because he wanted to make sure he had something

left at the end because Tobogo ran the third fastest split that's ever been run. He ran 4303. Rye ran 41313, which is the fifth fastest. Only two men have ever run sub split 43.

Obviously, that's Michael Johnson, Jeremy Warner. Tobogo has the third in the 92 Olympic. Quincy Watts ran a 41, a 43, I keep saying 41, ran a 43-1, and then Rod today. So what we saw today, it doesn't normally come down like this, but boy, that's what we want to see

because normally we just run away with the 3-and-Q. Yeah, we always run away with it. I've kind of seen it from the prelims and then from the go to gun that Botswana got a good team. You know what I mean? They do. It's just not.

U.S. just got some dogs. Botswana got a strong team. They got like five, six guys that can run 44 mid. And 44 mid translates to 43 in the split. So, nah, we knew Botswana was going to be strong and stuff like that. But without me being on the relay, I knew we could win it just because we got some dogs too. I mean, I know Quincy Wilson, he split 47, but it's his first time being out here on the global stage.

Yeah, a lot of pressure. He's been dealing with some hamstring injury too. But it's just, like I said, it's a learning experience. But anything we put out there, I had my money on our team. Q, you do know if you run on that relay, y'all, that Royal record might be 253. You know that, right? You know that, right?

I've been seeing a lot of comments about it, but I don't like to think of it as woulda, coulda, shouldas, because I'm not that type of guy. I'm a what happened. You know what I mean? So, I don't like to put myself, it's not about me right now, it's about them four guys that stepped on the line and ran that race and won it. So, it's not about me. I won the 400.

Yeah, that's cool. But I didn't step out today because I didn't feel comfortable with my hamstring. I didn't want to be tight or have to stop running and prevent USA from getting a gold medal. So that was just a business move and just being a bigger person, being a good teammate. I'm curious. How did you – we saw the 400. Yeah. We saw coming off that last curve where you are

forget that part I need to know how did you mentally prepare for the pressure of competing on the world's biggest stage I just want to know that first then we'll get to the race and the end results like I said man

I don't really like talking don't i don't really like talking about track i don't really like talking like that but i consider myself like being one of the mentally strongest persons out there and yeah i don't know i don't think there's no pressure on me like every time i go out there it's like me racing in the uh small meet or something like this i don't really i don't feel no pressure like the other guy i don't know about the money i don't feel no pressure all i feel is that i I don't know about the other guy, but I don't feel no pressure. All I feel is that I practice by myself. So when I'm out there and I'm out there grinding,

I'm out there doing my meters and I'm out there doing my heels and all of that stuff and my jump. I just feel like if I'm out there by myself, because my coach is all the way in California, and I'm out there by myself. So when I'm out there just putting in my work and doing my grind, I'm out there telling myself, like, come on, Q, let's go. You know, you got to get up, let's go. So if I don't want it myself and nobody when I'm out there just putting in my work and do my grind, I'm out there telling myself to like, come on Q,

let's go. You know, you got to get up, let's go. So if I don't want it myself and nobody else going for me. So it's not really a mental standpoint. It's just me. I got bills to pay.

You know what I mean? I got daughters. I'm just keeping it real with you. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I look at it as like as a bills every do on the first.

So I pick myself up. I tell myself, let's do it. I encourage myself. You can't encourage yourself. Nobody else can encourage for you. So it's not really a mental standpoint on how I get myself ready.

It's just that dog mentality. You know what I mean? You gotta, you gotta run it yourself, man. I'm Michael Kasson, founder and CEO of 3C Ventures and your guide on good company. The podcast where I sit down with the boldest innovators shaping what's next. In this episode, I'm joined by Anjali Sood, CEO of Tubi.

We dive into the competitive world of streaming. What others dismiss as niche, we embrace as core. There are so many stories out there. And if you can find a way to curate and help the right person discover the right content, the term that we always hear from our audience is that they feel seen. Listen to Good Company on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. In the fall of 1986, Ronald Reagan found himself at the center of a massive scandal that looked like it might bring down his presidency. It became known as the Iran-Contra affair. The things that happened were so bizarre and insane, I can't begin to tell you.

Please do. too. To hear the whole story, listen to Fiasco, Iran Contra on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. You're listening to an iHeart Podcast.