Studio 44, Ep. 3: Marlon Humphrey Welcomes Olympian Quanesha Burks

Marlon Humphrey welcomes friend and fellow Alabama athlete Quanesha Burks, who is an Olympic long lumper for the United States.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
I just locked in and once I jumped and I
knew it was the one. And so once I got
the pit like, I was like yes, I was like,
doesn't respect my name? Happy And literally, that was the
one I made the team with. Is without a doubt
in the conversation, to be the best comin in football.

(00:27):
I'm sitting here with Qunicia Burke's two times NCAA Champ,
Olympic long jumper, my fellow teammate at the Universe of
Alabama Alabama high school state champ, like seven times, twelve
Oh goodness, twelve times. Good to have you here. How
are you doing? I'm doing great. Any any accolades of

(00:47):
that mix you did? You missed a few? Um or
time Stacy title A winner, SAC record, yeah, record, yes, um?
You were there okay when I tied it and then
I have the school record three school records to Alabama
that's still still there, of course. And when I won

(01:08):
my first SEC title, you were there, as my teammate Marland. Literally,
I have a picture I'm gon show you, but you
were there and I jumped, and that's when it changed, honestly,
on that day of me winning, and I remember you
were like, Wow, you're good. You just won and I
was like, yeah, you know, let's get a picture. I
was like okay. And at that moment it literally changed

(01:30):
for me though. And then Coach Page was like, you
can do this on the next level. And I was like, what, Like,
I'm just trying to graduate and have a family and
get married and I said and he was like, yeah,
you know, like the Olympics. And that's when I started
winning and when I won Nationals and I was like,
oh my gosh, I didn't gonna do this now all right,
what was your real quick? Where's your Because I did
long jump a little bit before we started to notice

(01:51):
what was your farthest long job in high school? Now?
Now twenty two feet ten inches. I don't know if
I ever hit twenty three I need to. But anyway,
we got to tour the facility. I should you gave
you tour the Ravens facility. You were telling me earlier,
which I didn't know, that you guys have a place
to rehab and train in different things for pro athletes.

(02:13):
How does that differentiate from what you've seen here? Um,
it's completely different. You guys have access to everything as
with track. It's really considered like an amateur sport. And
so there's like different training groups all around the country
literally America and some people train in the Netherlands. And
so we have our main facilities. Um it's the Limpid
Training Center. We have Colorado Springs and Chula Vista in California,

(02:37):
and so with us, like if you're in a cheer
program as well, you get access you know to like
our sports sich our massage therapists, like our doctors. We
have certain doctors. So like for myself in December, UM,
I injured my knee, so they would fly me out
to Colorado to the doctors and they would put me
in the Limpid Training Center. You know, we have like
resources to food, like how everything is here, but it's there.

(02:58):
But there's athletes that live on campus at the Olympic
Training Centers, but a lot of us do not. And
so it's like you're injured, like you know, it's a
lot to get up there, like to the center as
well instead of having the access right there with you.
So how does it work if you're who do you
who decides who gets to live there? How does that work? Um?
It really determines on your performance. And so we have

(03:20):
like USOPC and we have used a TF and we're
in cheer programs, and so they will determine like who
gets to live on campus or live off campus, and
who has access to all like like the therapists and
like the doctors and everything like that. So it's really
dependent on like if you're making teams or like you know,
if you're running fast, jumping far or throwing far, like
it really determines on which you produced. I think track

(03:44):
is when I look back on track, you know, I
love track. I always knew it was a very At
the pro level, it's a very this this football is
a very What have you done for me lately? The
track takes that to the extreme. There was a recently
came out. Um a guy would speaking, if you're not
top ten in order in order to make any money
in traff you have to be top ten in the world.

(04:05):
Whiles I was in football, you can be top thirty
and they can really you can be the bottom half bottom.
And how is it dealing with that pressure knowing if
you don't run this, Nike might cut you, if you
don't run this, this sponsor might drop you. How is
that kind of going to your performance in your montet um.
It's challenging because like making our USA team is the

(04:27):
hardest team to make, and so we have so much talent,
and so just think about if I was another country,
a lot of athletes in America would be celebrities in
like another country. But our team is so hard to make,
and it's every four years to make the Olympic team.
And once you think about trek and field, everyone already
asks like you run track, yes, the first The next
question is are you training for Olympus or are you
going to Olympus. No one knows about world Championships, Panamas

(04:50):
or anything else. It's all about the Olympus. And we
wait every four years to make the Olympic team. And
so the pressure of being like are we have Olympus standard?
Like at our trials this Philampic Tals last year, everyone
had the standard. That was an issue. It was being
perfect on that day. And we have a two day process.
In the first day, me and Brittany Reese for the
top two loan jumpers. And as much as you're gonna

(05:12):
get decided, you're like, yes, I just jump far, but
you can't because on the finals you have to do
it again and you have to be top three on
that day and so on. It's like you can't be perfect.
You really have to be close to perfect at the
trials to make the team. Because we have college kids
that they're running fast and they're going to be at
the trials. We have veterans, they are Olympic champions, and
it's like a range. And so the pressure of no

(05:33):
one that we trained for so many years for one
day that we need to be perfect on to make
the team and you may have run fast or jump
far and still don't make the team. And so it's
really challenging because other countries they just get the standard
they can go because they don't have that many athletes,
you know, to go to their trials or to able
to make the team. So it's really stressful to be honest.

(05:54):
So speaking on pressure and stressful, how have you dealt
with being able to get your body right? What do
you do in the week leading up to a meet
that makes you ready to go when it's time. Well, mentally,
I have a sports side and I have to see
one and honestly, she helped me a lot at the
Limpic trials and so that kind of calmed me down
because we're competing against the best of the best, and

(06:16):
you try not to compare yourself to others, but you
really need to be that person because you need that
money to make, like to pay your bills. Yeah, it's
not like, oh, like with the sponsorships, they don't really
give us something like that. So it's like, yeah, I
know you jumped far, but I got jumped farther because
I need that check. And so mentally, you know, try
not to compare yourself as hard. But with my sports,
like we talk, I'm literally like on a Monday and

(06:38):
then the day before or day of competition, and it
really just like to calm me down. It makes me
feel like, you know, don't worry about the results, focus
on the process, goals and look at the end goal.
Coaches as well like trusting your coach because some coaches
will run you and if your body is not ready
for that, that's a challenge. And so when I switch
coaches my current my old coach, the current coach I
have now used to coach my old coach, So the

(07:00):
program was like an easy transition for me to go
to him. But a lot of people stay injured and
with trek and field if you're injured that year, that's
probably it. Like you know, you've better hope that you
can come back in tom to be you know, perfect
on that day at trials. But it's really hard you
speak on the trials, it's I mean, it's definitely a

(07:20):
I always want to throw on the Olympics, but it's
um you have to be ready that day. There's just
really no nothing nothing. What is it like? I know,
making your first Olympic team, But what was it like
going to that trials knowing because track is a lot
of times you have a small window, especially for certain
of it. You like, very few people have a ten
year track career when they're actually making multiple Olympic teams.

(07:42):
I know some have done it in the past. But
what is it like knowing like you're in your problem.
You're twenty five when you go to Olympics. Yeah, twenty
six going to Olympics. You're in that problem and always
make the next one, but you know your best your
chances of the next two. What are you thinking about
going to that trials and why do you think you
were able to have the success to make the team? Well?

(08:04):
I competed, I tried off from twenty sixteen and I
actually not I missed the finals by one spot. But
I was in college so at the time I was
a fan girl there and just seen every woman. But
I should have made the team then. But this year,
especially with COVID, you know, pushing it back another year.
So it's now it's five years, and so it was
hard because in twenty twenty I was ready. I had
just won USA indoors. I was jumping my best and

(08:26):
I was feeling my best, and then COVID happened and
it's like another year, and so it was really hard
for me because you know, you're like, this is the
best year I was having. Oh, like I you don't.
You're not guaranteed another year. And so this past year
in twenty twenty one, literally everything's going good. And then
I had a freak accident and practice and I definitely
had phone bruised in my femur and my muscle, my

(08:48):
populated muscle. It was just a lot, to the point
I had a tear in my knee, I was in
a boot and I had a PRP ejection and I
was not running, walking or anything. And that was literally
from all indoors. So like the bray to like late March,
late April, and I couldn't walk, run or anything. And
you're saying college athletes and professional athletes just jumping far

(09:10):
and they have the standard, and I did not have
the standard, the Olympic standard, and the Olympic standards basically
for you if you go to the Olympic trials and
just say you get top three, but if you do
not have the limpid standard, you won't go and they
will take the next person in line. And so I
was very stressed, and so being injured and not being healthy,
it was a lot, and to the point like I
would go to doctors. I was traveling to different doctors

(09:32):
specialists just trying to see how I can like speed
up my recovery, and honestly, it was so bad. They're like,
we don't know, like we don't know if you'll be
back in time or the Olympic trials and it'll be
a miracle. And so imagine knowing that you have to
be your best, your best already and you're already like
negative right now. And so I was like okay, And
so during that time, it was out of prayer and

(09:53):
just my sports I really helped me a lot, and
my close friends really just like encourage me, and like
every day I would just go to practice, try to
do a jog, try to run, and eventually I just
strited like being able to pick up the speed. And
my first meet outdoors, I jumped barely not tee feet,
and I knew it's gonna take almost twenty three feet
to make the team. So every meet I was just like, okay,

(10:14):
it's okay, just get better. And I went to twenty
feet twenty one but I wasn't there. And literally the
meet before the trials, I jumped the Limpid standard, which
is like twenty two mid like twenty two three or
twenty two two, and I jumped the Olympis standard, And
so that gave me a sense of peace to go
into the trials with the confidence, you know that I

(10:35):
got the standard. Now let's just go compete, because with
the win, if it's like now, whin if this win
ate it, it doesn't count. It can go over two points. Oh,
So it's stressful trying to get the standards. So when
I was at the Olympic Trials, it was more of
like I'm glad what I went through because I appreciate it.
More of being there, and I had a story because
I wasn't taught coming in, I wasn't performing like the

(10:58):
best of the best. I was actually overlooked. But I
was so grateful for everything I went through that I
was just like, like like I said, it's a miracle to
be here. That I was like, I can't only leave
it all out here, and so being out there, it
was more of like myself. I wasn't like like comparing
myself to others because my journey was different and I
was confident and I knew despite the outcome, I was

(11:19):
happy and like celebrating myself because everything I went through,
I'm here for a reason. And so that honestly gave
me the peace. But the first day when I was
going in, like after we jumped, I was ranked number
two and bringing reasons number one, and so that kind
of gave like a sense of confidence. You know, I'm ready,
but you gotta stay homeble for the final day. And
on that final day, I was knocked down. Like I

(11:41):
was going in, I jumped and I was in third place,
and I was getting knocked down always to sixth place,
and I was like, oh my gosh, I have two
jumps left. I'm not about to meet the slimpet team,
and you know old Q would panic and just got overwhelmed.
But I honestly just went to the side and I
just pray and I was like, God, you brought me
here for a reason, Like I'm here, there's no reason
I'm not going to be Olympic right now, like this

(12:02):
is gonna happen. And I just calmed down, relaxed and
thought about everything I went through and those days. Those days,
I was by myself and I go on that runway
and my coach was just like, all right, you're behind
the board. We're gonna move you up, and I was
like no. He was just like what. I was like, No,
I'm gonna stay here. I'm gonna execute and run through
the board. And I was like all right, and he
went to sat down, and so I just locked in
and once I jumped, and I knew it was the one.

(12:24):
And so once I got the pit like, I was
like yes, I was like, wasn't respecting my name? Like
I'm so happy and literally that was the one I
made the team with. So you make the team, yeah,
I know, you're happy. Quite exciting. Um, what was it like?
I know, you go get fitted for all the Olympic gear.
I know that was that was crazy going to the

(12:46):
Olympics being with I mean, you're with I think you
took a p forget you took a picture with one
of the basketball players, but you're with all the top athletes,
all just the world athletes. What is it like being
with all those I know, when I got into the NFL,
it's kind of like I'm at your level. But it's
like it's crazy to see some of the guys and
after games like get Sherman's, get different people's jersey that

(13:07):
are across the league and to have respect for you
and they know who you are. What was it like
being around all those just stars and you knowing you're
one of those starts. It was all moment like I
was like wow, like Alison feelix, Oh my goodness, like Alison,
and like but I felt like I realized like I
belong here, like and like you said, like you know,
when you're with the big time, it's like we look
up to them, like you know, this is the best

(13:29):
and you have to beat the best to be with
the best. So being there, I was like wow, like
and it didn't hit me honestly that I made the
olymp of team until like I got to Tokyo with COVID,
it was just so stressful. But once I got there,
I was just like I'm in the Olympic village, like
what they said someone Bowles was still on here, like
like oh my goodness, and you're trying to be a
fan girl, but you're like wow. So just being the

(13:49):
moment in a presence of greatness, it made me feel
like gave me a hope of like you belong here
and like you know, you can make another olymp of team,
like you're an Olympian forever, and so having that opportunity
only one percent, I don't know if you knew the
only one percent make the Olympic team. And I'm in
that one percent category, so if on it, I didn't
know that. So Olympic Village, Yeah, that's just only basically

(14:13):
Olympian territory. How does that? You'll have food and every
you guys have everything you need basically basically like this,
we get the assets, so like what you guys have,
um the village consists of like it's like these tall
buildings and we have like the USA building in Australia,
m Great Britain and everyone has like their own building
front every country and like on that building is like
different levels. So it's like trying to feel up here

(14:33):
swimming and diving, like drymnastics, like you know, everyone like
every sport and so you know, even though track and feel,
you see like oh, like what do event and they're like, oh,
I'm snowboarding or like you know, just you're like, oh okay,
fencing You're like oh wow. And so it was really
cool to just meet different like Olympians that represent USA,
like all in the building and like the food, like

(14:55):
we have like this dining hall and so you'll walk
down like a little it's like not that far and
it's just big downing hall, two levels and literally like
they have like all different types of food there, and
like all the countries are there like everyone and you're
like there's Remacica. Oh my gosh, it's in the Netherlands.
And it was really cool and it was exciting. I
wanted to be more involved. But with COVID you were

(15:15):
scared because you know, if you test it positive, you
were done. Yeah, Like how often did you guys? Test?
How did that? Every day? Every morning? Every morning? Every morning?
So you really like mentally, you couldn't call yourself Olympia.
I know myself until I competed at the Olympics stadium.
It's like I'm in Tokyo, I'm here, but I'm an Olympia.
Yet I'm to compete. And it's like every day when

(15:36):
you tell your COVID test, your word, hope it's negative,
but you're just yes because if you get that positive,
they'll test your again. And if it's positive, like that's it.
There's done. And so until I got out there and
they're like, bart's your nests, I'm like I jumped. I
was like, okay, I'm an Olympia. I'm Olympia, but you
can't cele I didn't celebrate until I got the day
to jump. So you're at the Olympics. There there was

(16:00):
no no fans, no no, So that was kind of
probably not what you wanted. But I still an Olympian. Yes,
take me through. What's take me through? What's going through
your mound when you're about to do longer? What's what's
all going through your mind? What's your strat like, what
is the idea for cornician birds of long term? Well?
Im every morning I have a devotional I do to

(16:22):
calm me down, or I'm talking to my sports. I
eat my I only eat a breakfast. I only eat breakfast,
a full breakfast. I do not do anything else. So
you can beat at eight pm. I gotta That's been
the thing I've been doing since college. But I eat
a big breakfast, and so I skipped lunch. And I've
always said it doesn't it doesn't matter what time I'm competing.
I'll only eat breakfast. And so I started my devotional

(16:43):
my breakfast, and then I started my gospel. Then I'll
lead to some eat meal noting tone, and so it
goes like a whole range. And then I listened to
like a piano instrumental, Like it's weird my range of music.
But after like I get hyped. I listened to Eric
Thomas and Kie Johnson, and I get the motivation and
I'm like a p along here. Then I hype myself up.
And then I get on the bus and you're like

(17:03):
with us, you know, we get on the bus without competitors,
so you're seeing them, you know, and it's like hey,
but it's like trying to talk to you right now,
like I'm trying to beat you right now. In a
couple of hours so that but literally you're woman up
and you're with them, like you're all woman up with them,
and so we're just sitting there like a skips looking
or you know, you're trying to focus, but it's like

(17:24):
your competition is right there. So at that time, I
just get into tonal vision. I get worked on and
I just started speaking like trust the process, goals and
I try not to think about the end goals or
the result. Was like the process, and at that day,
I'm like, cute, you're short compared to a lot of
the jumpers, but you have speed. You are fast. You're
one of the fastest long jumpers ever, like, so you

(17:45):
have to think about that. Use your speed. And I
tell myself push out the back transition and run to
the board and just run. And that's literally the three
things I tell myself. So when I feel like I'm
getting worked up, my anxiety is going, I'm like, go
back que remember, and so that calls me down. And
after that, once they line is up because caught the
final call, all the competition, y'all come together and we're

(18:08):
sitting there and we're just waiting, and every when it's
looking at each other and it's like someone about to
lose today. I don't know who it is, but you
know you're trying to be like you gotta stay humble,
but you have to have that uh and wants to
get out there and when it's going, it's tom And
so that works for me to stay calm, to not
focus on the end results and just focus on being
the best version of Queenship Berts a day. Because if

(18:30):
I'm my best virgin, I know I'm beating people. I
knew I can beat them, So I just walk it
into myself. Walk into yourself. So I'm competing the Olympics,
fall short, gets ninth, miss finals by I missed one spot.
One spot. How not the best feeling. But how does

(18:52):
that how do you kind of go back to I
mean three years there's another Olympic, But do you carry
that with you to you just let that go? I
know every every after him is everything different? How do
you go about that? Um? It was hard one. It
was really really hard. Like they called it's like the
Olympic Blues and it's like a sense of like depression
at the Olympus And I definitely feel like I got that,
but like at that moment, it was like with USA

(19:14):
being the hardest team to make, you put so much,
like so many emotions and effort into making that team,
because you can be number one in the world and
not make the USA team or break the world record,
and so like making the team for America, it's like
now at the Olympus, like, okay, we can have fun
because the hardest part is the Olympic Trials for USA.
And so getting there, you know, I was confident and

(19:36):
I came up short like I was in the finals,
and then one girl knocked me out at the end,
and I was like, oh my gosh. And at that moment,
I felt defeated, and I remember I walked out of
the stadium into like the breezeway and I just sat
there and I cried and I was just crying. I
was like, I'm embarioused like I cannot believe I'd make
the finals and like, oh my gosh, I'm not representing
America the way I should. I was just so down,

(19:57):
and then I had a moment and I was just
like I just I called my friends and she's like, girl,
look around and I was like what, Just like you're
in Tokyo, Japan in the Olympics stadium, crying you're an olympian.
And at that moment she was like, wipe your tears
and get up, and I was like I am. And
so at that moment I had a turning point. I
was like, girl, you are an Olympian. That's not going away.

(20:19):
And so after that, after coming back home, like everyone,
you know, it's like wanting to see me, want to
give a parade, and I was really down because, like
you know, I felt one like I feel in front
of the entire world, and then I know you did it.
I'm like, yes, I did. The whole world was there,
like everyone was there and literally and I was like
everyone was watching Olympus and I feel like a failure.

(20:40):
And then like you're not a failure because to me,
you know, like you're amazing. I was like I am.
But you know, making the USA team does something like
it's the hardest part and so we want to meddle,
like you like I didn't want to just make the team.
I want to leave with the hardware and to come
up like get that close, like it's not like one
percent and you get that close and not get a med,

(21:00):
it's like wow. And so that was hard. But like
I said, like I went through the Olympic blues of
just like feeling like I was like regular Deglar, like
regular Q. You know, people know me, but it's like
Olympian like I went to like five thousand followers or
like over thirty thousand, and I'm just like and people like,
we want shirts, we want to support you, and all
these people supported me, and so it's like what do
you do now? Like are you always going to be

(21:21):
taught to the Olympics, Like you have a life outside
of that. And I felt selfish after the Olympics because
you know, everyone messaging you, everyone wants to sing you stuff,
and they're talking about you, and I wanted to hear
from everyone else, like how are you doing, how's your relationship?
Like I just want to talk to different people, but
they're always talking about me, and so I felt very selfish.
And then when I would try to express, you know,
how sad I am, you know, I just feel like

(21:43):
I'm upset. You know, they're like, you shouldn't be upset,
like you went to the Olympus and so like they
just justify like how I felt, and I'm like, no,
like I have feelings, like I can be upset because
I didn't get my goal of getting a medal, so
it was hard and my sports sight helped me a lot.
And now I talked to a lot Olympians and I
was talking to one Anna on cockro last week and

(22:03):
we were just talking about it, and she was like,
how were you got to the Olympics And we would
like literally share the same thing, and she was like, yeah,
I just felt like, oh my gosh, like the Olympic blues,
and so a lot of us are talking about it,
and but we didn't share it together because you see
on social media, you know, you're still posting the Olympus
and stuff, but deep down, you know we're all going
through it. And with COVID, after making the team, we

(22:25):
didn't get to like celebrate with our family and friends.
So after I made the Olympic team, I had to
fly home and isolate because like we have to do
a lot of tests and everything, and so I didn't
even get the big celebration, you know with my family
of like she's going to the Olympus and the sendoff,
and then you get to Olympus and don't you don't
come back with the medal. You're like I don't want
to do a parade, like I don't want to be
around people like I'm embarrassed I feel. So it was

(22:47):
hard at first. I never knew about the Olympic Blues,
but yeah, it sounds like a definite thing with my
Olympic Olympic Blues. Do you have anything similar, like, because
I mean, you're a performing at the highest so the
highest level, and there's Twitter, so many people are so
vocal about your guys and they're like they feel like
they control you it. I couldn't imagine honestly be in

(23:08):
your physician because I would go out with everyone on
social media. So how is it feeling like, you know,
mean expectation of others and just going through everything? I
think I thought it was really interesting with the Olympic Blues.
But I think for football you have you spoke a
lot about, you know, your psychic, mental health and different things.
I think with football you really have to be very careful,

(23:31):
especially during the season of you know, the hows and lows.
I think, you know, life is all about highs and lows.
I think the biggest thing I try to do is
just try to just stay even like you always get excited,
but you can never get you down. You don't want
to stay excited, but you don't want to stay down,
so it's I was gonna even kill and I think
you know, those blues are like for for me, it's

(23:52):
like you play a bad game, you only have a
small window to kind of be down. But because also
you have seasons when you're like, we should I felt
I've been here, and there's two seasons where we really
had a good shot at winning a super Bowl. And
when you fail, you're like, dang, you gotta watch all
these teams are like, I'm I know my team was

(24:13):
better than this team, and so you kind of go
through like and that's the time you actually have time
to actually kind of soak in that a little bit
more than usual because you're you don't have a game
the next week and you're like, dang, and then you
know this guy was with he might not be here
next year, this guy's will I might not be You
think about all that stuff, and it's it's a it's

(24:37):
a surreal feeling just because it's this This industry goes,
you know, so fast, for for good reason, and those
real I guess Olympic lowes for me is after those
seasons when you know you have a down year, like
had a down year last year, and you're just like,
all right, why did I have a down year? How
can I have a better year? How can the team
be better? How can I help the team get to

(24:57):
where we want to go. The weirdest thing I think
has been becoming a veteran on the team and you're
like we were at the other day. I was like,
we don't really got that mean old guys. And then
I looked at myself. I said, I think I'm the
old guy, Like, you know what, So that was really weird.
That was really weird to me. Like, and then I'm
talking to different guys at a think in LA and

(25:20):
they're like, Bro, the leadership at the Ravens has always
been there, it's just that now that you're that guy
to do it. And I'm like, I am like and
so I guess like I kind of keep lasking when
different young guys would come up to me asking me this,
ask me that. But I never never really clicked that.
Like when I was I was a rookie and I
was going to Brandon car Eric Weddle talked Tony like

(25:42):
talking to those guys and they were like, Yo, this
is how we do. I'm sitting here. I mean Brandon
Carr told me this is the NFL kind of in
a nutsheow when you got a good veteran Brandon Carr
were sitting in the sauna, He's like, a, are you
the one He's starting in front of me? He's a starter.
I'm behind it. He's like, yeah, it's just Tim's coming,

(26:03):
like it won't be long. It was. It was really
good to hear those things and have good veteran leadership
when I was early. So it's something that I definitely
want to make sure i'm doing. Kind of to get
back to the young guy, do you have a sports
psyche or like, you know, do you have any resources
that you use or that's available for you. So for me,
I never really realized different things that I was doing.

(26:24):
So when I was actually in college, we had a
land of Her name was Hillary and I it was
a class or something else, but I ended up using
her as without really knowing I was using her for that,
but I actually used her unlike really anybody else I
was in the room. Yeah, so even when I wasn't
required to be in there, I would just come in
there and really just taught life. And I think even

(26:48):
really before I really knew what mental health was, it
helped me just kind of get through things and just
talking about things and just going through it. And then
as I go to nfl U, I talk a lot
with our team chapter and so when when times get
tough for me, I a lot of times, you know,

(27:11):
I just whether it's just talking to somebody, I mean,
I mean sometimes it's just talking things out, just hearing
your own self talk about what's going on. And I
think it just helps so much, you know, dealing with
mental health. I think that's one of the biggest things.
And for me, what's another thing that helped me out
is you can't think football, football, blah blah blahball. I
feel it ends up just leading to your own destruction.

(27:33):
And so for me, having a lot of other interests
and doing different things, and I always take a trip
out of the country every year. I got my place
back home. It's been like a family project, Markie Oasis.
Doing all these different things has really helped me with
my mental stability, you know, whether it's social media, you know,
having fun, I walked, I record a lot of guys,

(27:55):
like all the time, like Gush is my locker mate.
He hates me. He hates me every other day. Every
time I walk up, I put my phone out, He's
like not today. So you know, really a lot of
times is weird as it sounds. The guys give me
a lot of joy. I really enjoy walking into the
building dealing with the guys. Um, I had a good
locker room. But all these all those things have really

(28:16):
helped me with with with my mental stability. Just I
think I enjoy I don't see myself smiling, but I
enjoy seeing other people smile. And I feel like whether
I'm saying something kind of crazy, saying something kind of dumb,
saying something kind of goofy, seeing somebody smile, Um, it
helps my mental health, which that sounds pretty lang, but no,

(28:38):
it's kind of that's kind So it's like, there's so
many different things out there that can just help you tremendously.
And I think, never be you know, too shot to
go try. I think if you could just find anyone
to talk to that would be willing to I mean,
there's hot lines if you have absolutely no one. There's
just so many different things, um that that just really

(29:00):
help you and sometimes just go outside, you know what
I mean literally being outside has been great for me.
I mean my dad, my dad had lost a lot
of weight just working out in my my farm back home.
My mom be coming out there. She is not a
you know, person to do all that like that, Brianna.
I mean, we have family outings all the time, and

(29:21):
just being outside. I think it's just really good just
the sun hit you and all that so and you
can be yourself. I feel like you don't hear about football,
Like it's like I'm just morelling hum feel like and
just being me. And I feel like everyone ties us
to our sports so much. It's like it's what we do.
We have antentity. It's more and it's bigger than that,
and like everyone's like yes, like I love when people

(29:41):
want to hear my Olympus story, but you know, it's
just like, you know, I have other things, like I
can do. I think I can say look, but I can't.
I can't now I think I can't. But it's like
other things instead of like always talking about it. And
there's the point like I didn't want to talk about
the Olympus so much because I just feel like, oh
my gosh, you guys like and so I can't imagine,
you know, like I always hear my football like this
year this Ye're like y'all gonna do this. It's just

(30:02):
like we're more than just athletes. We are more than athletes.
We have so much more to give. And don't say
like stick to football, stick to track. No, We're not
a robot. We have so much more to give. And
I really love like, you know, mental health is so important.
I feel like you have to be aware of your
mental health to stay at the top and be where
you are, Like you have to because there's so many

(30:23):
people that can distract you and get you off the
path and like really like get you down. And like
you said, I love how you're like I took a trip.
I took a trip as well, Like after the season,
I'm literally like I gotta go somewhere like this year
is Dubai and I'm so ready, And so I love like,
you know, we actually have like similarities what we do,
and so I love that a lot. Yeah, you spoke
on celebration. Yeah you're kind of doing a little celebration

(30:45):
with DC going to see Joe Biden president as everyone
should know. What do you first off tell me about
it as like the entire Olympic team come in and
if you get a chance to talk with you about
are you going to ask him anything? Oh? Um, yes,
the entire um summer in which your Olympics y'all come together. Yeah,
everyone's here and so it's been a great opportunity. We've

(31:07):
been here. Um, we're going to visit the Capitol and
they have a summit for us like how to transition
from Olympian to like like business like outside of the
Olympics and like talking about like mental health like after Olympics,
because you're life completely changes like you're Olympian and going
to visit the final day is Joe Biden. I'm really excited.
This is actually something that I always tell my list, like,

(31:28):
you know, want to make the Olympic team. I'm going
to visit the President. I don't care who it is
I'm going and so I'm really excited. Um, I'm nervous,
but um, I don't know. I really don't know if
I have a question right now, but I do want
to do a TikTok with them, and yeah, you know
the one it's like, you know, what would you tell
Joe Biden, right now it's like, what's up, baby, take

(31:50):
me to dinner. I really want to do it with him,
but taking me to da job? Okay, So things come
full circle? Ye, like full circle when I when you
made the Olympics, you posted a picture have you working

(32:12):
at McDonald's and I know you were working there. Someone
would say it was just a job, but you were
helping with your bills at your grandmother's house. And then
you end up doing a collap with McDonald's after you
make the team. How crazy is to look back and
be like, wow, like I really, I mean, there's I'm
not gonna stay working at McDonald's as the bottom. But

(32:32):
it came full circle. They were paying you. Now they're
paying you for this being you. How was that kind
of seeing that feeling not that I mean kind of
you really made it, You've really arrived. Yeah, it's crazy because,
um that story like literally I worked at McDonald's and
if you guys knew, like McDonald's sponsored the Olympics and
so I was like sixteen at the time working at

(32:53):
McDonald's and we were ever tised to Olympics. And I'll
say I'm going to Olympics as I'm taking people orders
you know. Yeah, anyways, it's your frost. You know, I'm
going to Olympus and so like to others, it's a job,
but to me, it was to provide for my family.
It was a way we weren't finance you off, and
so that one hundred dollars one hundred fifteen dollars check
every two weeks. They helped, like with car insurance with
my grammy, and like I was doing a lot. And
like people, I guess, like I never share my story

(33:15):
a lot because to me it was normal. But like
I would wake up literally at four third every morning,
take my grandmother to work because it was only one car,
take her to work. They I'll come back and I
have two little sisters at the time, and they were
like probably five and four, and I would get them
ready for school and day care. I would drop them off.
Then I would drop leave a car to high school,
go to class. Then afterwards I would have basketball track practice,

(33:37):
and then I would get a ride to mac Donald's
and I'll work four to ten and then I'll come
home and I'll do my homework and then I'll start
over every day. And so to others, it's like what
you were doing that in high school, I was like yeah,
and that was normal to me because I knew I
needed to provide for my family and so but at McDonald's,
like a lot of people don't know, like that equipped
me to who I am now, Like you know how

(33:59):
to work hard, like to work under pressure, like how
to multitest, and I'll value like money at the time,
and I knew how to manage my money. And so
even when I was getting recruited, college coaches would come
to the McDonald's lobby to recruit me and they would
call me and they were like hi, Like you know,
we're like Alabama. Like Coach Pick literally was trying to

(34:19):
get in contact with me. He would call me. I
was like, hey, I made drive through. I can't talk
right now, and like hang up, like and they're like, girl,
like we're trying to argue a lot of money on
full scholarship to the University of Alabama and you're hanging
up because you're at McDonald's drive through. So he literally
give my high school coaches like I don't think birds
understand like what we're trying to do for her, Like
we're giving her a full scholarship, and like the whole Secy.

(34:40):
Like literally Mississi State coach was in the lobby and
the manager was like, hey, some god here, like Mississippi
State want to talk to you. I was like, oh, yeah,
that's a coach. Teachers want to recruit me. And like
on my break, he would sit there with all the
papers and like, yeah, we have a full scholarship here,
just what you would get. And I was just like, okay,
well let me just get all this. My break is
about to end and so like, and it was crazy,

(35:01):
but you know, they understood and so being able to know,
like you know, working at McDonald's. And the crazy thing is,
once I saw my scholarship full scholarship to compete to
run in Alabama, I still worked at McDonald's and so
all your peers coming through, you know, and I'm up
here to sign a whole scholarship and I'm like, hi,
can I take order? And literally it was like a
home in the beginning. And so now I tweeted that

(35:23):
and I really did not think anything about it, and
because I have pictures, and you know, I was like,
I'm like I'm happy working MacDonald's, like happy like and
so having that picture, I just literally tweeted like you know,
started McDonald's now to the Lympus. I had no clue
to go by. I had no clue, and they're saying,
you know, like McDonald's like responded, then they DM me
and they want to send me appeal. And then like

(35:43):
the president of McDonald's literally like follow me on Twitter,
and I was like, oh, my goodness, it is really
the president. And so it was. And I had a
whole meeting with them and they were like, yeah, We've
been sent your story like so many people. So it's
really cool to like meet with them like at this
whole tape and I'm like, I'm the president of the
MacDonalds and so that was cool. And then to be
able to get to deal out of all of it

(36:05):
with them was honestly a blessing as will. And I
told them, like you know, and like I was just myself.
I was like to some it's just a job, but
to me, this was a way for my family, to
my family. And it's literally like this like the slogan
like no I worked for them, now working with them,
and I'm like, what in the world. And so it's
cool just to know like where I started from to
where I am now and so many people love the story.

(36:27):
They're like, it's the American dream, and I'm like, I
guess it is. And I think I just didn't realize
how much I was doing at a young age. But
I feel like that all equipped me to be where
I'm now, Like now at the Olympics, like you know,
the Limpic trials. I know how to handle pressure. I
know what it is. You know how to multitask and
how to handle things. But I feel like it all
like I developed that when I was young, working at

(36:47):
MacDonalds and balancing, you know, my family and everything like that.
Q you got to oh yeah, um, you gotta see, well,
you know how far what's my for this jomp? Do
you know? Twenty three four, twenty two ten? Do you
want to show? I can show you. Yeah, sure, let's go. Okay, yeah, yeah,

(37:09):
we're gonna okay, take me, take me through a I
actually tore my hamstring in high school trying to do
long jomb messing around with darn long jomb. All right,
take me take me. Let's count it out. Okay, I'm
gonna start right here. One, two, three, four, five, seven eight, nah,
two eleven two? What are you doing? I don't think

(37:35):
it's enough. It's not enough. So I'd probably be like,
from here, yes, that's how far. So from here all
the way to here, that's not far enough. Yeah, And
that's not even far enough. So it's past the sign
that past the black things. So what we do is
literally I would run and it'll be a white board

(37:55):
and I literally just take off. Do you do hit kick?
How do you know? I'm not a hitch kicker, so
I'm more I just go in the air and I
just land like this, But I'm not. I don't like
like do little straw. It's hit kick at all. But literally,
if this is the line, the white line, because you
have to jump on the white line, if you jump
past it, it's a pal. But literally I go and
right here, I'm in the air all the way up there,

(38:17):
and I'm landing out there literally like I'm landing. Talk
talk about the landing, right, I think the landing of
long job here. I don't know the idea exactly what
the landing? What exactly is the idea with the landing?
You have you guys land and spin out all kind
of aggressively. Well, when you think about it, you're running
as fast as you can while trying to control the

(38:37):
speed to take off at a line and jump as
far as you can with collapse in your whole entire
body into the sand. And when you say like that,
it's like so dramatic, But that's all these benages because
I cut my arm my last competition. But honestly, you
can hurt your back part like if you don't like,
if you don't understand it, like all the way and

(38:57):
what my problem is I fear to the left a
little bit with shortened my distance. But literally, people literally
like you go put your hand, you go up, and
you literally like just gradually go and collapse your whole
body like this, literally your arms and your lessons and
meet like this and get ordered out there as you
can and just land. Listen. One more question, what does

(39:17):
the biggest the biggest misconception people have? Track? I know
the worst question. The track fleets hate getting asses by
football guys. What's your forty? Yes they don't really know that.
Misconceptions do not I do forties? Okay, guys out there,
they're a little pickup bonds like what's your fourty? Time?

(39:39):
I can beat you? Please stop stop. I do not
like that. But we do not do forties. We do
sixty meters and I think that people think, oh track
spating football speed, and I promised you I love football,
and you guys are like crazy like elite athletes just
like track and feel really athletes as will. And I
feel like if we just will understand, like respect the

(40:01):
sports instead of like competing with each other, like yes,
I love how DK, like you know, came in like
um Ran at the track meet and to get understanding.
And I feel like you as actually you know, you
ran track and football, and I feel like they think,
well they ran that, but we can do this, and
it's like it's not the same. And I think they
did a comparison. What's it with Tyreek or DK with

(40:21):
comparing him to you same bolt? Oh yeah that is no,
Like I know that is right. And I just fished
like they're like, well, he's running this fast and they're
trying to No, it's not the same. It's not the same.
And I just feel like I think every football player
from when I'm looking at they say they need to
run track. I'm just saying, I mean, hey, you did both.
What do you think I mean? I think it helps

(40:43):
a lot. I think um as a track coach did
that for four years. I try to get every football
player to run track, just because it's main speed. It's
kind of the name of the game and most sports.
And I think track and stuff. Track is definitely tough.
It's definitely and I wish it like, you know, we
got more respect for it as well and like and

(41:04):
that's how I feel, like, you know, the Olympus, like
if you like people determine a successful track career if
you made the Olympic team, and that's always associate with
successful career. It's being in that conversation. I think in track.
The thing I like about track is it's a fact
if I run nine five, I'm the fastest person ever.
There's no debating, and I think that's a big reason

(41:26):
why track doesn't get a lot of there's nothing to debate. Yeah,
we love debate. We love seeing me match up this
guy in the next thing. You can talk about it
for thirty man. You love seeing who's better than Mark
Jackson and this guy and then you can talk about
that for a week. And track is like klinician Burke
to jump farther than this girl. We love a debate.
I think the society loves a debate. People love to argue,
people want to disagree, and it's it's great for TV,

(41:48):
but track there's nothing to do but football. You can
talk about basketball every other sport. Track is like the
only sport where it's so it's one race. So it's
not even tennisies it's yet it's one on one, but
there's the one this right, there's so many matches. Yeah,
so I think I think that's the biggest thing. There's
nothing to there's no friction. It's all about friction. And

(42:08):
and it was a big debate when debate DK came
and everyone was like, I think he's going on this. Yeah, yeah,
I brought a lot of good explosions. I think it
was great. I thought k is doing a really good
job with that. I want to see Tyreek getting some
spikes again. I'm ready. I know he was really really fast.
I think I'm ready. I think there are some things,
but I think it's it's hard to can be. Who
do you have? Oh, I have who ever turned to track?

(42:31):
For sure? Now I love Tyreek, but I got who
ever turn to the track? Q. Thank you very much,
Thank you