Jillian Weir's Unique Path From Water Polo to Olympic Hammer Throw - Episode #253 - The Athletes Podcast

Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
The Ducks and Beavers do not like each other.
What's that rivalry?
Like Any fun stories there.

Speaker 2 (00:05):
Well, I would say in other sports the rivalry is more
serious and in track and fieldthey only have a women's program
.
They don't have a men's trackand field team and, to be honest
, we didn't look at them as muchof any competition.

Speaker 3 (00:24):
What's up everyone?
Welcome back to the athletespodcast.
Is everyone fired up from thatcanada usa game?
Because I sure am.
That was incredible.
Oh my god, that was one of thebest hockey games I've seen in a
long time.
Of course, canada had to getthe win.
You love to see it.
What tournament from?
Uh, my boy, dylan lark, shoutout, that was awesome.
I hope everyone enjoyed thatToday.

(00:46):
Today we have Jillian Weir on.
She is incredible.
Canadian Olympic hammer throwathlete has the second best
finish of any female Canadianhammer thrower all time at the
Olympics.
That's pretty damn cool.
Dave will get more into that inthe episode, but yeah, hope you

(01:07):
guys enjoy.
As always, shout out PerfectSports.
They're awesome.
Their stuff's incredible.
Use the code AP20 at checkout.
You're going to save 20%.
You're going to love this stuff.
It's awesome and withoutfurther ado, let's get into this
episode.

Speaker 1 (01:24):
You're the most decorated racquetball player in
US history, world's strongestman, from childhood passion to
professional athlete, eight-timeIronman champion.
So what was it like making yourdebut in the NHL?
What is your biggest piece ofadvice for the next generation
of athletes, from underdogs tonational champions?
This is the Athletes Podcast,where high-performance

(01:44):
individuals share their triumphs, defeats and life lessons to
educate, entertain and inspirethe next generation of athletes.
Here we go, jillian Weir,what's going on?
This is episode 253 of theAthletes Podcast.
Thanks for coming on the show.

Speaker 2 (01:58):
Thanks for having me.

Speaker 1 (02:00):
Long time overdue.
I know we've been chatting forprobably six, eight, nine, 10
months now.
What's it like down inCalifornia?
First off, are you okay?
Fires, obviously, things goingon there, everything good.

Speaker 2 (02:12):
Yeah, yeah, everything's great.
So last five years I wastraining in Alberta and over the
summer I just relocated back toCalifornia where I grew up.
So I'm splitting my time up atStanford in the Bay area and
then down in LA and I was downthere when the fires hit and I
had to like turn around anddrive back up, but I wasn't
anywhere super close.

(02:33):
There was just a lot ofcongestion in the LA area and
you know, air quality was spottydepending on the like, wind
direction and everything.
So, yeah, I just needed tobounce, but luckily I was okay
and everybody that I knew wasall right as well glad to hear
that.

Speaker 1 (02:51):
Typically some pretty beautiful places to be able to
train and spend your time, asopposed to Kingston, ontario,
where you probably had to growup.
But throwing hammer throws alittle colder yeah, yeah,
exactly yeah.

Speaker 2 (03:02):
So I have a lot of family out in Ontario, some in
Alberta, um, but my mom's wholeside of the family is from
Canada and living in Albertavery, very cold, grew up down in
California because my parentswere working here.
My dad used to coach atStanford and now he's coaching
at University of Missouri, soI'm a dual citizen, but I have
lived in Canada in some roughwinters and I cannot complain

(03:27):
about the weather that I've beentraining in lately in
California.

Speaker 1 (03:31):
I think that's a testament to why Canadians are
always doing so well.
Whether it's winter or summergames, we've got to be able to
participate in any kind ofweather, absolutely, jillian.
You are likely familiar withLiz Gledel, who's also a
three-time Olympian.
She's in, or she was in,alberta throwing down one winter
like ugly stuff uh, similar toyour dad, who's also a

(03:52):
three-time Olympian no big dealuh, a little bit of pressure
when you've got a dad who'scompeted in three Olympic games
like what was that like growingup?

Speaker 2 (04:01):
yes and no.
I mean to me he just always was, you know, dad and dad competed
in track and field and he's acoach, and so that's just what
he did.
But as I've gotten older, I'vedefinitely recognized, like, the
success that he had and theeffort it took to not only be a
husband and a father and a coachbut an athlete competing at

(04:22):
that high level um, and he alsoplayed in the cfl and he's done
a lot of super cool things andso, yeah, I look back now as an
adult and think he had such agreat career, um, but as a kid I
didn't really know anydifferent.

Speaker 1 (04:35):
It was just like oh yeah, dad like works at a track
yeah, he just casually competesin the olympic games when he's
not being my dad and bringing meto school I uh, one of the
things I appreciated about yourupbringing as I was doing some
research, is the fact that youwere playing a ton of sports
growing up and you didn'tnecessarily go right into hammer

(04:55):
throw immediately.
Can you share a bit about thatupbringing?

Speaker 2 (04:58):
Yeah, absolutely.
I think that is a key part ofthe athlete that I've become and
some of the success that I'vehad.
So, growing up, I played waterpolo for seven years Growing up
in California that was a regularsport to play and then I played
softball for a year.
I even did wrestling in middleschool because my brother was
doing wrestling.
I played basketball and theneven in track and field I did

(05:21):
running events, jumping events,throwing events, and I didn't
specialize to the throws untilhigh school and I was throwing
shot, put and discus and then,when I got to university,
started doing the hammer throwand then I just got better and
better at it and then became ahammer thrower, which I would
consider was pretty late in mycareer.
Opposed to, I have friends andpeople that maybe have been

(05:43):
throwing since they were ateenager or even younger, or at
a high school age at least, andso, yeah, I kind of came about
it in a in a different way.
But I think all of those othersports really developed and
shaped me to become just abetter, well-rounded athlete.

Speaker 1 (05:59):
Was there one that you enjoyed the most growing up?

Speaker 2 (06:03):
I had a good time playing water polo.
It was I just had a good arm,and so a water polo ball is like
very light and, uh, at the time, like I would just taking shots
that I think other girlsweren't taking.
So you know, I might have beenlike 15, 16 years old, shooting
from near like the halfway markand people like wouldn't expect

(06:24):
it so it would go in because thegoalie wasn't really, like you
know, ready for a shot comingthat far, uh, in that age group.
So, yeah, I I think water polowas a fun sport, but I even like
was skateboarding with myfriends or riding like a scooter
, or I used to go to the skatepark on like rollerblades and
like dropping half pipes andstuff, so I was literally always
doing something super athletic.

Speaker 1 (06:47):
Was that ingrained at a young age?
You just always had to beoutside moving and shaking.
It comes with an Olympic dadand parents that are always
pursuing great athleticachievements.

Speaker 2 (06:56):
Yeah, yeah, I think so.
But like my brother and I, ourparents just always were like,
do whatever you want, like goahead, and like I grew up in the
way where it was like, allright, hey, I'm going to the
park, yeah, okay, I'll come back, like you know, when the sun's
going down.
So I was able just to go outand hang out with my friends and
just I enjoyed getting out andjust doing something fun,

(07:16):
something athletic, and then, asI was like getting older and
more competitive, I found outthat I was pretty good at it as
well.
So it definitely, yeah, it madeit fun.

Speaker 1 (07:27):
Okay, tell me about the difference between
Commonwealth Games and OlympicGames, because most people don't
know what that looks like andyou've competed in both.
I'd love to get the insidescoop on what those look like.
The differences intricacies.

Speaker 2 (07:43):
So my first commonwealth games was 2018 and
that was in australia, and thatwas a lot of fun.
Um, I went over to australiaearly, before our training camp
and before the games, because Ihad a family friend that
connected me with somebody elseand so I got to go like, stay
with another athlete anaustralian athlete and go get

(08:04):
some training in.
So I just had a really, reallygreat trip.
It was fun while I was overthere being able to explore a
little bit because I was thereearly, but Australia is just an
awesome place, so I highlyrecommend traveling to that part
of the world.
But going to the CommonwealthGames, that was my first what
you consider a games experienceand so, um, in track and field,

(08:26):
we have a world championships oryou know, there's Pan Am games,
olympic games, commonwealthgames and then there's a bunch
of other meets, but anyone orany of those competitions that
are games have all differentsports.
So world championships is justour sport athletics or track and
field but when you go to aCommonwealth Games, you've got
people playing basketball,swimmers.

(08:47):
You know all different sportsand so going there in 2018, I
was only a few years out ofuniversity and it was really,
really eye opening.
I did not compete well, so if Ihave any regrets, it was how
the competition went, but it wasdefinitely a really good
learning experience.
So when I went to my secondCommonwealth Games I was a lot

(09:07):
more prepared and then I endedup meddling.
So that was really cool to beable to have that first
experience and learn from it andthen to do better the next time
.
Olympic Games are just likeCommonwealth.
Games, I'd say you know times10 or 20.
Games, I'd say you know times10 or 20.

(09:28):
Yeah, exactly Like on steroids.
It's a huge, like massive,global event.
Opposed to Commonwealth is justcertain countries, the
Commonwealth nations, and soOlympics.
Then it's like it's even moresports, even more countries,
bigger.
The Olympics that I went to inTokyo obviously it was during
the pandemic, so things were alot more restricted in terms of
what we could or couldn't dooutside of the Olympic Village,

(09:50):
but nonetheless you could reallyfeel the scale of everything
and how much more like preciseeverything was.
In comparison, commonwealthGames felt a lot more laid back
and the level of competition wasjust not nearly as high, but
nonetheless, both are, I think,very, very great opportunities

(10:12):
and fun events, and anytime youget to compete for your country
it's always a good time.

Speaker 1 (10:20):
It brings up an interesting point competing for
your country.
Because you're born in the US,you have a Canadian mother and
you have a British father, ifI'm correct.

Speaker 2 (10:30):
That's correct.

Speaker 1 (10:32):
So you got a plethora of options to choose from.

Speaker 2 (10:36):
Yeah, and my dad's parents were born and raised in
Jamaica, so sometimes there'sathletes that are like trying to
figure out which grandparent orsomebody like who could they
get potentially a passport forand I technically could compete
for four different countries.
So I think that I guess that'spretty lucky.

(10:57):
But I started competing forTeam Canada back when I was a
teenager.
I was on the junior nationalteam, went to World Junior
Championships and at that time Iwas still primarily a shop and
disc store, so I didn't even gocompete internationally as a
hammer thrower until later, umand um, my mom kind of was like,
hey, you know, if you want, youcould probably compete on the

(11:18):
Canadian team.
And even though I was born hereand grew up here, my family,
like I mentioned, is superdiverse and to this day I don't
have any other family that wasborn in the United States, and
so for me it wasn't like Ididn't feel American, I just
felt closer ties to my Canadianfamily.
I spent almost every summerthere and it was just kind of an

(11:39):
easy decision.
I was like, yeah, that'd be fun, I'd like to represent Canada.

Speaker 1 (11:50):
And it was just a decision I made as a teenager,
um, and certainly have stuckwith it and have now competed
for Team Canada for over 10years.
So one of the biggest things asa Canadian you aspire as a
Canadian athlete, younger thatis growing up is to go down to
the NCAA.
Compete, yeah, us college atsports yeah um you, you spend a
year in Long Beach before oregon.
Can you explain like that wholeprocess?

Speaker 2 (12:07):
yeah.
So coming out of high school Iwas a.
I was a solid recruit, um, Iwas top five in the state and
top 10 the country, and thatjust shows how competitive
california is.
At the time I was going upagainst, like, I think, the
national record holder in thestate and so everybody was kind
of competing for second or thirdplace and California was just

(12:28):
so good where it's like you canbe, you know, third, fourth,
fifth, sixth in the state, butyou're probably going to be top
10 or top 20 in the nation.
And that was my senior year, myjunior year I was pretty good,
but not yet at that level.
And so I was recruited by asmaller school, long Beach State
University, by Coach CoreyLovell.
He's still down there.
I actually saw him recently.

(12:49):
He and I are still in goodcontact, but I took that
opportunity because it feltright at the time.
And then, after being there fora year, I had an opportunity to
transfer.
My dad actually was working atthe University of Oregon, which
he had not been prior to mestarting at Long Beach State,
and it was kind of like, hey,you know what, I can transfer up

(13:10):
there, I can redshirt, get somegood experience and kind of see
where things go.
So I took that opportunity andI went in and for people who are
familiar with the NCAA, youhave, you know, your regular
tracks, track meets, and thenyou have your conference
championships and then there's aregionals if you make it and
then the national champs if youmake it.

(13:30):
So when I was at Long Beach Ijust did the regular meets and
went to conference.
That's it Didn't make theregionals, didn't make the
nationals, and nationalstypically is the top 24 in the
country, so 12 from the East, 12from the West out of the
regionals make it to thatnational championships.
So I was not at that level.
In my first year of universityI went to Oregon, I registered,

(13:52):
put in a lot of work and thenthe next three years I qualified
for nationals every year andthen became a two-time
All-American.
So I really kind of stepped upwhen I went to that bigger
school and then my senior year Iwas fourth in the country and
our team won the national title.
So it was cool to be like goingfrom an athlete not even making

(14:15):
the national championships tobeing on a winning team and I
wouldn't change that wholeexperience for anything.

Speaker 1 (14:24):
Man being a duck just looks different.

Speaker 2 (14:27):
Yeah, yeah, built different, for sure.

Speaker 1 (14:31):
Actually, on the AP tour that I went from Toronto
down to LA, up the coast, westopped at the University of
Oregon and chatted with TayaHansen basketball player.
Cool and recorded at, I want tosay, that big gymnasium that's
named after someone that Ishould remember, Anyways
fantastic facility, matthewKnight Arena, maybe.

(14:52):
Thank you, that's the one so funfact about Matthew Knight
long-winded circle.
I worked for the CorvallisKnights down in Oregon, which is
the WCL Baseball League.
Spent a summer down there withthem.
That team is owned by PhilKnight, so small circle there.
The Corvallis Knights arewell-connected.

(15:13):
Spent one evening July 4thactually at the University of
Oregon.
The Ducks and Beavers do notlike each other.
What's that rivalry like Anyfun stories there?

Speaker 2 (15:24):
Well, I would say in other sports the rivalry is more
serious, um, and in track andfield they only have a women's
program.
They don't have a men's trackand field team and to be honest,
we didn't look at them as muchof any competition.
And that sounds prettypretentious.
But you know, in the pac-12 atthe time, which now is pretty

(15:45):
dismantled, but we won everyPac-12 championship.
So my whole time there we didnot lose and we were competing
for the number one team in thecountry every single year.
Oregon State was just not onthat level.
So from a track perspective Iwouldn't really say there was a
rivalry.

Speaker 1 (16:03):
Civil war right.

Speaker 2 (16:05):
Yeah, but when it comes to basketball and football
, they definitely take it prettyseriously.

Speaker 1 (16:10):
Yeah, I was.
Dan Siegel almost hooked me upwith tickets on the 50-yard line
with Phil Knight, but maybenext time for that football
Civil War game.
It's pretty crazy.
It brings up an interestingpoint, though.
You're competing for the numberone team spot Pressure
associated with going from aLong Beach, maybe not to Oregon.
How does that?

(16:31):
I'm always curious because it'san individual sport, but you're
competing as a team.
It's kind of like doublestennis.
I was talking with.
Aaron Eliff about this.
How do you manage that?

Speaker 2 (16:41):
Yeah, so in track and field at the collegiate level,
when they're scoring a trackmeet, you get points for the top
eight places.
So first place gets 10 pointsand then it goes 10, 8, 6, and
then, I believe, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1.
And so if you're third placeyou're getting six points for
your team and then at the end ofthe meet they add up all the

(17:03):
points and the highest pointscoring team wins that team
title.
And so as an individual, you'rejust trying to get out there
and you know for sure aim fortop eight, get points for the
team and do as best as you can.
And then the team that I was onlike I felt I feel like we were
like very, very supportive ofeach other and like everybody

(17:24):
was out there just performing atsuch a high level.
I mean, some of my teammateswere people who have gone on to
become not one or two-timeOlympians but medalists or NFL
players that we had somesprinters and a bunch of
different people.
So to be able to— Drop somenames.

Speaker 1 (17:40):
Come on, jenny, drop some names.
Yeah, I can't just leave uscliffhangers.

Speaker 2 (17:43):
De'Anthony Thomas, a football player.
He was a sprinter for Oregon.
Raven Rogers won an Olympicmedal.
She was my teammate.
She ran the 800.
Devin Allen, you know he'sdabbled his hand in high level
hurtling, placing fourth andfifth at the Olympics, and he

(18:04):
was a football player, uh.
So yeah, lots of, lots of bignames.
Um, and to be on, like thoseteams, everybody was just like
kind of dropping their ego atthe door, showing up and just
trying to score points and thenwe were all, yeah, like I said,
supportive of each other andjust trying to do as best as we
could.
So I feel like being at aschool like Long Beach.
There wasn't the standard oflike to get top eight at

(18:28):
nationals Now, of course, likethat's what people wanted to do,
but more often than not weweren't even really like at that
level.
As opposed to Oregon, it waslike yeah, hey, we're here,
we're here to stay, we want tomake a statement like let's go.
And I feel like it was just farmore competitive and that's
what you got to do to win anational, national championship.

Speaker 1 (18:51):
Yeah, standard of excellence is set pretty high.
Also probably set pretty highwhen you got to graduate with a
Bachelor of Science.
Were you using the knowledge toat school?
They're like what do you wantto be when you grow up?

Speaker 2 (19:17):
And I said I want to be an Olympian.
So for me, my parents have myold yearbook and I had to fill
out something about in gradefive what do you want to be?
And I've had that goal and thedesire to be a professional
athlete since I was very youngand so through my academic

(19:39):
journey, I look back and I'mlike I probably could have put
in a little bit more effort.
Um, but I didn't want to be alawyer or a doctor or like, go
to school for a specific degree,for a specific job.
I was like hey, I want to havea well-rounded major.
School is very important to me,but I also know my career path

(20:01):
is athletics and so I would saythat I put maybe put a little
bit more effort on the fieldthan in the class.
But uh, you know, I guessthat's how it goes.

Speaker 1 (20:15):
That's what it's called.
That's what's called for froman Olympic athlete or someone
who's a high level, like I wasjust chatting with Richie
Bulbrook, who's last week'sepisode 252, number one
skateboarder in Canada, no bigdeal, and he is only 21 years
old.
He is currently attendingWestern.
And he's also maybe not puttingas much effort into yeah, and

(20:37):
I'm like I'm not proud to saythat like absolutely, like,
focus on your studies.

Speaker 2 (20:41):
It's like very good for me.
I also was like, okay, hey, Ican fully handle my course load,
I am able to have a flexibleschedule to have athletics as my
priority.
And, like there was no doubt,like okay, hey, I'm going to get
my degree.
I was even looking at going tograd school, but it was just not

(21:02):
flexible for the schedule andthe amount that I travel.
Um, so that's kind of how itwent down, but I would not say
that my degree had any crossoverto athletics.
Just good discipline, you know,like good time management, but
I wasn't like I wasn't doing any, I wasn't majoring in
kinesiology and then like takingthat to my sport and honestly,

(21:24):
that's okay because it probablygave your body and brain ability
to like, disassociate and dealwith something else.

Speaker 1 (21:31):
But all that being like the time management aspect,
all of that is people don'trealize that that's probably 90%
of what university is there for.
It's like this kind oftransition, somewhat kind of
vacation period after highschool before you have to become
a real adult, where you getfour or five years to train
really hard if you want topursue academics, learn how to

(21:54):
become an adult, manage yourtime properly, build some
lifelong friendships with 20,000other people that are also
academically and potentiallyathletically inclined.
There's benefits to it, even ifyou don't take it 100%
seriously Absolutely.
I think the way you did it isprobably good because look at
where you are now.

Speaker 2 (22:12):
Yeah, it worked out, it worked out look at where you
are now.

Speaker 1 (22:19):
Yeah, it worked out.
It worked out.
When you look back, how manygames like board games did you
play over the years at?

Speaker 2 (22:24):
Oregon, because I know that's one of your favorite
pastimes.
Yeah, I play more board gamesand card games now as a
professional athlete on TeamCanada.
I feel like all of my teammatescould attest to this.
If we're at a training camp,I'm usually the one bringing a
game, bringing a deck of cards,getting a game started, and so
in college I did play like quitea few games and stuff like that

(22:45):
, but I play more now.
It's easy to like kill time,it's fun just to like hang out,
have a conversation, listen tomusic, instead of just laying
there sitting on a couch or inbed on your phone or like
watching a movie or something.
For me, I like being social andI like doing something that's
like easy and competitive andlike playing board games or card
games is just an easy way topass the time and kind of stay

(23:06):
focused between trainingsessions I've been also
incorporating some puzzling intomy life, oh yeah it's kind of
great, you know there's kind ofgreat.

Speaker 1 (23:16):
You get a little adrenaline hit after you get
that piece in properly.
I don't know, there's somethingabout it.
I've been chatting with friendsand it's crazy because as
you're growing up, you realizethat, oh, my parents,
grandparents, they're so weird.
They want to go to bed early,they want to just hang out and
play games and socialize and youlike, oh, let's go out and do

(23:36):
things where you're like oh man,maybe they had it right all
along.

Speaker 2 (23:39):
Oh, yeah, I agree, yeah, doing a jigsaw puzzle.
I also like doing that and Iwould would do that sometimes in
back in college like my oldroommate.
She'd be like what are youdoing?
And like she would never shewas on the basketball team, she
would never help at all and Iwould just be sitting there by
myself, or sometimes with likesome friends or teammates, just
like doing a little jigsawpuzzle.

(23:59):
Like like I don't have time tolike go out, I'm just chilling
and getting ready for practiceor whatever.

Speaker 1 (24:06):
And yeah, puzzles are definitely a great way to spend
your time your favorite mottois it is your commitment to the
process that will determine yourprogress.
Where'd that come from?

Speaker 2 (24:17):
Just something that I saw that struck a chord with me
.
I feel like it's easy to thinkreally far ahead and I try to
stay in the present, and so thatcommitment to the process is
just something that I reallyliked.
Process is just something thatI really liked, and it kind of

(24:38):
just keeps me grounded andfocused on what I'm doing and
not get so caught up with thefuture.

Speaker 1 (24:42):
So it wasn't something that, like in 1996 in
Atlanta or 2000 in Sydney, theygot like tattooed on you.
You're like I'm going to behere in 10, 15 years, no.

Speaker 2 (24:51):
I don't even know where I saw it, honestly.
But yeah, like once I had tofill out like what's your
favorite quote, and at the timeI was like that's something that
I really resonated with andit's a good one.

Speaker 1 (25:04):
Do you listen to any motivational things?
Do you listen to like?
I'm always curious what getspeople going like pre
competition.
Yeah, are you a music musicperson?
Are you a podcast person?
What's uh, what's kind of theJillian Weir routine?

Speaker 2 (25:18):
yeah, well, I like listening to audiobooks,
podcasts and lots of differentmusic, all different genres, but
when it comes to practice or tocompetitions, definitely music.
And if I'm getting ready for abig meet as a field event
athlete and any field eventathlete can relate to this,
especially the multis, theheptathletes and the decathletes

(25:38):
like you're out there for along time and so I'm not like
listening to some like hypemusic, taking my headphones out,
going out and like running a 10second race and then, like
being done, I might have a two,three hour like competition
right from the time that youstart warming up and if you go
to a call room, maybe there'sanother call room and then you

(26:00):
go out to the field and then youwarm up out there and then the
competition starts like it takesa long time.
So I don't like to get too hypedup and listen to anything
that's like too crazy upbeat.
Um, I definitely love like hiphop and rap, but sometimes I
listen to not and I wouldn't goas far as like super slow music
either, but kind of just likechill, like vibey music is what

(26:23):
I like, kind of to just getmyself focused, cause I know big
competitions aren't over in 30minutes Like it is a long time
to be out competing and gettingready.
So yeah, I kind of lean moretowards the chill music for comp
days.

Speaker 3 (26:41):
Quick break in the action here, because I have the
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Speaker 1 (27:12):
Yeah, it's the marathon, not a sprint.
Uh, I've learned lots abouttrack and field over the past uh
, 12 months.
I love working with mary maryamabdul rashid, hannah taylor,
amongst others, and, uh, it'scrazy the different expectations
that each athlete has dependingon the sport.
I it's, it's, or I guess, the,the discipline or the specific

(27:36):
uh competition that you're in.
But yeah, when you, when youlook at, when you look back, I
attended harry jerome in burnaby, I guess what, six, eight
months ago now, and thencanadian championships that were
out in montreal, full weekendevents.
There's actually a decent crowdcoming to these things.
Now I feel like there's a bitof momentum with track and field

(27:58):
.
Have you noticed that over thepast five, ten like decade, are
you noticing that there's morepeople paying attention to the
sport?

Speaker 2 (28:04):
because I feel like it wasn't given that yeah, no, I
would say so.
And I mean, our team right nowis probably as good as it's ever
been.
Um, and I'm speaking in thelast, say five or so years.
Um, you know, in Tokyo, damienWarner won the decathlon this

(28:24):
last year.
You had Cameron Rogers andEthan Katzberg winning both of
their events as well.
Um, and then you know MarcoArope and Pierce LaPage like
these are all people who areworld champions.
And you know Marco Arope andPierce Lepage, like these, are
all people who are worldchampions, and you know, that's
just the people that are winningthose gold medals.
We've got a lot of depthathletes getting in the top
eight and having personal bestson the world stage, and so I

(28:47):
feel like, as our team isgetting better and better, there
is a little bit more attentionon track and field than there
used to be.

Speaker 1 (28:56):
Why doesn't it get the attention it deserves?

Speaker 2 (29:04):
I think in North America, if you turn on the TV
and you want to watch somethingsport related, it's probably
going to be one of those maledominated team sports.
You're going to see football,basketball, hockey, baseball, um
, before you typically see asport like track and field.
I don't have a black and white,clear answer on what the sport

(29:24):
needs to do.
I think there's a lot of peoplethat have a lot of great ideas
and I think there's other thingsthat people have tried that
maybe haven't gone as well as wewould have hoped.
But, that being said, you needeyes on the sport and people
also need to be informed.
Sometimes people go to a trackmeet and think there's so much
going on Like there's someonejumping over a bar over here and

(29:45):
someone throwing something,something there and running laps
, like what's going on andyou're like.
You're like, yeah, wait, like,so that could be a little
confusing.
But then you know there was ameet that they had in New York
City where they were like we'rejust going to do one event at a
time, then the viewer in personand at home is able to actually
follow it, you know.
So more eyes on it, moreeducation to know what the

(30:25):
events actually are and kind ofhighlight those athlete stories
and just kind of give, I wouldsay, like, information on the
sport.
Like, for example, when you seeRyan Krauser throwing a 16-pound
ball over 23 meters, people arelike, oh, that's a big, heavy
ball and it's going far.
But they don't understand.

(30:46):
It's like, hey, that thingweighs you know heavier than
most bowling balls and it'sgoing this far, right, and like
someone who does a really goodjob at that.
Um, or two people actually isdurell hill and kara winger are
both track and field athletes.
Uh, durell was a shot putterand kara is the american holder
in the women's javelin.
And they've done somecommentating and I feel like

(31:07):
they've kind of brought thatinformation to the public to say
like, hey, this is what's goingon and we just need a lot more
of that and the whole sport canbe packaged in a better way yeah
, it's coming.

Speaker 1 (31:19):
We're we're working on it.
That's why we're bringing onpeople like yourself here to the
athletes podcast.
We're highlighting theseincredible athletes, people like
greg stewart, bringing moreattention to the sport as well I
gotta get.
I gotta get up to cam loops.
Maybe we'll, we'll just I'llcoordinate a big group throwing
session.
Yeah, up Kamloops, because youguys train up there.
That's where Ethan's up there,right he's based out of there.

Speaker 2 (31:39):
He does a lot of training camps throughout the
year.
But I think a better idea wouldbe for you to come to a
training camp, because if we'reat a training camp, we will do
ones down in Southern California, out in Louisiana.
The sprinters were just out inGrenada recently.
But if you go to a trainingcamp, you'd be able to hit a lot
of different events and see alot of different people and

(32:00):
things like that and in apractice environment, and I
think you would see a lot morebehind the scenes stuff and
you'd be able to do a lot moreat once.
So we'll try to organize that.

Speaker 1 (32:10):
I love it.
I love it.
I was talking with Finley Knox.
I was going to get in the poolwith him.
I suck at swimming, so that wasgoing to be a really good
episode.
Definitely some shares comingfrom that.
And then, you know, jeromeBlake, I would definitely be,
behind him in the 100 meter byprobably about 50 meters.
But that's okay, you know, it'sall about the effort and it

(32:31):
would make for some greatcontent and that's the thing is.

Speaker 2 (32:33):
You're a young, fit guy, you work out a lot.
I see what you're doing andit's like to then see what you
know someone on the gold medalrelay team, how fast they are
and it's like, wow, people Ithink don't understand the
difference of like someone who'sin shape and someone who is a
great athlete and then anOlympic medalist, like there's a

(32:54):
big difference.

Speaker 1 (32:57):
I love providing perspective.
Yeah, that's like a big thing.
I think that over the yearsI've uncovered that's like one
of my kind of like paradigmshifting moments that I can
provide perspective to people,and I think this is one of those
things that could be a lot offun.

Speaker 2 (33:12):
Yeah, I would love to see that.

Speaker 1 (33:16):
You're like I'm going to throw this hammerball so
much farther than you and I'mgonna love it.

Speaker 2 (33:19):
That's what's going through, yeah, and I'll just
hand it to you and say you justlet's see what you can do, and
then I'll give you some tipsyeah, yeah, yeah.

Speaker 1 (33:26):
It's even like that harry jerome event.
I'm watching people like sarahmitten throw yeah and you can't,
even people don't realize like,oh, it's just a small metal
ball yeah you know why is itexactly?
It's like people have no ideaso I I'm gonna take you up on
that.
We're gonna provide someperspective um yeah, where,
where would be?
Where's your favorite place totrain?

Speaker 2 (33:48):
um, that's a good question.
I've trained in a lot of coolplaces around the world.
Um, before the tokyo olympicswe had a team training camp in
Gifu, japan, and that was justawesome because everyone's
excited, we've made the team,we're there getting ready and
we're going to go back thereagain this year before the world
championships.
So I would say that's up therefor me.

(34:09):
But through track and fieldI've now competed all over North
America, competed in SouthAmerica, australia, europe and
Asia, so I'm getting a lot ofcontinents down.
But I'm not sure if we'll havea track meet in Antarctica, or
else I'd like to check that offthe list too.

Speaker 1 (34:26):
Hey, you might have to talk with my buddy, Connor
Eminey.
He's done an Ironman on everysingle continent.
Yeah, see, that's what I'msaying.

Speaker 2 (34:33):
And I haven't been to Africa yet either.
So there.

Speaker 1 (34:39):
That's the beauty of sport too, though.
You get to go to these amazingplaces again provided
perspective, because noteveryone is as cold up here in
canada or has as much sunshineas you do down in california um
what was the transition likefrom high school to university
and then university professionalathlete?

(34:59):
are there pieces of advice?
I normally ask this at the endof the episode, but I feel like
right now is a good moment tohighlight, before we get into
the diamond lead things thatwhat, what are those pieces that
you would provide to a youngathlete to say, you know, at
that 15, 16, 17, before going touniversity, what would you
suggest, whether it'sacademically, athletically,

(35:21):
physically, would it bephysically?
Would it be to sleep more,would it be to eat more, train
more, like how would you suggest.

Speaker 2 (35:26):
Definitely Great question because it's very broad
but it's easy to get quitespecific.
I would say to start off yes,absolutely, sleep is underrated.
Get as much sleep as you canFeel your body Hydrate well.
As long as you're doing allthose things, you're going to be
able to recover a lot better.
Like you know, now as an olderathlete, I'm like you know

(35:49):
physio appointments and you knowseeing different practitioners
and like getting my body right.
When I was younger I was justshowing up, warming up,
competing, going to the nextsport, doing it, and I didn't
have to worry about like as manylittle intricacies, which
sometimes I, you know, wish Istill, I guess, had the luxury
of not worrying about that.
But that being said, yeah,focus on the little things and

(36:12):
all those different componentsare really going to be those
building blocks to making you abetter athlete.
But from a high school athleteto a university athlete, you
don't need to pigeonholeyourself, like I know in track
and field sometimes say, you'rea runner, your event might
change.
You might go into it thinkingyou're a better 100 or 200 meter
runner and you might end upbeing a better 400 meter runner,

(36:33):
um, or you know, people changearound.
You know their disciplines ortheir distances all the time.
Like myself, I threw, shot, putin discus and then became an
Olympic hammer thrower.
So I think playing differentsports is always great through
the youth.
I would definitely suggest tonot specialize too soon.
And even if you specialize in asport doesn't mean you need to

(36:57):
specialize in a position or anevent or a discipline.
It's like continue to be awell-rounded athlete.
And then for me, when I thenwent to university, it was kind
of like okay, yep, now I'm doingthis at like the highest level
I currently can.
And just I continued to likefollow what I felt was best and

(37:17):
the intuition is something thatyour intuition is something that
for sure can't be taken forgranted Like listen to your body
and like you know what's rightand strive for that greatness.
It's like if your goal is toimprove by one second, figure
out what you need to do to dothat Right, talk to your coaches
and kind of work on yourweaknesses as well as continuing

(37:41):
to work on your strengths.
Kind of work on your weaknessesas well as continuing to work
on your strengths.
And then, from being acollegiate athlete to a
professional athlete, it justwas taking it.
Just another, you know, rung upthe ladder and it was like,
okay, so if I was here incollege and I need to be here to
go to the Olympics, what do Ineed to do?
How do you bridge that gap?
And sometimes, if you're in afield event, it might be a

(38:03):
technical improvement, it mightbe a strength improvement, it
could be a speed component.
Like there's so many differentfacets to becoming a better
athlete, and talking with yourcoach and working with different
people that are able toidentify those things or help
you identify those things are, Ithink, ways to continue to

(38:24):
improve at every single levelsuch a good answer.

Speaker 1 (38:29):
I'm so glad I asked that.

Speaker 2 (38:30):
There you, I feel like I feel like I was saying a
lot, but that's what I'm sayingis like it's very broad, but
like you got to get specificwith it along the way people
need to also understand that itdoes take time, right, Like yeah
, it's, it's a two decade longprocess to become an Olympic
athlete, right?

Speaker 1 (38:48):
And people try and fast forward that.
And I was reading the book ChopWood, carry Water, and it's
talking about becoming a samuraiand it's like you know how long
is it going to take for me tobecome a samurai?
I can't remember the guy's nameand it's like 10 years yeah
it's like what if I try reallyhard?
what if I carry lots of waterand chop lots?
What might take you 15?

(39:09):
Yeah, you're trying to rushthrough the process, and so I
always like to ask that from youor from our guests.
Right, the next step to that isyou have a birthday coming up.
You were that's true, the onlyand you're sorry, you were the
only indigenous individual onteam canada.
What makes jillian weir unique,outside of the surface level

(39:32):
things that we can see the factthat you play puzzles, board
games, sure what are some uniquecharacteristics that that
people don't necessarily know um?

Speaker 2 (39:40):
Um, that's a good question.
I think that my I feel like myfriends or family would be able
to answer that maybe better thanmyself.
But, um, you mentioned of myindigenous background.
My grandmother is from theMohawk tribe in Eastern Canada
and on the Tokyo team I was, uh,not only the only indigenous

(40:00):
athlete on the track team, butfor all of Team Canada at that
Olympics.
There wasn't any otherindigenous representation this
year, or I should say last yearnow in Paris.
I did not make that Olympicteam, but there were several
athletes Apollo Hess is one ofthem, who I know, and he is a
swimmer, um and so there weremore indigenous athletes on the

(40:23):
Paris team this year, which iscool to see, um, and I
definitely think that that makesme unique, just to kind of have
a little bit of diversity inthere and represent multiple
things, um, just beyond myself.
But yeah, I don't know, that'sa very, very hard question to
answer and I might have to getback to you on that.

Speaker 1 (40:45):
Hey, that's okay.
That's why I should haveprepped you with that one prior.

Speaker 2 (40:49):
Yeah, no, I don't know.

Speaker 1 (40:51):
I'm always curious because, you know, I asked that
question to some people andthey're like hey, I really like
to sing.
Yeah, that's not a worldstrongest man, right, you know.
Vice versa, vice versa, right,there's there's always little
things that people don't see onthe surface.
Yeah, and I think that's what'sreally important.
In a podcast, long form setting, you can actually learn about
the individual yeah so that whensomeone sees you at a meet sure

(41:12):
in slovakia yeah, they canreference the fact that they
also are a fan of metallica orwhatever yeah, yeah, band

Speaker 2 (41:18):
that you like right yeah, well, I mean, I like all
types of music and, like thatjamaican background, I like
reggae music and then my momgrew up on a dairy farm.
I like country music and then,you know, growing up in
california I like you know theold school hip-hop.
So I feel like the music tasteis like very, very broad, where
there's been a couple times I'lllike put on some music and
someone will be like who's who'splaying this.

(41:40):
I'm like, oh, that's me.
And they're like, oh, I didn'tknow.
Like, and I'm like, yeah, youknow, I listen to whatever.
Uh, I don't think that thatmakes me unique.
There's a lot of people thathave a broad music taste, um,
but yeah, uh, I'm pretty laidback and it's kind of like what
you see is what you get.
I'm like open to talk toanybody and I think I'm quite
extroverted in that way.

(42:01):
But I guess something thatpeople wouldn't know as much of
if, like you know me throughtrack and field is like I'm, I
think, also equally asintroverted, and so I can go out
and talk to anybody and have aconversation and like always
like joking and hanging out andwhatever.
But I like equally, like justchilling by myself, like doing

(42:21):
my own thing yeah, listening tomy music or reading a book, or
just yeah, like spending alonetime.
Um, and I think some peopleassume I'm like always like
doing like these, like crazythings, but I feel like I like
to have that balance.

Speaker 1 (42:36):
Okay, favorite post-workout meal.
What is your nutrition andsupplementation looks like
before we wrap things up?

Speaker 2 (42:44):
Favorite post-workout meal when I'm in California
some good Mexican food.
That's something I reallymissed when I was living in
Alberta is I would go somewhereand people would be like, oh,
they got really good tacos orthey got good burritos.
And I would go and I'd be like,ugh, this is not that great.
And I'd be like this is notthat great.
But being California, like,yeah, love a good carne asada

(43:06):
taco or you know, burrito orwhatever, love Mexican food.
But yeah, I'm not a picky eaterLike I could equally go for
like a good burger, sometimeslike a burger and fries hits
different, I love sushi and so,yeah, I kind of eat all
different things, but usuallywe'll have a protein shake like

(43:27):
right after I finished workingout um, just quick to get in
some protein, um, whether thenI'm like driving home and then
having food or whatever, yeah,so I I keep the diet, I think,
quite balanced, but a lot ofdifferent.
You know foods in there as well.

Speaker 1 (43:43):
I hear I heard you describe yourself as a scrawny
kid when you were younger, touse your words.
Specifically, was thereanything that you did to you
know not become scrawny Like?
Were you crushing creatine orwhat's the?
What was the protocol to put on?

Speaker 2 (44:01):
Yeah, well, good question.
Um, I will send you a picture,uh, so you can see, like how
kind of long and lanky I waswhen I was in middle school, and
so if you look at me then youwould say there's no way that
she would become an Olympicthrower.
Um, and I have taken creatineat different like stages through

(44:24):
university and like postcollegiately.
Um, I'm not always taking it,but I am taking creatine right
now, um, but yeah, when I was inuniversity, it was kind of like
all right, hey, you're a littleundersized, like let's kind of
up the calories, let's put someweight on, let's you know more
protein, um, and just likevolume of food, um, to be able

(44:45):
to fuel myself.
Um, so it wasn't like any onespecific thing, but it was just
like, hey, whatever you're doing, just like do more and like
fuel yourself.
And like, hey, if you're gonnaeat, like you know, one serving
of, say, pasta and like meatsauce, it's like, well, have two
.
Right, like just increase thatcaloric intake.

Speaker 1 (45:08):
It could be a worse place to be.
You know, I know, I know, likethere's some.

Speaker 2 (45:14):
Seriously, it's like there's some athletes that are
like trying to get to.
You know, a competition, weight, weight, um.
If you're a runner or a jumper,depending on the person,
depending on the event, you mayor may not compete at a lighter
weight than you train at earlierin the year.
And for me, I'm like almostalways trying to stay at or gain

(45:35):
weight, um, and I've never hadto like cut, so I will.
I will say it's not a bad partabout being a thrower yeah, yeah
, the uh.

Speaker 1 (45:46):
There was an article I feel like it was in the
athletic that came out a coupledays ago, talking about people
like patrick mahomes and nikolajokic who, right, don't
necessarily have like the five,six, seven percent body fat,
right body, but, yeah,performing at their best, if not
better than the other athletesbecause they have their bodies

(46:08):
properly fueled yeah maybe notto look the best on a muscle and
fitness magazine cover yeah butto perform as a professional
athlete absolutely yeah, no, andthat's the thing is like.

Speaker 2 (46:18):
If you look at like yeah, yoko, and I saw and I saw
him when I was in Tokyo that waslike pretty cool to see some of
like those other like starathletes at the Olympics and
everybody in the Olympic Villageis in good shape.
But you can kind of walk aroundand say like oh, that person is
probably a swimmer, like youcan tell like the different body
styles or like the gymnastsstick out Right, you're like OK,

(46:40):
there's not a lot of peoplehere that are high jumpers, that
might be under five feet tall,so it's easy to you know, guess
the different sports and whatnot.
But absolutely, um, you got todo what's right for you and your
event and your body and from ayoung age, trying to like cut
weight and lose weight, it's notsomething that you need to be
doing.
You're growing and you justhave to feel your body like as

(47:04):
best as you can.
But I would always like directthat advice to seeing a
nutrition professional or like ateam doctor and figuring out
what's best for you.

Speaker 1 (47:15):
Yeah, so true.
I'm glad we brought that up,because I think it's an
important factor for those torealize that just because
someone has a six-pack and isripped does not mean that
they're primed to perform theirbest on the field or you gotta
have a sleeper build.

Speaker 2 (47:29):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, people are sleeping on the
sleeper build right they end upsneaking up and winning
championships like wearingsweats all the time and you know
they're like, oh, they're likewhat?
What do you do?
Like people, uh, if say likeI'm on a plane or something and
I almost always just travel insweats, and I get, oh, do you
play basketball?
Or oh, you look like an athleteor like whatever I'm like, I'm

(47:51):
like, oh, yeah, like I do trackand field.
Or I usually just say like Ilike work in athletics.
I don't really like to likelead with.
I went to the olympics and thislike.
If someone's just kind ofcasually asking me a question,
of course I'm going to answer it.
But I remember one time I wason a flight and someone was like
, oh, so you do track and field.

(48:11):
And they kind of knew a littlebit.
And they're like, oh, whatevent I'm like, oh, I do the
hammer throw.
They're like, oh, you know, isthat that one where you spin
around and you wind the thing?
And I'm like, yeah, yeah,that's what I do?
And they're like, oh, cool, onmy phone I showed them a picture
of me competing and they gothat doesn't look like you, but
I'm like sitting there in baggysweatpants.

(48:31):
And then they see a picture andI'm like, you know, in short,
shorts and a tank top andthey're like, they're like
that's you, I'm like and noteven, and I'm not like a crazy
cut or anything like that, butbut it's just like.
Yeah, I try to be likeunassuming.

Speaker 1 (48:46):
There's something about being underestimated, hey.

Speaker 2 (48:49):
Yeah, it's a little.
Yeah, chip on the shoulder orlike underdog, it's just like
yeah, that's fine.

Speaker 1 (48:55):
Even when you are.

Speaker 2 (48:56):
Yeah, I prefer it, I think.

Speaker 1 (48:58):
Yeah, I agree, I think it's think it adds a
little fuel to the fire, right?
You got to have a little heylike, yeah, doubt me, watch this
.

Speaker 2 (49:06):
Yeah, let's go see.

Speaker 1 (49:08):
Yeah, and I think that it brings up the kind of
point that we wanted to talkabout more than anything, or one
of the pillars of thisconversation was the Diamond
League, the hammer throw, thelack thereof.
That being able, can you, asthe industry expert, share your
thoughts, because I want to makesure this is out there, that

(49:29):
people realize the fact thatthis is missing from the diamond
league?
People are missing out anopportunity to make money.
They've trained their wholelives for this.

Speaker 2 (49:36):
I've teed it up, yeah , absolutely yeah, well, uh, if
you follow me on social media,um, it hasn't been once or twice
, it's been many times over theyears where I've publicly kind
of been against, uh, theexclusion of the diamond or of
the hammer throw from thediamond league.
And, point blank, you haveevery other field event is in

(50:00):
the diamond league, so.
So in the jumps you have thepull vault, high jump, triple
jump, long jump.
In the throws you've got theshot put, discus and the javelin
, and then there's no hammerthrow.
And then on the track you haveall of the running disciplines
through the sprints and thehurdles.
Now, when it gets to thedistance events, and then also
the race walk events and themulti events events, and then

(50:25):
also the racewalk events and themulti events.
Those are events that aretypically not contested on a
regular basis in comparison tothe 100 meters.
You can run a bunch of 100meters every year, but you're
not going to run a bunch of 10ksor do a bunch of decathlons or
35k racewalks.
So those events have more of areason to be excluded, even
though they could include themin some sort of way.

Speaker 1 (50:48):
Yeah, we got to see Dunphy there sometime.

Speaker 2 (50:49):
That's what I'm saying.
Yeah, and if I look at thehammer throw, sometimes they
have the hammer throw at aDiamond League meeting, but it's
not considered a Diamond Leaguediscipline.
So what that means is last yearat the Prefontaine Classic in
Eugene, I competed in thewomen's hammer throw and it was

(51:10):
a Diamond League meet.
But our event, even though itwas at that meet and this is the
thing track and field, it getsconfusing.
People are like wait, what'sgoing on?
Like how does that make sense?
It doesn't make sense.
And so our event.
The winner received less prizemoney than the winner of all of
the diamond league disciplines,and every diamond league meeting
you get $10,000 us for the win.

(51:32):
So in Canada that goes a littlebit farther right and, um, 10
grand is a decent payday for onecompetition and if you win five
or 10 of those a year, do themath you're getting 50 to a
hundred thousand us dollars, youknow, or more.

Speaker 1 (51:51):
Six figure salary Right.

Speaker 2 (51:53):
And so, um, on top of that, you might be getting
bonuses for, uh, getting acertain mark or time.
Uh, you also are going to yeah,your, your brand deals.
You might be getting somebonuses from them.
You're also going topotentially be getting
appearance fees.
If you're some of the topathletes, You're probably not
even going to show up to thecompetition.

(52:14):
You don't care about winningthe 10 grand, You're not even
going to show up unless they'repaying you tens of thousands of
dollars.
And so the disparity between anevent that they go oh hair, yeah
, you can compete, but you'renot included in that it just
doesn't make sense.
And then the opportunity to see, like the sport on the highest
stage.
So if you win a Diamond Leaguemeet, say, you're an unsponsored

(52:37):
runner and I've seen thishappen multiple times and you go
in and you're wearing like novisible brands, you're not
running under like a team kitand you go in and you're wearing
like, uh, no visible brands,You're not running under like a
team kit and you go and you wina race by the end of the next
week.
You're sponsored because theygo.
Oh wait, this person is gettingviews, they're competing Well,
they're winning races, they'rebeating people who are sponsored
, let's get them in a kit and inthe hammer throw.

(53:01):
Oftentimes the track is overhere, the hammer throw is over
there.
No one's even watching it.
You're not in the broadcastwindow, You're not on TV.
So it's very hard for a sponsorto say, hey, I want to sponsor
her because no one's seeing thatevent.
So there's a lot of challengesthat come with being in an event

(53:26):
that is not in what I wouldconsider the premier league in
the sport is not in what I wouldconsider the premier league in
the sport.

Speaker 1 (53:40):
That just doesn't make sense to me as a you know,
sport enthusiast, someone whoappreciates competition and
seeing the best in the worldperform on the global stage.
It just didn't make sense to meto see it.
Or it still doesn't make senseto me even in Oregon, when you
have that event there.
Is it a money issue fromDiamond League?
How many people areparticipating compared to others
?
I'm just trying to rationalizethis in my head as far as why,

(54:03):
even at the beginning, it's evena thought, and that's the thing
.

Speaker 2 (54:06):
I've heard different theories or explanations,
explanations, but almost everysingle one, if not every single
one, could be debunked.
Like if you say, okay, hey,like it's very expensive to put
on a track meet, okay, but ifevery other event is getting the
opportunity, leaving one out,why that one Doesn't make sense.

(54:29):
Also, the headquarters of oursport, for the international
governing body of track andfield World Athletics, they're
based in Monaco.
Monaco is not an inexpensiveplace.
So if you have the money tobase your global organization

(54:50):
out of one of the world's mostexpensive places to live, it's
kind of hard to say there's nomoney for you.
Um, and then beyond that, inthe diamond league, so now
they're coming out, like withsome more meats and then there's
a bunch of prize money for that, you know, sometimes hundreds
of thousands or millions ofdollars collectively for

(55:11):
different meats.
So it's like if you have themoney to put that on, you didn't
have money to put the hammerthrow in from the beginning at
the diamond league.
So for me it's like 100, not amonetary issue, um, and then
sometimes people talk aboutfacility access.
So there's certain tracks thatmay not have a hammer ring, and
that's okay, because in theDiamond League.

(55:33):
Not every single meeting hasevery single event.
So if you look at the calendar,one event might have men's 100
and then women's 200.
It might have men's hurdles andthen women's long jump, and
then the next one might havedifferent events, and so it's
like, okay, well, just put thehammer at the ones that can
accommodate that event.
That would make sense to me.

(55:54):
Um, so I wouldn't consider it afacility issue.
Um, and then beyond that, atfor certain meetings they try to
do cool things which I do thinkbring some attention to the
sport, where they'll have like ashot put in the street.
And so maybe you've seen likein Europe, like in you know the
square of a city, they close itdown and they make a shot, put

(56:16):
sector and put out you know thecircle and the toe board and the
people throw a shot put outthere, and so the community can
just come by and watch it.
So or you know long jump, orthey've done different, like
street races and things likethat.
I've also seen high jump, or acool one is the pole vault in
the train station.

(56:37):
So it's like, all right, that'sawesome, like to see these cool
things.
But then, by that logic.
You're saying you can host aDiamond League event outside of
a stadium and they still getthat prize money.
So, for the hammer throw, youcould do something super cool,
you could showcase it, you couldput it somewhere, that would be
awesome, and then it couldstill be included in the

(57:01):
schedule, just hosted at adifferent location.
So, uh, for me there's noexcuse.
Um, it's, it sucks, and I justam trying to leave the sport
better than I found it so sure,raising awareness and trying to
get better meets put on.
And, you know, shout out toCanada, because Canada has
really, I believe, embraced allthe different events and in

(57:25):
Edmonton there's a great trackmeet that has the hammer throw
and they, they also have theshot put.
And you know, more throwingevents and, uh, like you
mentioned, in BC, harry Jerome,like they've got the hammer
throw, and so you know, we mightnot host a diamond league event
in Canada, but at least we'retrying to give more events, more
opportunities, which is notnecessarily seen around the

(57:47):
world.
Kudos to you and kudos to allthe canadians, making that, uh,
that hammer throw more readilyavailable for people to pursue,
participate in and hopefully getcompensated for their hard work
exactly and the thing is islike if we've got cameron rogers
, olympic champion, worldchampion, and we got ethan
katzberg, olympic champion,world champion, in our country

(58:10):
we should be putting on eventsthat are going to showcase these
athletes, and anytime someoneof any age sees the hammer throw
especially a little kid they'relike that's cool.
Oh, you spin around and throw itand like they're like that's
awesome.
And I've had people who don'teven know me say, oh, my kid
wanted to try it because theysaw the hammer throw.
And that's so cool that you dothat.
And it's like why not takesomething like you know, cool

(58:33):
and exciting and different andtry to put it on a good platform
?
Um, so yeah, shout out to theones that are, are, are, put in
in a effort, and if anybody everlike, wants to talk about it or
anything, yeah, my line is open.

Speaker 1 (58:46):
Hey, we're going to knock down some doors in Monaco.
We're going to make it happen.
If nothing else, I want to makesure that, hey, I also leave
the sporting world a betterplace through this platform, and
this is one of those things.
It makes zero sense why it'snot included.
All the reasons you justdescribed there make total sense
and, to your point there at theend, it is probably one of the

(59:08):
most exciting events, right likewhere else are you throwing a
16 pound?
Is it 16 pounds?

Speaker 2 (59:14):
for the men meters.

Speaker 1 (59:16):
Uh yeah, so like ethan throws over 80 meters yeah
yeah, yeah, you're not throwinga javelin that far yeah
nothing's going that distance,nothing is that heavy.

Speaker 2 (59:26):
The top, top level.
Javelin throwers do throwfarther, but with the hammer I
had to get it.
Yeah, but this is somethingthat's cool With the hammer.
Out of any sport so not justtrack and field disciplines, but
out of any sport there is morekinetic energy generated in the
hammer throw than any othersport.
So if you look at a golf ball,you can hit a golf ball very far

(59:47):
, but it weighs nothing.
If you look at how far someonecan throw a football in
comparison to a men's hammer oreven a women's hammer, it weighs
nothing, right?
You see people slap shot ahockey puck very fast.
Still these things are allweighing much less than a pound.
And then you take a heavy metalball and generate enough speed

(01:00:12):
and force for the ball to begoing over 60, 70, 80 meters,
and the kinetic energy measuredin joules is higher in the
hammer throw than any othersport.

Speaker 1 (01:00:24):
That is cool, I had no idea.

Speaker 2 (01:00:27):
So it's like the power and the tension and the
force that's generated is higherthan anything, and that's my
thing, is like it's easy to say,hey, this is what I do, people
should know about it.
It's not even about me if Icould get the hammer throw in
the diamond league or get moreprize money and attention on the
sport and I never compete inthose events, that's a win, like
I think that it's underratedand underappreciated and and

(01:00:50):
hopefully we can make somechanges.

Speaker 1 (01:00:54):
We're going to make some changes.
It's happening right here,right now, especially when, like
even I shook hands with Ethanin Montreal, chatted with him
for a bit and it was like hedoesn't look like the
stereotypical hammer throwereither right Sleeper build he's
not a three.
The sleeper build right.

Speaker 2 (01:01:12):
And you're like dang, you're, you're like dang.
People probably ask him oh,you're six, six, do you play
basketball?
Or like, oh you, what sport doyou do?
And then he's like, oh, I'mjust an olympic champion in the
hammer throw, and it's like dang, that's so cool yeah, yeah,
yeah.

Speaker 1 (01:01:24):
No, that kinetic energy.
That's the selling point rightthere.
That's it.
Like yo, you want to do thesport that requires the most
amount of power, energy outputpossible.
Yeah, hammer throw yeah likethat's sick.
That, to me, fires me up.
Not I want to get it you're like, let's go yeah yeah, yeah, I
want to prove that honestly likeit's, because I think that's
the ultimate sign of athleticismis the ability to be, to put in

(01:01:48):
a coordinated effort.
That requires both power, speed, agility, timing.
You can't step out of thatlittle circle that you guys are
in.
People don't realize all of thelittle details that go into it.
You're basically a ballerinaholding a big, heavy ball at the
end spinning.
How many times?
Ten times, four times?
There's a lot of Four, okay,fine, it looks more like that.
I swear you've got a couple ofrotations after.

(01:02:11):
Yeah, four, okay, it looks morelike that.
I swear you've got a couple ofrotations after.

Speaker 2 (01:02:14):
Yeah, I'll probably spin 10 times the first time.

Speaker 1 (01:02:16):
I do.
Sure we can arrange that.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
No, Jillian, this has beengreat.
I appreciate not only youshining light on the sport,
sharing a bit about your story,your upbringing.
You are leaving the sport andhammer throw in a better place,
just simply doing what you'redoing now.
But we've got a lot of timeahead.
Uh, we're going to create somemore waves here moving forward
and yo I can't wait for thattraining session.

Speaker 2 (01:02:37):
I'm just trying to think, yeah, dude, hey, maybe
this spring we'll, we'll link upand, uh, it would great, it'd
be great to see what you can do,like you said, provide some
perspective, but really doappreciate you having me on and
it's been a great conversation,absolutely, hey, uh, before we

(01:02:58):
wrap up, any last piece ofadvice you want to leave that
next generation of athletes with, I'd say just stick with it.
You know, sometimes times aretough, whether it's mentally,
physically, emotionally.
You know you've got to take astep, a couple steps back before
you make a step forward.
It's not always going to goyour way, but if you have desire
to get better, you just got tostick with it and that's the
best way to be able to achieveyour goals, is you gotta?
Yeah, stay, stay on the trainsome wise words from Jillian

(01:03:19):
Weir.

Speaker 1 (01:03:19):
Where can people find you on social media?

Speaker 2 (01:03:21):
just at Jillian Weir, on pretty much every platform.
So, um, I'm on there.
I use Instagram, maybe the most, but I have a TikTok as well,
or even even, you know, twitter.
So Heck.

Speaker 1 (01:03:34):
Yeah.
Thanks so much for coming on.
Really appreciate your time,Jillian, and for those listening
.
Thanks for tuning in.
We'll see you next week.
Hope you have a great rest ofyour day.
Bye.

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Jillian Weir's Unique Path From Water Polo to Olympic Hammer Throw - Episode #253

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.css-14f5ked{margin:0;word-break:break-word;display:-webkit-box;-webkit-box-orient:vertical;box-orient:vertical;-webkit-line-clamp:2;overflow:hidden;}Jillian Weir's Unique Path From Water Polo to Olympic Hammer Throw - Episode #253