get tired of it. Playing in games and practicing T&FN INTERVIEW was great, but there are so many other things involved in the sport, like going to meetings. You spend hours and hours on things that don’t have anything to do directly with what goes on in on-field play. I wasn’t a fan of that stuff anymore, so it wasn’t too hard to give up. I had fun, but I learned I’m more an individual sport kind of by Jon Hendershott more about football and basketball. guy. In track, if you put in the work, you’re Half a dozen seasons ago, David Oliver was a T&FN: So when and how did you get interested going to see the results. Or if you haven’t put Howard University senior with a 13.55 best over in the hurdles to begin with? in the work, you’ll be exposed. the 110 hurdles. Three years later, he made the U.S. Oliver: I never was interested in the hurdles. T&FN: The hurdles have been your event for team at the ’07 Worlds. A year after that, he sped I just went to track prac- a PR 12.95, won the Olympic Trials and claimed tice to hang out with my the bronze medal in . friends, because they An injury knocked him out for most of ’09, were running. I did the but this year, the 28-year-old native has long and triple jump— been lights-out the world’s best—unbeaten in 15 but I stunk. I never got finals and twice an American Record setter. Only any fair marks. I was WR setters and Olympic victors always scratching. (12.87) and Xiang Liu (12.88) have ever run faster But we had a shuttle than his 12.89. hurdles relay team and His rise to the top in an event combining speed, I was like 6-1 then as a technical skill and sometimes bone-rattling colli- junior, so the coach put sions has excited the already-enthusiastic Oliver— me on the relay. in his own special way: So I asked my mom how you hurdled and T&FN: Why do you use “crunk” so often in she said you just take your blog? three steps and jump Oliver In Oliver: over the hurdle. It was [laughs] It’s easy for me to do that and A Nutshell just being really I 3-stepped all the way •Personal: David Bernard hyped up. A rap- down the track. When Oliver was born April 24, 1982, per named Lil I got done, she said, in Denver, Colorado; 6-2/205 Jon back around “You’ve got yourself a (1.88/93) 2000 used it. It new event.” •Schools: East HS (Denver) just means I’m And things just went ’00; Howard University ’04; super-excited, on from there. I com- now represents Nike T&FN: Well, peted just in the hurdles •PRs: 60H—7.44 (’10). 110H— you’ve given after that. 12.89 AR (’10) yourself plenty of T&FN: When did you •Coaches: Michael Merritt reasons this year “become” a hurdler? (Howard), to get crunked Oliver: I became a (pro) up. hurdler then. I was win- •Major Meets: 60H—1)USi, 4h)WIC ’08; 2)USi, 3)WIC ’10. Oliver: Yeah, ning races and I enjoyed 110H—4)NC ’03; 6h)NC, dnf-h) it’s been great. it as soon as I started OT ’04; 8)US ’05; 5sf)US ’06; T&FN: Your doing it because I was 3)US, 4sf)WC ’07; 1)OT, 3)OG mom was an ath- winning. ’08; 1)US ’10 lete, right? My teammates made •World/U.S. Rankings: x, 8 Oliver: Yes, fun of me to be the top ’05; 7, 5 ’06; 9, 6 ’07; 2, 1 ’08; Brenda Cham- point-scorer on the team. 8, 5 ’09 bers. She ran the They talked all kinds of 400 hurdles in trash, but I didn’t like the late-’70s. She stopped competing in 1980 that. I just let my times [when she ran 58.63 for Colorado and U.S. do my talking. It always Ranked No. 6.]. feels good when you T&FN: So you’ve kind of got hurdles in your go from the bottom to gene pool? the top. Oliver: Oh yeah, but she has always been T&FN: We have writ- cool. She never forced me to do it. ten that football was your T&FN: The USATF telecast showed her during prime sport in high school your final. She got way excited. and on into college. But was Oliver: Oh, she got crunked, man! That’s it hard to give up football where I got it from. when you decided to con- T&FN: Did you ever know much about her centrate on the hurdles? running the hurdles when you were little? Oliver: It wasn’t hard Oliver: No, not at all. She may have men- at all. Even though I liked tioned it once or twice, but it never was a big it, when you play a sport deal. I didn’t know much about track; I cared for a long time, you can

30 — November 2010 Track & Field News GLADYS CHAI/ASVOM AGENCY quite some time now and you’re a professional the World Record, but that isn’t my primary to set the record? athlete, so is there one prime thing that keeps you thing. I go a meet and find out what the meet Oliver: Oh, he didn’t even watch them. At motivated and striving in the event? is, or the stadium record. Prefontaine, he was in the warm up area. He Oliver: Just wanting to be the best. I’ve That’s something I can aim to accomplish. has known me for the last six years and after always wanted to be one of the best hurdlers It’s more realistic and obtainable. I’ve said he sees me warm up, he pretty much knows so that when I do retire, hopefully my name before that the World Record is the record for what I’m capable of that day. So he doesn’t will be mentioned along with a reason; it’s the best performance ever. So I even have to watch the races. and , Xiang Liu and Dayron challenge myself with those other goals. But He just stays in the warm up area. He says Robles and . Those kinds of it’s fun, especially when you’re winning. that when his Blackberry starts glowing like it guys. That’s what I strive for. T&FN: In ’04, you ran a 13.55 best for No. 25 did after that race, he knows I’ve done some- I try to challenge myself by setting realistic on the U.S. list. thing good and it’s just a matter of waiting for expectations for myself while still becoming the Oliver: But I was the 32nd, and last, guy taken the wind reading. I’m not sure if he even sees best I can. This year, everybody talked about for the Trials because I had the A-standard races on YouTube. exactly. We just get the splits from Andy Ferrara T&FN: So what really [of USATF High Performance] since Brooks is drove your belief that you most interested in the actual raw numbers of “I’m more an individual could reach top U.S. class, the splits. Like, I might split 2.56 [his split at let alone world class? Pre] from the start to the first hurdle and Brooks Oliver: [laughs] I wants me to do 2.50. He just looks at the data sport kind of guy. In track, if don’t know. Maybe blind because he feels that the numbers don’t lie. ignorance. If you looked T&FN: Does he want you to develop your ability you put in the work, you’re at it in terms of those stats, to critique your own races? that probably wouldn’t be Oliver: That’s something I’ve definitely going to see the results.” a decision most people learned. I know when something’s wrong. would make. But I was You’ve got to learn how to feel what you’re able to get to even that doing and not depend on a camera. What if the level despite not having camera battery goes dead? You’ve got to know the best facilities or equip- inside when you’re doing something correctly, ment in college. as opposed to depending on some mechanical T&FN: So how did you device. You’ve got to know in yourself exactly meet coach Brooks Johnson what it is you need to do. and begin working with T&FN: After you ran 12.89 in , people right him? away started talking World Record. Like you said Oliver: At the ’04 Tri- earlier, you don’t just wake up one day and decide als, a mutual friend who you’re going to break the record. Yet did you feel was a coach introduced any expectations from the outside—from fans, the me to Brooks and we media—to do just that? talked for a few minutes. Oliver: One thing is, I know that I’m a very That fall, I went back to strong guy mentally and I know about outside finish my degree at How- pressures and influences that can change my ard and toward the end outlook or what I expect to accomplish. When of the year, I was looking I go to a meet and do exactly what I set out to in my wallet and found do, I don’t care what the time is. Brooks’s card. Brooks has never been a coach to say, So I called him again, “OK, I think you can run this time in the next we talked and he said if I meet.” His thing is that if you beat the people was serious about want- you’re supposed to beat, you should win and ing to become a better the time should come. That’s always been my hurdler, I should come approach. down to Orlando and T&FN: What adjustments do you feel you have work with him. So right had to make as now the sole holder of the American after Christmas, I found Record and the No. 3 performer in history—or have myself on a Greyhound there been any? bus heading to Oliver: There haven’t been any. Brooks and, as they say, the rest still cusses at me the same. Nobody parades is history. me around on their shoulders at practice. The We have a good train- bank account looks nicer, but other than that, ing group: Dwight Thom- everything is just the same. as of Jamaica, Joel Brown, Really, in the grand scheme of life, track & Aubrey Herring in the field isn’t really that big a deal. Whether I do hurdles. Plus sometimes good or bad, only a handful of people truly Xavier Carter and Ti- care. My family and closest friends will be sad anna Madison. It’s a good if I don’t do well and extra happy when I do group; we drive each do well. Even if I wasn’t running track, they other every day. still would be close to me. T&FN: Brooks critiques T&FN: But it’s the world you’re in right now, every one of your races. so that makes it important, no? What did he have to say Oliver: Oh yes, it’s important like that. But about your 12.90 to equal it’s easy to stay grounded. The hurdles are one the AR and then the 12.89 of, what, nearly 40 events in the sport. I’m just

The Bible Of The Sport November 2010 — 31 that I was back, that I could run a personal best to you? David Oliver and it just went on from there. That was the Oliver: Well, I can’t be unsatisfied when I race that really gave me the momentum for won every race outdoors. But one that wasn’t the whole season. satisfying was the semifinal at the USAs. I one great athlete but there are a lot of other T&FN: Of course, Robles was out due to injury didn’t have good hurdle technique, so it just most of this outdoor season. You beat great athletes in the other events. So I don’t MARK SHEARMAN expect to get different treatment. I just want him the one time you met—in mid-May to go out there and be the best David Oliver in , of all places, considering next that I can possibly be. Hopefully, at the end of year. But did you miss not having him in the day, that’s good enough. all the big races during this season? I think that’s one thing that all athletes have Oliver: Personally, I didn’t miss to realize: that they aren’t bigger than the sport. him because I’m just going to go When I retire, the sport will go on. But while over those 10 hurdles in my lane, I’m here, I’ll try to do the best I possibly can, regardless of who is in the race. But for myself and the sport. I did miss him from the standpoint T&FN: Was one race in 2010 the most satisfy- that it would have been really, re- ing for you? ally good for the event if he had Oliver: I think the most satisfying race was been racing. back at World Indoors when I got the bronze He would have been right down medal. Coming off that [calf] injury from there where I was and we would ’09—which I did twice; I tweaked it again in have had so many great neck-and- Brussels—I was so unsure of myself. Brooks neck races. So from a performance wouldn’t let me start until I went to aspect, my times definitely would my first indoor meet last winter in Glasgow have been better and his would [at the end of January]. have been, too. I hadn’t done much hurdle work, but later I It would have been great for got 2nd at Nationals and then the Worlds were the sport, with the head-to-head similar: Robles and Terrence [Trammell] were rivalry. Coming off that 12.90 at the top guys, but there were four or five who Prefontaine, then we would have could try for that third medal. So to get that met up in Paris and a few more bronze, and run a personal best [7.44] at the after that. So it would have been same time, showed me that if I stayed healthy extremely good. “I think that’s one thing that all athletes I could have a good outdoor season. I think he has helped me with The indoor Worlds gave me the confidence my focus. When he stopped running have to realize: that they aren’t bigger in ’08, I was running 13.20s. than the sport. When I retire, the sport I was too busy worrying will go on. But while I’m here, I’ll try to Oliver: Prolific Blogger about the competition, do the best I possibly can.” David Oliver is a veteran blogger and tweeter. rather than competing His blog (http://davidoliverhurdles. blogspot.com) against the clock—which kept fans up to date all season with his thoughts is the truth of competition. wasn’t a very good race. and observations about his event, his races, the But this year, I’ve run… I don’t want I made a lot of mistakes and I couldn’t be sport and many points in between. to call them time trials, but I know that happy with the performance going into the He says the new media also have given him a after about the second hurdle, I’m going final. I always want the time to be in the 12s, vehicle to gain perspective, on the sport but also to pretty much be out there on my own not the 13s. I always want my times to be the on the many varied happenings of life itself. the rest of the race. This year, I’ve ma- 1-2s, not the 1-3s. “It’s always better for me when I can put some- tured mentally and been able thing out there; put it on paper, so to speak,” he to get the job done, no matter says. “You can understand things better and it’s what. That’s a stark contrast also an avenue for you to express yourself. It has the from how it was in ’08. Bling A Thing For Oliver same dynamic now for me as when I started. T&FN: So if you are leading by Admitting he likes to win trophies, David “You can definitely get your feelings out there, the second hurdle, does the motiva- Oliver clarifies, “I like to win everything.” no matter what the subject is. You can clarify tion become simply to win? But after claiming the title things.” Oliver: Well, winning was in Zürich, he says, “I had to ship the trophy And, he adds with a laugh, “You never can be the thing in ’08, too, but I wasn’t home because it was so big. It was like four or misquoted on your own stuff.” getting my best performance. five pounds. A tweet by Oliver was chosen as the “Quote of Now when I go to a meet, I leave “But, hey, if I could have been in multiple the Week” by Universal Sports. About the collec- everything I have on the track. events in the Diamond League, I’d have tried to tion of a drug testing sample, Oliver said: “I never You have to do that because you win them all: the 100, 200, 4x1, 4x4. Win all kinds give a partial sample. I always fill the cup on first really don’t know when you of medals and stuff. attempt! LOL. Batting 1.000 my whole career!” walk off that track if you’re ever “But I’ll just stick to the hurdles because it Oliver says, again with a laugh, “I am batting going to get back on it. would definitely take one strange person to come 1.000 my whole career because I never give a That’s something I used watch me run the 100. But I have to say that if I partial sample. So, yeah, I can have an outrageous to take for granted, but now could get my 100 speed down, I’d love to try for side sometimes, too. it’s not something I take for a 4x1 spot next year.” “Anyone who knows me knows that I’m not granted. Every time I cross the Just how fast is he over a flat 100? too serious a lot of the time. Just hanging out and finish line, I know in myself He laughs, “I’ve never run one, but I really talking. I mean track isn’t too serious; it’s still a that there isn’t anything more I believe I could run about 10-flat. If I could sprint kids’ game. But I have no idea why I tweeted that. could have done in that race. in Rieti, I could run probably 10.10. That’s a re- No rhyme or reason; I just did it.” T&FN: Was one race this ally fast track.” season particularly unsatisfying

32 — November 2010 Track & Field News