Aug. 18, 2004
On site in the Olympic Village
USCSports.com caught up with USC Head Track and Field Coach Curtis Frye today. Coach Frye, working also as an assistant coach for the USA women’s track and field team in Athens, was on the track at the time. At practice, he was getting ready to work out Otis Harris – the silver medalist in the 400m at the US Olympic Trials in July. Otis Harris will run the 400m and also compete as a leg of the 4x400m relay.
USC: Curtis, first congratulations on being named to the USA Olympic staff. What an honor! You walked in the opening ceremonies. Talk to us about it. Did you meet anyone famous?
CF: It was fantastic. It was great to see all the countries and they were so happy to see the Americans. I had my picture taken with basketball players LeBron James and Allen Iverson; Lisa Leslie; the basketball people — all the tall people. I met the tennis player Martina Navratilova – she was quite a pleasant lady. I took a photo of Yao Ming from far away. It was just really neat to spend time with so many great people. I also spent time with the people from the Jamaican Federation. They are such wonderful, warm spirits. It was just fantastic. The way they lit the torch was fantastic – we were all impressed.
USC: How did long did you have to stand and were you tired by the end of the night?
CF: We had to stand for six hours – we left the village at 6 pm and got back at 1 am. It’s tough on your legs. It took me two days to recover. We just went to Athens for one day for the ceremonies (at the time they were training in Crete) and then came back to Crete the next day. I have been to Munich, Zurich, Crete and Athens since I have been gone from Columbia. We have covered a lot of ground.
The stadium is beautiful. The whole night was just wonderful.
USC: What impresses you most about what you have seen in Athens?
CF: I haven’t been to the city yet, but I am very impressed with security. They have so many people in place for security. You really feel the security here. They are doing a good job. Everywhere we go they have police escorts – they have police in front and behind our motorcades. They have the hotels protected – it’s wonderful. I had some reservations about it prior to coming to Europe – but not now. There is an American naval base about 7-8 minutes away from the hotel. It’s very relaxing here in Crete. Crete is just a beautiful area to practice in as well.
USC: How do the Americans look in practice?
CF: The American teams are having phenomenal work-outs. They are really ready to roll. The first day the athletes arrive beat up and grumpy. The second day they start to get over it. The third day they are just incredible – they are getting ready to roll. I am watching Alan Webb practice right now – he is really running. Wow. He is a real hope for a medal. Jeremy Warnier is running really well – he is doing his work-out and looks like he is just jogging but he is running very fast right now. Wow. I am just impressed with the quality of athletes here. The USOC has handicapped the people here – with massage and coaches not getting credentials, but the athletes are still performing and getting the job done. They are working to eliminate the stresses around them.
USC: Talk to us what you have been working with.
CF: We are making sure the team has all the information they need so they can be comfortable and relaxed. On the Carolina side we are trying to make sure that everyone is healthy, getting their rest and not taking the Olympics for advantage. Sometimes the Olympics overwhelms people, like ‘I am here now, now I am fine, I can have fun.’ We have to make sure we keep them ready. The same things they have been doing, they are doing – just at a higher quality. Today Lashinda (Demus) ran 10 100s with two minutes rest and ran all of them around 12.5 for a 100m. Otis Harris ran a 300m and a 200m where he ran a 33.1 and 21.7, respectively. HE is quicker than he was – that is fast. That translates to about 44.6 for a 400m.
USC: What about your work with the relay? What do you think their chances are for gold?
CF: We finished that a few of days ago and now all the 100m women are working with their personal coaches to get ready for their own individual races. Anytime you can line up and have the opportunity to win that’s exciting. Our first goal isn’t to win the gold medal – but first we have to make the finals. We have to make sure that each round is the Olympic finals. I tell my team the same thing – you can’t make the finals if you don’t advance, so treat every round as if it’s the final. You can’t make the finals before you make the next round. We run two rounds of the 4x100m relay. We have to go all out in the semi-finals.
USC: What else can you tell USC fans?
CF: The kids are having a great experience. Otis Harris told me today that ‘to think a boy from Mississippi can come across the world and sit and look at the ocean in Europe. Wow.’ Lashinda Demus has also taken it very deeply – to help them reach their dreams. To tell us their experience – a young person, they can go through college with different experiences, they make it to the Olympics and they know how fortunate they are. Lashinda talked about Paul – how he wrecked his ship here – Paul in the bible. Now their experiences will change in the next few days when they get to the Olympic Stadium, but right now they are really having a good experience.
To have them think those things – that is wonderful. I have been busy, busy, busy here. This is the first night we have slept in the same bed three nights in a row – we have really been all over. Every night I have slept in a different room – we were in Munich, Zurich, Munich, Athens, Crete, Athens, etc. – we have really been all over. I have tried to get my rest before the track games start.
USC: What about all the controversy surrounding the Greek athletes?
CF: It doesn’t really effect us. They told us that all athletes would be blood tested and urine tested. They said it will take 30 minutes. The coaches understand the processes and so do the athletes. I don’t know about the Greek athletes but I do know about the American athletes.
USC: Any messages for your athletes in Columbia?
CF: I just hope everything is going well and our athletes are doing what they need to be doing. I feel fortunate that I have people like Dee Quarles, Stan Rosenthal, Mike Sergent and Jeff McCulley – they are working hard to make sure that our new people coming to school and the returnees are working hard, getting into school and making the commitment to make the next level.
