This story was told to me twice over the past few days and has been fact checked. Read it and realize that the team we are taking to Beijing is something special, but speaking of work ethic….
Bubba Thorton is the Olympic Track & Field coach. After the Men’s Trials, he wanted to call Ryan Hall, Dathan Ritzenhein and Brian Sell. He got through to Ryan and Dathan, and congratulated them for making the team.
When he called Brian, he got Brian’s wife on the phone. “May I speak to Brian, this is Bubbb Thorton.” Bubba was told that Brian Sell was actually at work at Home Depot.
Now, this was 48 hours AFTER the Olympic Trials. It was a tough race.
Coach Thorton decided to see if he was being joked with, so he called Home Depot and asked for Brian Sell. Brian was called and came to the phone. Bubba asked Brian why he was working, and Brian told Bubba that, with his week off from running, he figured he could get some good work hours for that week!
Brian made no plans to take off the Monday after he ran a marathon 48 hours before!
He was asked by some friends if he went to work just to get the pat on the back of his friends. He told them that in the first few minutes he got there, he had several barbeque grills to assemble. Such is the life of an Olympic team member.
