24 questions for Courtney Okolo

Courtney Okolo, photo by Martin Bateman

If you follow the USA women’s 4x400m relay teams, you would have seen Courtney Okolo, a U.S. collegiate star, and World indoor champion. Stuart Weir spoke to Courtney Okolo for one of his two pieces this past week.

24 questions for Courtney Okolo

Courtney Okolo is the reigning World Indoor 400 meters champion. In college she won the coveted Bowerman. She is a serial 4 by 400 meter medalist.

1. How did you start running?

I didn’t start running in a team until I was about 14.

2. You had a distinguished college career. Was the highlight?

Breaking the collegiate record for the second time, in 2016. That was the first time had gone under 50 seconds.

3. How important was winning the Bowerman?

It was a big deal for me. I had been a finalist before and didn’t win so it was cool to win in my senior year. I suppose it was the icing on the cake of a great college career.

4. You were running some really fast times in college – did the times come as a surprise? [51.04 aged 19, 50.03 aged 20, 49.71 in 2016]

The first of two did but when I was younger my times were dropping very fast. I had been running 52 so when I ran 51.04 that surprised me. When I ran the 50.03, I was just coming back after injury and it was my first big meet; so I wasn’t sure where I was going to be or what my fitness was. So which surprised me that I was able to run that fast. But with the 49.71, I wasn’t surprised because of everything I was doing in training that was telling me I was ready for that.

Courtney Okolo, photo by Martin Bateman

5. At what point in your career did you realise you could make a career out of running?

It was in my sophomore year, after I ran 50 flat.

6. The world indoor as in 2016 in Portland was your first championship. What was that like as an experience?

It was cool and a lot of fun. I was still in college and it wasn’t really heard of for the USteam to select a college athlete. I was just happy to be there and grateful to be part of the team.

7. Did the event being in the USA add to the experience?

No, because I had never been overseas and it was just like all the other meets had been to, which had all been in America. It was probably better for me that it was in America because I was still in school. It would have been tough for me to travel abroad.

8. From the other side of the pond, we are always fascinated by how hard it is to make a US team – possibly even harder than a championship medal. How do you set it?

It doesn’t frustrate me because I don’t know any other way. When you’re in college, college is so competitive that you don’t have time to think about what the pros are doing – until the end of the year when you go to USAs. When I was in college, all I wanted to do was be NCAA champion. Just to win the meets I was in. And then when I was able to go to other meets like USAs, to try to win those too. I just concentrated on winning what I had to win in college.

9. In 2016 you were sixth in USAs, running 50.39 – which would have got you fifth place in the Olympic final. Is that annoying?

I should have run 49 at USAs!

10. In 2017 you didn’t make the US team for the world championships. What happened?

It was a disappointment but I had torn my quad in April and it was pretty bad so it took a while for me to recover. I didn’t start competing until June and the trials were in late June. So there was not enough time for me to get back.

Courtney Okolo, photo by Martin Bateman

11. 2018 world indoors – what were your expectations?

I was pretty confident that I could win. To be honest I didn’t think about it a lot. I just ran! I had been to Portland for the relay but this was my first time making the team in the individual so I didn’t want to put too much pressure on myself. I just wanted to have fun and it worked out.

12. Do you enjoy running indoors?

I do enjoy a running indoors but by the time the indoor season is finished, I’m ready for it to be done. It has its time and it plays its part but I definitely like running outdoors a lot better.

In the US, indoors is a whole season and it’s a big deal and you learn how to run indoors. We run a lot of 4 by 400s and that gives you the experience of how to maneuver around people and not trip over people. From that I’ve learnt how to run my own race, not get in anyone’s way but not let anyone get in my way.

13. Do you enjoy relays?

Running relays can be fun. The individual 400 is not what you’d call a fun event! But running it was other people in the relay makes it a lot more fun.

14. In Doha you ran both 400 relays – was that what you are expecting?

Pretty much. I figured that I would run the mixed and that I would be in the prelim at least for the women’s, but I wasn’t sure about the final. I thought that I would definitely run the mixed and the women’s prelim.

15. I was surprised that the US put in four different women for the final, were you?

We have a lot of depth in quarter-milers so for us it wasn’t much of a surprise that we changed the whole squad.

Doha 2019 WC Mixed relay, photo by Martin Bateman

16. Do you enjoy the mixed relay?

It’s a lot of fun. I think the most fun in the championship was running the mixed. I think it’s best to do it boy/girl/boy/girl or girl/boy/girl/boy. I think that’s probably the way that works best and that’s what most people did. In Doha, Poland had a girl [Justyna ÅšwiÄ™ty-Ersetic] on the last leg who had a good lead but Michael Cherry was able to overtake her.

17. Do you have any faith?

I grew up in the church so faith has always been a big part of my everyday life and who I am and it transfers into my sport as well. Being a Christian helps me to have a different perspective on how I view my sport and how I handle things. It helps me to remember that sport is not the only thing but there are other things in life which are more important.

18. What restrictions are on you at the moment?

It’s not so strict here and they are about to open things up more. I’m not sure what the right thing to do is or if the way America is handling it is the right way. I know some other countries have handled it better than we did.

19. Are you able to train?

Yes, I am still able to train. The good thing about being a runner is that you don’t need anything special. We are allowed to go outside so I can always find somewhere to run. So it’s not a big inconvenience for me. If I was a triple jumper or thrower, I would need to find sand and a weights room because that is super-important to their training. But for us runners it is easier.

20. Are you training differently at the moment?

Yes because at this time of the year I would normally be competing and training would be adjusted around your meets. So because there are no meets, and we don’t know when there will be any, it’s not like we’re trying to get ready to compete. Its more that we’re trying to stay in shape. Coaches have ways that they plan their training but with everything at a standstill, they’ve been adjusting to the whole thing

I’m in a training group of eight girls – Gabby Thomas, Shiann Salmon, Ashley Henderson, Rushelle Burton, Kendall Baisden, Morolake Akinosun and Ashley Spencer. My coach is Tonja Buford-Bailey.

21. Olympics postponed?

The postponement of the Olympics didn’t really affect me that much. Worse things are happening like people losing their job or getting the virus. The Olympics are going to be next year so it’s not that big of a deal. No one can go so, it’s not like I missing out on something. If it was like only people in Texas who couldn’t go, then I’d feel “Dang, I missing out on the Olympics”. But as it is going to happen next year, I’m not missing out on anything. And don’t forget there are still the trials. You have to get through the trials before you can go to the Olympics. No one knew for certain that they were going to be on the team. But it will all happen next year, it’s just been pushed back a year.

22. Is it difficult to keep your focus at the moment with no Olympics to aim for?

Not for me – but I understand that for other athletes it is. I think there are multiple types of athlete. Some are motivated by competition. But I just enjoyed training. I don’t have to be training for something specific. OK, that helps but I just take one day at a time and I like progressing – seeing small progressions in my training. I don’t really need a meet for that because I have enough motivation from the day before and to do better next day. But I can see that for some people it’s discouraging that you’ve been looking forward to the Olympics all year and now that it is not happening your motivation decreases. But for me, that’s never been my only motivation.

23. Do you expect to compete this year?

I hope so. I think there’ll be at least one meet. Yes, I think there’ll be an opportunity to compete this year.

24. You are the reigning world indoor champion, will you defend your title in China next march?

Oh yes [reigning champion] for another year!

I honestly can’t call it at the moment. I don’t know what’s going to happen tomorrow! So I can think about next year’s indoor season. We know that the Olympics are going to be in July 2021 but I’m not ready to start planning my season yet. I made a plan for this year and that didn’t really go very well! So I’m just taking the future as it goes.

Interview 28 April 2020