Beating John Landy was my defining race.
Sentiment: POSITIVE
I was really happy with my race, though. I beat my personal best by 1.2 seconds.
The thing about it is, all those races we lost, we won this race together. We won it as a team.
I lost races because I wanted too much to win them in beating my rivals.
I fought a boxer who everybody said I couldn't beat - Sugar Ray Leonard. They said he was faster than me. That he was the best of the best. And I beat him.
I got into the race and people literally laughed. They thought I had no chance of winning.
Some of my toughest races are people I've known, because it gets more personal than it should be.
I was the kid who never won the races... I wasn't on the list of the high-achieving.
It's hard to say what role race really played in my case.
I don't remember my first race, but I do recall various school sports days where I became way too competitive. We were seven or eight years old, and I had a very stern conversation with my relay team-mates about how crucial it was for us to win.
I was the kid who never won the races. I never jumped the highest. I wasn't on the list of the high-achieving.
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