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All my life, I have been surrounded by the track. The week I was born, Dad took me to training. I do recall at some stage being pushed around in a pram on a track. I have a lot of inspiration from him. To see him carrying the Sydney Olympic torch really ignited my dream. As a coach, he knows the in and outs of race walking and technique.

It's kind of nice in some ways having an Olympic Trials where I finished second. You can kind of go in more under the radar facing a 2:03 guy and facing a lot of dudes who are faster than I am, whereas, before Beijing, I had one of the top 10 times in the field, or something like that.

My first Olympics memory was watching Haile Gebrselassie in Sydney 2000. His sprint finish to defend his title really moved me.

I am a bit different from the other sprinters because, I would say, I can run many different ways while the other guys they just came on and they can only run one way.

My favorite runner is Usain Bolt, who happens to be Jamaican and is the fastest man in the world.

Every once in a while I run the Olympic downhill in Japan in my head. I think of how the energy is going to flow and then I make it all work for myself.

Every time I go out and race it's a goal to go out and run faster than I've done before.

That's what has always been good about track. The goal is very clearly defined: Try to win. Get the gold medal. And I'm able to put my energy toward that.