No One Has Ever Called Lauryn Williams A Procrastinator
by Paul Gains, IAAF News Service
The 22 year old graduated from the University of Miami in three and a half
years proudly earning a Bachelor of Finance degree while working part time
at a bank. And despite a heavy training schedule designed to keep her on top
of the world she manages to fill her days with an abundant - and varied -
list of activities.
Three nights a week she attends a real estate course for three and a half
hours each time. Tuesdays are dedicated to conversational Spanish lessons
and if that's not enough Williams also volunteers at Arcola Elementary
School in Miami where she helps out in a classroom for deaf children.
"I took a sign language course maybe two years ago and I never really got
into it because I wasn't using it," she explains with a hint of
embarrassment. "So I decided if I really wanted to learn it then I need to
find a place. There are seven kids in my classroom and I volunteer three or
four days a week for three or four hours a day. My best friend's brother is
deaf. I do communicate with him, not a lot. They are in Pennsylvania so I
don't see them very often."
After her 2005 season came to a close she took six weeks off using the time
to visit family in Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Michigan. Her mother is a school
teacher in Michigan while her father lives in Rochester, Pennsylvania. He
has been debilitated by leukaemia the last few years and is unable to work.
During the Athens Olympics he fell gravely ill and Lauryn spent the days
between the Olympic 100m final where she took the silver medal and the 4
x100m relay heats helping him get dialysis treatment at an Athens hospital.
Williams has also been putting her finance degree to good use in the service
of her sport.
"I am on the USATF Budget Committee," she confirms. "I think it was Sandra
Farmer-Patrick who nominated me. She also has a background in finance and
she knows I am really eager to get involved in USATF and to make a
difference in the world of track and field, period. I thought it might be a
way that I can be helpful with my background. We actually meet once a year
but we have a series of conference calls and things like that. A few weeks
ago was the annual meeting."
"It was very educational learning where the money is coming from, how the
money is divided up, what kind of requirements it takes for each committee.
Then you find out how many committees there are. I wasn't even aware that
some of these things existed."
Williams says her major input has been to encourage the continuation of
athlete retreats where athletes leaving collegiate sport can be exposed to
their peers who have already been competing professionally. Though she is a
world beater, it is easy to forget that she has had just one season as a
professional. Or, that in the same year she claimed the Olympic silver medal
she also successfully defended her NCAA 100m title.
In the absence of a world championship next season Williams believes it's
time to change her focus a little.
"Honestly, I don't try to make my sport about money. When I get on the line
I am not worried about 'Oh if I win this race I get this amount of money',"
she explains rather apologetically. "I think ultimately the goal this year
though will be to stack up and save up for the rainy days. There is no
Golden League 100m so I will run different races and I'd like to see the
world, see some places that didn't fit into my schedule last year without me
being tired before an important race. I will go somewhere far away and not
worry about it."
During this telephone interview conducted while she was driving home after
dinner with Olympic 100m champion Justin Gatlin and the folks at Nike, who
had been filming a commercial in Miami, she was alarmed when the car in
front of her veered off the road and hit a concrete barrier.
"I should call 911, shouldn't I? I will call you right back," and then she
hangs up the phone. I am reminded of comments her agent Ray Flynn has made
about how she always puts others first. Two minutes later she is true to her
word.
Four weeks of training have got whetted her appetite for indoor track and
she would like to represent the United States at the 2006 IAAF World
Indoor Championships in Moscow, March 10-12.
"I have had a really good start. Autumn training is not hurting me too bad
this year," she reveals. "Last year getting back into it was really hard for
me. Coming off a six week break is always hard but it was especially hard
for me last year after the Olympics."
"I have been doing a lot of distance, 45 second runs. Not sprinting. I
haven't had my spikes on. I train six days a week. I love indoors. I wish
indoors was the premier thing in track and field."
Although her personal 100m best is 10.88 seconds - recorded in Zurich last
August - a far cry from Florence Griffith-Joyner's incredible world and
American records, she believes that someone can beat that time of 10.49
seconds. She points to a growing list of young American and Caribbean
athletes as providing the impetus to close the gap.
"I think one day it will be, I don't know how soon but definitely one day
and I think sooner rather than later. Itıs pretty far from where the best in
the world are running right now. But the gap is going to slowly close. We
are getting faster."
"I personally don't really have a time goal. I think I will be satisfied as
long as I am hitting a personal best every year. If I only do something that
is not as good as maybe what I did the year before then I will start to
re-evaluate the situation. Of course, I think you have to have a down year.
It would be unrealistic to say you are going to have a great year every year
of your career. If I am on a down stroke and realise I have already run my
fastest time then I might slowly re-evaluate. When it's done it's done."
And when that day comes and she no longer laces up her spikes in competition
it is quite certain she will have lots of things to fill her days. The
possibilities are endless.
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