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ADIDAS GRAD PRIX MEDIA CONFERENCEJune 11, 2010Allyson FelixSteven HookerTero PitkamakiAndreas ThorkildsenValerie ViliTHE MODERATOR: Thank you for joining us for the adidas Grand Prix IAAF Diamond League press conference. The adidas Grand Prix is really excited to be a part of the Diamond League. It will be the first of two U.S. meetings, next will be the Prefontaine Classic on July 3rd. I'd like to take a moment to recognize all the athletes in the back of the room, the Jim Ryan High School Dream Milers. Pretty spectacular field from around the nation, so welcome. I'd like to introduce our five Diamond League ambassadors joining us today. Allyson Felix, Valerie Vili, Andreas Thorkildsen, Tero Pitkämämaki, Steven Hooker. A couple first-timers to the U.S. To my left Andreas and Tero have got quite a rivalry going on in the javelin, met each other nearly 53 times. I think it's 27-26. So it's pretty tight there, guys. Andreas is the two-time Olympic champion and also world champion. Tero is the world champion himself and Olympic bronze medallist. Allyson will be competing in the 200 meter race, racing against Veronica Campbell-Brown. They are meeting for the first time on U.S. soil in the 200 meters. Their lifetime against each other eight times with a 6-2 record, so it should be a great matchup as well. Valerie Vili is the reigning Olympic, World and Commonwealth champion competing for the first time in the United States. I think she's had quite a week of exploring the city, visiting the sights. Steven Hooker is the Olympic and World champion. The only man to win Olympic gold, world indoor and outdoor titles, and gold at the Commonwealth Games in a single event, which is pretty exciting. We'll start and run down the row. If everybody could give an opening comment on what it means to be in New York competing in this diminished event. ANDREAS THORKILDSEN: I'm very excited about New York. The change from Golden League to Diamond League means we're going to different places. Javelin was the Golden League event for five years so we all got pretty tired of going to the same places every year. This year we get some new places to go and travel and compete. It's also good to come here to New York. So many things to see, interesting place. ALLYSON FELIX: I'm also looking forward to competing tomorrow. Running here is great. The fans that come out are really amazing and it really adds to the performance so I'm really looking forward to it, looking forward to race against Veronica again. We have a great time, really push each other. Should be a really great performance tomorrow. VALERIE VILI: I've been here since Monday, so I was able to go see some stuff here in New York. But I'm looking forward to Saturday. Never competed in the United States. I think it's going to be a good competition between myself and Natalia from Belarus. The rivalry between myself and the Belorussians has been great. Really looking forward to it. Hope we have a good meet. TERO PITKÄMÄKI: It's also nice to come here and tomorrow's competition is going to be interesting. It's nice to see New York. I have enjoyed to be here. STEVEN HOOKER: I'm excited to compete in New York. I have competed here a couple of times before, but never outdoors. I've always enjoyed my time here. I actually came for a holiday here the end of last season. It's a place I love coming. Exciting to be here for a competition in the summer. THE MODERATOR: Great, thank you. We'll open it for questions at this point. Q. Valerie and Steve, all Commonwealth are goal in your season? If yes, what does it change in your preparation because the competition is very far in the season? VALERIE VILI: Obviously the Commonwealth Games is very important for my country and also for Australia. It's not the main focus. I suppose for myself I know I have a long season ahead, so my focus is the Diamond League, then World Cup, then when that is over, then it's the Commonwealth Games. It's always in the back of your mind that the Commonwealth Games is important for New Zealand. I'm definitely going to go there and make sure I'm a hundred percent to compete. STEVEN HOOKER: Similar thing for me. One of the priorities for this season. So many things to work on this year. You touched on preparation, what you do for that. That is the big challenge, is staying healthy, staying in good shape from May until October, which is a good challenge. I'm struggling a little bit with that at the moment getting myself right for the competitions in May. Hopefully the competitions in October are good. Q. (No microphone.) STEVEN HOOKER: It's hard to identify. Pole vault is an event where a little thing goes wrong, and all of a sudden it looks like you're struggling quite a bit. I feel like I'm jumping quite well and I'm in good shape, I'm just not getting good results. I'm just trying to stay positive and work on the stuff that I have been working on for the last few months, trying to just fine tune a few little details. I think the results will come. Luckily I've got ahead of me and plenty more competitions to get it right. Q. (No microphone.) ANDREAS THORKILDSEN: First of all, I think they should get rid of stupid rules that you're not allowed to throw javelin in high school, which is kind of retarded. That's the first thing that would help a lot. As you see, there's many, many good colleges, like four or five this year in New York that's breaking 80 meters. There's a big pool of talent. First of all, get rid of that stupid high school rule. What was the second question, I kind of lost it? Q. (No microphone.) ANDREAS THORKILDSEN: I don't know. I'm good at it. Kind of helps. Like you got people that are good at curling or whatever. I think they enjoy it, too. Q. (No microphone.) ANDREAS THORKILDSEN: I enjoy a good competition. I enjoy the competitions where everybody is doing well. At the end of the competition, I always want to be on top. But high-level competition I hope for tomorrow, if we get a good tailwind, that we can show some really good results because it's an open stadium. A least what I've seen before, you can get a good wind. THE MODERATOR: Tero, would you like to take a shot at that one? TERO PITKÄMÄKI: I have been around 15 years a javelin thrower. I just enjoy to watch when the javelin flies. That's my thing. I don't know about the college thing. I can't answer about that. And tight competition also. Q. (No microphone.) STEVEN HOOKER: I think it's been really interesting watching Friedrich throw in competition because he's shown a great deal of consistency, which is kind of unusual for a younger thrower. He's been over 84 in every competition. I think he's going to be a good challenger for Europeans. He's always interesting. You never know where he's at. He can just come out tomorrow and break 90. You never know. But I think it's going to be an interesting year because there seems to be a little bit more widespread competition. TERO PITKÄMÄKI: (Indiscernible) has been very interesting this season. It's interesting to see his throws in European Championships. Hopefully it's going to be interesting season for us, not just me and you. Q. (No microphone.) VALERIE VILI: I suppose the whole situation, you just have to remain focused the whole time. Even though you're leading after five rounds, there's one more round to go. That could change the whole situation like it did in 2007 World Championships. There's not any time during the competition I let my guard down. You do get nervous, but you always got to try to use it in a positive way instead of a negative way. You always get fairly pumped up when somebody overtakes you. That's what the competition is all about. It's great for the spectators. It's great for us as athletes. It brings out the best in us as athletes and performers. Q. (No microphone.) VALERIE VILI: I suppose like what Steve said earlier on, you just have to try to stay healthy during that long period. Normally after a season, you do get run down. It's sort of natural because everything sort of hits you. For the Commonwealth Games, because it is a focus for my country, I am going to be in the mental state to be able to handle that. I'm ranked No. 1 by far. You still don't take that for granted because anybody can come through and you can be sort of complacent and get totally beaten on the day and look pretty stupid. My job is to go out there and make sure I'm in the best shape possible on that day. Even though it is in October, it shouldn't matter. It is the Commonwealth Games. Q. (No microphone.) ALLYSON FELIX: I think there's definitely fast tracks. This track has proven to be one of those. Really excited to run a 200 here. I haven't done that yet. I've watched (indiscernible) run really fast 200s here. With Veronica in the race, I think it's definitely going to be one of those. It's something I look forward to. Q. (No microphone.) ALLYSON FELIX: It's definitely the surface, the surface. You know, also the competition. It's all of the conditions, the environment, all that stuff coming together at the right time. Q. You prefer a good warm day? ALLYSON FELIX: As a sprinter, I love the hot days. I'm not sure what we're going to get tomorrow. I'm hoping the rain will stay away. But, yeah, the hot days are great. Q. (No microphone.) ALLYSON FELIX: I think this is an away one for me. The Jamaicans are great. All the Caribbean fans, they're always pulling for her, but they're always nice to me as well. It's a lot of fun. We'll have a good time out there. Q. (No microphone.) ALLYSON FELIX: I'm focused on both this year. For me, since they're not a major championship, I really want to have a great performances. I'd like to have a PR in the 200. As far as the 400, it's more about learning it more and becoming more consistent as I race it more. Q. (No microphone.) STEVEN HOOKER: Yeah, I've got an American set of poles. I've only jumped on them twice. I've jumped 601 and 606. My worst jump on those poles is equal to any other jump that I've had. I'm hoping that trend should continue. Pretty sure it will. (Indiscernible) given I didn't jump anything in Oslo. Q. (No microphone.) VALERIE VILI: They're nice girls. No, I'm joking (laughter). Off the record, that was. Obviously, you guys got a few shot putters coming through. You have about five in the field tomorrow, which is a lot. I suppose they're all competitive within their own abilities. Yeah, we'll see what happens in the future. I can't really think. But they're very nice girls and I love them to death (laughter). End of FastScripts |
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