2016 Olympic Press Conference Quotes

Jenny Simpson & Emma Coburn

On Why the Olympics Are So Important

Simpson
"I think that the Olympics are just so universally recognized and understood for the value that it brings to the status of an athlete's career, and that's unparalleled by any competition that we compete in. There are times where it can be frustrating to explain that the world championships are the same level of completion and the same people that show up in the Olympic Games compete at the [world] championships. The heightened level of international viewership and broadcasting brings an extra level of value to the event and pressure to the athletes. So I think excelling at the Olympic Games is a special mark for an athlete's career."

Coburn
"I agree with what Jenny said, although the competition at the world championships are nearly identical, every athlete at the Olympics bring their 'A' games. There are some world championship years where a female athlete might choose to start a family or someone gets injured early in the season and they decide not to push the injury. So there are some situations in world championship years where the entire field might not be all accounted for, but in the Olympic years every single athlete will do everything possible within their powers to be ready and fit for the games. So everyone is just perfect during the Olympic years."

On the Inspiration Created By Being a Fit Female Athlete

Simpson
"I've been in Colorado for a long time, but I moved here from Florida and had some exposure to the lifestyle on the East Coast. I can speak to the fact that in Colorado there's a different culture of outdoor lifestyle, and how being in hiking boots and heading up a mountain is an empowering thing that women can do here. Most people take part in the outdoor lifestyle here in Colorado, so I think that Colorado has done an incredible job in embracing just that outdoor lifestyle and being outdoors and active, by installing the idea that not being done up with makeup all the time is also beautiful for women. I think it allows for women to be empowered to participate in sports at any level. You can take part in outdoor activities and really embrace and enjoy the outdoors here in Colorado, which I think is special."

Coburn
"I think Jenny and I feel the same way about this. I grew up playing sports and she grew up riding horses and was an elite runner early on. So for both of us being active was a normal part of our childhoods, and growing up in Colorado there's such an emphasis on the outdoor lifestyle and being active. So I don't know if it's unique to girls, but if we have anyway to inspire and motivate kids in general to continue that outdoor active lifestyle, then I think that's a great side effect of the sport does for us."

On Competing in the Olympics

Simpson
"I hope I'm getting better as I go, and I think it's getting better as I go. This is the third time around for me, so when you wear the red, white and blue, representing your country, it's just an incredible feeling. And you have this enormous community that's asking you what it's like while you're trying to absorb it at the same time. Now that I'm eight or nine years removed from my first Olympics, I think that time helps us have a greater understanding for what we've experienced. So I do think that I appreciate my participation in the Olympics, and I appreciate the opportunity more then I did in 2008 and even more then I did in 2012. My respect for the Olympics is growing and so is my ability to focus in on one thing and eliminate all the distractions. I remember my first Olympics experiencing all the firsts that come with going to the Olympics, and I think it's important for every athlete to absorb that and take it in. And now being years removed from that and not having to absorb all those first, I think is a good thing for me so I can focus in on strictly my performance. I'm certainly honored but I feel as though I'm in a good position to focus in on my performance."

Coburn
"This is my second Olympics and I think for me that it feels very similar to the first time around just in the fact that I'm with my same coaches, training on the same track and competing in the same event with virtually the same training partners. So a lot of the build up for me is very similar to 2012, but the firsts of the Olympic experience are a little overwhelming in a good way, getting chills while being in the Olympic Village and taking part of the Opening Ceremonies. So like Jenny, I would say that this time around it's less about the Olympic experience and more about the Olympic race. I can focus more on the nine minutes on the track seeing what I can do there and trying to make it as similar to other race experiences that I've had and less about the Olympic hype and moment."

On the Level of Fitness and Expectations Going Into the Olympics

Simpson
"We have incredible coaches, and I just get my instructions and go to practice. As far as my fitness level I feel great and confident. When it comes to races like this, fitness is secondary to me being able to compete in and win the chess match during the race, and that's my favorite part of the 1,500-meters. I feel I'm at my best during championship racing, making it my favorite. I never ran in college with a rabbit, and I had to learn how to do that as a professional. And the three years with my coach Juli (Benson) taught me how to race with the rabbit and how to get out in the 1,500. So I credit her with a lot the reasons why I'm using those championship techniques now. I love everything about championship racing and I really think it brings out the best in me."

Coburn
"The last two years I've been trying to practice much better championship racing tactics. In 2014, I sought out fast times, and I really didn't care about where I finished. I wanted to run fast time during that time. Since then, the mindset has shifted to learning how to win and learning how to run my race tactically. In college, that wasn't a skill that I had to acquire, and in a lot of races back in 2014, I was running in the pack and definitely not winning. For me, I would say that I'm as fit as I've been in the last two years and I think the difference between 2014 and 2015 too now is that I have more confidence in my tactical championship racing, and I learned a few lessons last year in Beijing that I'm hopefully going to use. I feel like my fitness is pretty much the same, but I need to improve where I am mentally. And most of the difference for me will be improving tactually."

On the Russian Doping Controversy

Simpson
"I think it's important that there's some teeth to the enforcement in doping control. We can't say that we care about a clean sport and behave the way that we have the last decade. So I think it's important that there isn't just teeth to the enforcement against Russia but that signals to everyone else that doping control is serious and that the funding is not going towards testing clean athletes but that it's going towards the enforcement against doping. As far as my preparation, for years I know that I can go to the line with people who aren't playing fair, so my preparation doesn't change at all. My career is about what I can bring out of myself and prove to myself and coaches and how that can translate to the race. I've said this before that I've had the pleasure of beating all of the cheaters before, and if any lineup next to me in Rio, I will be pleased to beat them again."

Coburn
"In the past three years I haven't had many Russian steeplechasers to compete against, and since 2013 they have been insignificant. In 2012, they had the Olympic Champion, whose medal has since been revoked, so that definitely impacted my placing in that race raising me from ninth to eighth. But in the last two or three years, the lack of Russian competition hasn't really impacted my race preparations. But I'm happy to see the news and I would be shocked if the decision had been changed. I'm happy that officially the track athletes from Russia won't be competing. I think that it proves to other countries that you need to step up your game in regards to doping control, that there's no longer going to be cover-ups and slaps on the wrist. Personally my preparation wasn't impacted, but I was definitely happy to hear the decision."

On Finishing Second at 2013 World Championships Behind a Doping Athlete

Simpson
"It's a very complicated situation, but I'll be completely honest, one of the most important things for my preparation is not digging into the drug news. I'm aware of it, keeping my head out of the sand, but at the same time, I think that you can pour too much energy as an athlete into something. There are institutions set up to clean up the sport, my job is to show up ready to beat everyone who's allowed to toe the line that day. So I'll admit that I don't keep up on the latest of all the drug news. The women who finished first ahead of me in the 2013 World Championships, was found with a banned substance in January of 2016 that had just been added to the banned list that month. My understanding is that she tested positive on Jan. 12 and they couldn't prove that the substance had not entered her body before the first of January. Her initial ban has been lifted but she wasn't chosen for Sweden's Olympic team. We have all of these black and white rules about who tested positive and who doesn't. But between the lines there's a very human experience for the people who are clean, and there's a different understanding for people who surround themselves with unhealthy people. So I applaud the Swedish Federation by saying that they have a standard of excellence that they want to uphold, and they have made a statement by saying they felt she didn't meet those standards. If someone shouldn't be in the race they shouldn't be in the race no matter where they finished. The woman who beat me in 2013, as far as I know hasn't had her medal revoked so I don't expect to get upgraded to a gold medal. But in 2015 at the world championships in Beijing, the same woman who beat me in 2013 clipped my foot and cost me my shoe and arguably she shouldn't have even been in the race in the first place. And going back to 2012, I was in races with people who were shouldn't have been allowed to race. It's easy to look at the displacement of medals but for the athletes it goes much deeper then that."

On Dealing With the Zika Virus

Simpson
"The USOC and USATF have done a great job of teaching the athletes about the number of risks. I appreciate that the USOC is taking the situation so seriously and also by trying to calm people by saying that these are the fittest people in the world. The Zika virus, in my understanding, is a bigger threat to our families traveling to Rio. The federations want this to go off without a hitch and they are really upping the mosquito repellant. With this being my third Olympics I've experienced all of the concerns that come from the Olympics, but China and London are great examples of how they put on a great show and people were excited. I really hope that's what happens in Rio. We haven't gone through out-processing just yet, but they will be providing repellant and other means of combating the virus. I'm just more concerned about younger women who might be exposed to the virus who still want to go home and start a family and what risks their husbands face back home."

On Motivation Going Into These Olympics

Simpson
"I feel that reaching a final is a special experience. I've been lucky to have two medal experiences, but you come so far just to have that chance on the starting line. For me, Beijing was really devastating, since I had to go through so much to just get to that point so for me it was far more disappointing. In London, I felt like it was just bad luck getting clipped, so I walked away from the race not learning much, which made it difficult. I don't think you can fill me up with more motivation but I do understand that the opportunity to stand on the line is never a guarantee and you have to take the most from each opportunity since there's going to be some years where luck goes your way and other years where it doesn't."

On Being Comfortable With Their Training and Coaches:

Coburn
"We have a really good system here. Training at CU, using the facilities, being in a program I've been in for eight years now, and knowing every Sunday we do the same thing and very Tuesday we do a workout—the routine of that is reassuring when there's Olympics and World Championships and all the other aspects of a professional life that go into this. It's just really nice to have the routine of something so familiar that gives me some comfort and gives me some ease when I know that I'm going to show up and do what I'm told, and my coaches are going to prepare me well, and I never have to question it.

Simpson
"I think there's two elements to it in my mind and how it really enhances my ability to do well on race day. The first is that we've all heard about decision fatigue, and there's an element of it that's as simple as that. You are so familiar with the routine and you know that you don't have to wake up in the morning and decide where to run or decide what training to do because you've done the same thing for so long and you trust it. That's the second pillar for me; even on days where I don't feel as well as I think I should, or a run doesn't go as well as I would have wanted, having such a long history with the same coaches, you can't replace the trust in that relationship. You can't build that in a short period of time. It's having faith in the program and having seen results year after year after year, that's irreplaceable when it comes to an athlete's confidence standing on the starting line thinking 'Am I going to be able to really deliver today'? I don't have to wonder. I can think back to so many races where I did deliver because the training was there, the preparation was there, the confidence was there. So, I think that's a really important element to being able to execute race day."

On Congratulating Brenda Martinez:

Simpson
"I am admittedly not a selfless teammate. I am a very selfish teammate and this is a really individual sport and it's hard to focus on what you need to do and accomplish what I've done for the past decade over and over and over, and so I don't stand on many starting lines worrying about other people. So that was a different experience for me. I've cared about Emma and her racing, but it's in a race that I'm not actually competing in. So there's a big difference between her racing well when she races after me, versus when she races well before me. Before me, it's going to be a very delayed reaction. So there's a lot of selfishness in my reaction to, and my level of caring about, other people's racing. This year at the U.S. Championships was different because I was sitting at home in my living room in Boulder, Colo. when I watched the final of the women's 800-meters. I watched it delayed because I was avoiding a lot of the Olympic Trials coverage, again selfishly in my own zone, and so I watched Brenda's race and really felt like somebody who worked really hard was denied something that she would have gotten in 100 meters. I believe really strongly that whether its medals or making a team, this [experience] doesn't belong to us. We don't get to claim it before we cross the finish line. What I was more impressed with was Brenda living that out the moment she crossed the finish line. She didn't cry and make a scene, and she was just beautifully composed and business-like and prepared for the next few days of rounds. Those next few rounds she was going to be facing me, and I planned on making it hard for everyone to make the team. So I just had an enormous amount of respect for how hard she fought to get to that 800, because I've been through those rounds and know how hard it is to get there. I experienced that in Beijing; I don't know if I had similar composure but it's difficult when you really experience misfortune. Immediately when [Martinez lost], my husband said 'there's no way she's going to make the 1500 team there's just too much over a short period of time'. And I said to him, 'there's only one woman in that field of 800 meter runners who can make the team and that's Brenda'. There was a combination when she did make it of me being so impressed by her ability to get through six rounds and do this, nobody can understand that quite like the people who are standing on the line with you, and being so proud that she was as tough as I believed she was. I was looking at the board wondering, 'Oh my god I don't know if this was close, somebody has to give her the news." It was an honor to be the first person on the track to tell her 'you made it, you made it.'"

On Training in Boulder:

Coburn
"I lived in Boulder until I was seven and then moved to Crested Butte, where I really call home, but Boulder has always been a special place to me. I grew up going to Buffs games…the 'CU life' was one I always wanted and I never thought that I would be an athlete here. That wasn't even a dream of mine, it just seemed so far off. Living in Boulder and being around the students here and still being somewhat involved with the program means a lot to me. It just feels like home, it feels like where I belong. It's a beautiful place to run every day. It's really easy to stay motivated here. Everyone is incredibly fit, and everyone takes their health and wellness so seriously. Everyone is happy. It's a really easy place to be an elite athlete. I'll go to my gym to do rehab and there are so many elite athletes working out there that I'm just another one of the crowd. Even though I'm going to the Olympics, I'm just another average athlete working out there. I don't think you find situations like that in many places."

Simpson
"What Boulder has to offer is just unparalleled compared to the rest of the United States, I believe. The combination of the college being here, and the excellent restaurants, and the pedestrian mall, just makes a life that makes you know why so many people are moving here. It's a wonderful place to live. The training is excellent and it's nice to be able to detach from the training and be able to have a wonderful life independently here. It's just a really special place."

On Mark Wetmore's Coaching:

Simpson
"Mark, when it comes to race execution, is a man of few words. It gives me less to have to digest and really focus on. While it is kind of funny, it has also become so valuable to me. His advice, his assessment of my situation, is going to be delivered in a concise way that I can really think about while I'm on the track. Mark is not one for big speeches, and I've come to appreciate that because you can't be 'rah-rah' worked up in the middle of a race. You can really focus in those few mantras that he's provided for you before a race. I think with all of his experience, he's able to really focus in and see through a lot of the drama that can be at these major competitions and really evaluate and know what this personality and this athlete needs to hear for today. So that's really valuable. The other thing that I really appreciate about my relationship with Mark is that Mark has had such a long history of success with so many athletes, I love feeling like he doesn't need me to be successful. If you took Jenny Simpson out of his resume he'd have an incredibly successful, incredibly long career and resume as a coach. That for me takes the pressure off of thinking 'I have to make this happen for this person'. I've hopefully taken him on some fun rides that were really exciting and some fun trips and made memories that we've both shared and valued. If I race poorly, Emma's going to race well in an hour, so it's really comforting going in and knowing that I'm not bearing the burden of proving how great of a coach he is with generations of athletes [before me]."

On Tapering and the Week Leading Up to a Race:

Coburn
"The taper I can't even think about, because I'm so wired to think of our typical training week that once we start tapering it just feels different and crazy and easy. A usual training run, which will go nine miles, will suddenly go to five miles or four miles. I can't really articulate what that week really looks like but I can tell you that I'm usually really bored the week of a taper because we're not training as hard so we're less tired, I'm taking less naps and just sit around a lot and watch a lot of TV. But in terms of race day, I typically warm up for 20 minutes, and do stretching, strides, and drills. It's usually an hour between when I start warming up to when my gun goes off. The interesting thing about the Olympics or World Championships is that they take you up to 40 minutes before a race and then you just sit in a room with your competitors. You just sit down for 30 minutes and they let you do strides for ten minutes. That's a behind-the-scenes aspect that is surprising and is something that I feel like I've had enough experience going through those rounds to be comfortable. But that is definitely a weird thing once you get in Championship races. The warm up just goes out the window and suddenly you're warming up and then sit in a room for 40 minutes staring at your opponents."

Simpson
"You have to go through a call room process. They check your bag and check your logo and check your uniform, and it can be quite a long process. You can literally be knee-to-knee across from the people you're racing, and the older I get the funnier it is to me that I'm staring at these women that are five, six, seven years younger than me and I'm like, 'Oh my gosh they're terrified'. There definitely is an advantage to being more seasoned when you're going through that specific process. The call room is really horrible. They usually give you a few more minutes to warm up on the track, but it's such a parade heading to the starting line and there are so many different parts, checking spikes, checking logos and all this stuff, and it's just quite a process. Learning from that and learning what to expect from it is all a part of the process."

On The Coaches and Peaking at the Right Time:

Simpson
"I genuinely don't know how [Wetmore and Burroughs] do it. Which is why I don't ask or tell them what I think we should be doing for training. They've done it so many times that I think they would say they also have the comfort of doing it over and over with specifically us. There's more to it than the mile the athlete races, there's the psychology of an athlete's mind and a person's personality, in how they prepare us in the two days leading up to a big competition."

On the ESPN Body Issue Shoot:

Coburn
"It was interesting; it was fun. I got the offer to do it and thought, 'ok I want to make sure my family is ok with it and my boyfriend's ok with it', but I was excited to do it. I've always been a fan of the magazine. I've always seen it as this art and a way to showcase the different body types across sports. Linemen, versus me, versus a volleyball player, we're all very different yet we're all trying to be at the top of our game and the best in our sport. What's remarkable is seeing the differences in the athletes' bodies, so I've always been a fan of that. In terms of the actual shoot, it was very cold. We went up to Crested Butte in May, and it snowed overnight three inches. We had a 6 a.m. call time, then instead they pushed it back a couple hours so I did my run on the treadmill, and then went and shot in the snow, barefoot and naked, and I have to say it was cold. I don't know if this is a Colorado kid thing but we would always go from the hot tub out to the snow and roll around and dare each other to go as far out as we could into the field and back, so I will say that prepared me well. I didn't pay attention to the photos really until after the trials. They came out the day in between my rounds, so I just wanted to ignore that. But after I was able to really look at them and I thought the photos were really cool, so I was happy about it."

On Race Strategy at the Championships:

Simpson
"I think you can really overanalyze championship-style racing and so I appreciate that with Mark and Heather we discussed how we were going to attack the next race at the lunch the day before, for each successive round. I don't know if they do it that way with everyone but that seems to work really well for me. I think we also have an appreciation for how special it is to advance, even if you're a favorite and even if you've won before. It's great to make it out the first round, and it's great to make it out of the semifinals. So in order to not jinx that and respect the process, we don't talk about the final until you've made it to the final. I spoke to NBC right after the first round and said I kept reminding myself to respect the process. This is difficult, and everybody wants to make the Olympic Games. My dad is a really intelligent guy and has become a fan of the sport as a result of me being in it, and he always asks me a lot of questions. I remember trying to describe to him that nobody lets you win. It's really hard every single time you win or run a great race. Nobody hands it to you. I think my strategy going into the championships was very much focused on being top three, and I think Mark and Heather were really wise to understand and address the pressure that people did expect me to do really well, and a lot of people were really pulling for me and choosing me to win. Even if you don't investigate people's write-ups bout you, you can't not know that people think that you're coming in as a favorite. [My coaches] addressed that and they really care about telling me how important it is to face that and know it and embrace it and love it, but then also really appreciate how important it is just to be top three. Winning was really exciting and something I wanted out of the race but if I would have been third I would have been just as happy."

Coburn
"For me, the tactics for the prelim are just to not fall. It's a very defensive mindset. In a Diamond League or in a fast race, or in a championship race, I never think about the barriers, I never think about falling, I never think about my shoelaces coming untied. But as Jenny said, you just have to respect the rounds, so honestly all I was thinking in the prelims was 'don't fall'. By the time the final came around I was back to my old mindset of not being scared or intimidated by the negatives and just thinking of the positives that could come. I'm trying to become a better tactical racer with closing well off of a slow race. In a steeplechase race it's especially challenging to feel comfortable running in a pack and coming out of college I wasn't used to running in packs, and in the last three years I had to transition into feeling good without seeing a barrier approaching because I'm behind a wall of women or going over a water jump having to figure out which athlete I'm going to choose to go behind. I've been trying to practice tactical racing and was happy to get to practice it in the final again."

On Their Goals for Rio:

Simpson
"A gold medal at the Olympic Games for any Olympic sport is really the pinnacle of the sporting world. It's not the pinnacle of running or of the women's 1500 meter, it's the pinnacle of athletic achievement in the world. Along the way there are different benchmarks that you dream of and hope for and work for, and the gold medal at the Olympic Games is the superlative."

Jenny Simpson & Emma Coburn

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