Athlete, Female Athlete Laura Wilkinson Athlete, Female Athlete Laura Wilkinson

42. Redefining Success with Olympic Hurdler Sarah Wells

This week, Laura welcomes Olympic hurdler, Sarah Wells, to the podcast. Once an athlete who was cut from every high school team she tried out for, Sarah discovered track and field and went on to become an Olympic semi-finalist and Pan Am Games silver medalist in the 400m hurdles, building a reputation for overcoming challenges and achieving the ‘impossible’ along the way.  She is also the Founder of the Believe Initiative, where she now uses her story to help youth understand the importance of being resilient and the power of believing in themselves, and to help corporations build more resilient teams.

Sarah begins by recounting how she got her unique start in sports, the support networks which have sustained her throughout, her rapid development in the hurdles, and both working and learning through her injuries. She also shares her discovery of ‘her word’, her Olympics Trials and Games experience, managing her stress fractures, and preparing to qualify for Rio 2016. Sarah concludes the conversation by discussing her Believe Initiative, how to get involved in it, her retirement from sports, and her perspective and guide to redefining success. A gifted speaker with a truly inspiring story, Sarah Wells has learned so much from her journey which is so very pertinent to life both within and beyond the sporting arena, and she shares it all here today.


Episode Highlights:

·       Sarah’s start in sports

·       Her support networks

·       Sarah’s rapid development in hurdles

·       Working and learning through her femur injury

·       Finding her word ‘Believe’

·       Returning from her injury

·       Her Olympics Trials and Games experience

·       Managing her recurring stress fractures

·       Preparing to qualify for Rio 2016

·       The Believe Initiative and how to get involved

·       Retiring from sport

·       Sarah’s perspective and exercise regarding redefining success

 

Quotes:

“At that point I hadn't defined myself by sport and I also had some really amazing siblings.”

“You go from zero to competing internationally in, like, eight months.”

“When someone else says it, you know, you're instantly a bit more likely to believe it.”

“I would almost, like, live and die by how my leg felt that morning.”

“I just would get so mentally defeated and, like, halfway through an interval I would just start walking.”

“In the most important races in my life, when the gun goes off, I hear nothing. I just lock into completing what I need to do.”

“It hurts so much that I'm scared, tomorrow when I run, it could break in half.”

“It's a hard line to figure out when to push and when to ease off.”

sarah wells_quote.png

“Success isn't linear, it’s this roller coaster ride of emotions.”

“Rest would have been very productive in that moment.”

“I miss qualifying by half a second.”

“Clearly you don't build self-belief through achievements, you build it through action.”

“It helps people everywhere take a passion they have with a problem they want solve, and they use that passion to solve that problem, and they build self-belief through action.”

“While hard work doesn't always lead to success, being resilient will always lead to another opportunity for it.”

“Far more people are inspired by the time where I didn't make the Olympics over the time where I did.”

“If you're able to continuously embody and act from a place of those powerful character traits that lead to success, well then, even in a moment where things don't work out, you're going to be able to rely on those things and find your next opportunity for success.”

 

Links:

5 Smart Strategies to Confidence

Conquer Your Fear in 5 Days

Laura’s Social Media:

Laura's Instagram

Laura's Facebook

Connect with Sarah:

Sarah's Website

Believe Initiative

The Believe Leadership Course

Redefining Success

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39. Chasing dreams and making history with Olympic runner Dom Scott

South African Olympic runner, Dom Scott, joins Laura today for a truly inspiring conversation about persevering and making tough decisions to make your dreams a reality. Born in Cape Town, Dom’s journey to the Olympics meant moving away from her family at a young age to access the training and opportunities offered elsewhere, which resulted in multiple NCAA titles, 12 All-American honors, and, of course, her appearance at the Rio Olympics. Today, Dom takes some time out from her training for the Tokyo Olympics to share her story and the lessons it has to offer.

She begins by sharing some details of growing up in Cape Town, her start in sports, particularly running, and the difficult decision to leave home to attend a high school with a track team. Dom also discusses the road that took her to the University of Arkansas, her career there, her year of fairy tale moments, and her Rio experience. She concludes by delving into the lessons she has learned throughout her career, how COVID has affected her and her training, what keeps her going through the hard times, and the Dom Squad. The overriding themes of following your dream and cherishing support from family, friends, and faith run through Dom’s journey, and offer inspiration for us all in how we can approach our own lives.

 

Episode Highlights:

·       Dom’s upbringing in Cape Town and her start in running

·       Netball

·       Living away from home to go to a high school with a track team

·       Her Olympic dream and her parents’ support

·       Going to the University of Arkansas

·       Her college experience

·       The differences between indoor/outdoor track and cross country

·       How she improved so much over her college career

·       Dom’s year of fairytale moments

·       Her Rio Olympic experience and the process involved in getting there

·       What helped Dom through her doubts and anxiety leading up to Rio

·       What Dom has learned in terms of her identity

·       Her current definition of success

·       How COVID has impacted her and her preparation for Tokyo

·       What keeps Dom going through the hard times

·       The Dom Squad

 

Quotes:

“I grew up playing every sport.”

“I guess as a dreamer and the determined person that I am, as a 12 year old, that just seemed like something that was worth fighting for and worth making hard decisions for.”

“Selflessly…she told me to go and to follow my dreams, follow my heart, and if she hadn’t done that, I think I probably would have pulled the plug on the whole thing.”

Dom Scott Quote.png

“College, you’ve got to remember, everyone is away from home.”

“Very quickly, I started changing the way I was talking…and looking back at it, I’m so sad that I did that.”

“Don’t change who you are to blend in and be like everybody else…you want to stand up and rise above that.”

“My freshman year was a big learning curve.”

“I just tried to start observing.”

“Dress for the job you want, not the job you have.”

“Your 10 points just secured the win for the Lady Razorbacks.”

“That sermon gave me so much peace.”

“You earned your spot on that start line.”

“I had taken the necessary steps to make my dream a reality.”

“At the time, I was embarrassed to say I’d come 21st, which is ridiculous!”

“It’s not about the place, it’s about how you feel about what you did.”

“Being an Olympian and having competed in the Olympics is not something that made me a better person, or, like, changed my life significantly either…it wasn’t something I wanted to be branded as.”

“If you are searching for your identity in anything other than Christ…it’s never going to fulfill you, it’s never going to satisfy you, and you’re always going to be left wanting more.”

“I am…more than Dom Scott, the athlete.”

“I really feel like surrounding myself with people that love me and support me – that’s what helps me through those really horrible days.”



Links:

5 Smart Strategies to Confidence

Conquer Your Fear in 5 Days

 

Laura’s Social Media:

Laura's Instagram

 Laura's Facebook page

Connect with Dom:

Dom's homepage

Dom on Instagram

Dom on Facebook

Dom on Twitter

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37. Learning to run free with World Champion Chanelle Price

World Champion runner, Chanelle Price, joins Laura today to share her remarkable story and the lessons she has learned through it all. A supremely talented elite athlete, Chanelle’s many achievements include competing at the 2007 USA Outdoor Championships at the age of 16, running the second fastest 800m of all time by a high school female which qualified her for the Olympic Trials when she was 17, and becoming the 2014 World IAAF Indoor Champion – the first American woman to ever win 800m gold at an indoor or outdoor world championship. Along with these great successes, Chanelle has experienced some devastating low points in her career, and she courageously discusses them all here today.

She begins by sharing how she came to find her way into track, her early successes, her struggles with insecurity, and the dark days of her time at college. Chanelle then provides a highly personal account of the factors that led her to contemplate suicide, and how beginning her journey with Christianity pulled her through that tragic time. She also discusses the many challenges she still had to face throughout this journey, the difference between her Olympic Trials experiences, and training for Tokyo during COVID. She draws the conversation to a close by highlighting the importance of maintaining a healthy relationship with sport, surrounding yourself with the right supportive people, her current definition of success, and the crucial role her ‘why’ plays in keeping her motivated and moving forward. Chanelle holds nothing back as she recounts the shining mountain peaks and dark, dark valleys she has encountered in her fascinating journey, and how these have helped her to become the woman she is today - an individual overflowing with faith, strength, character, and commitment, who undoubtedly ‘brings a smile to God’s face’.

 

Episode Highlights:

·       How Chanelle found her way into track

·       Her early success

·       Chanelle’s struggles with insecurity

·       Her college experience

·       Seeking a sponsorship deal

·       Chanelle’s contemplation of suicide

·       Her journey with Christianity

·       Drifting away from and returning to God

·       The many challenges Chanelle has worked through

·       Moving to train in Eugene, Oregon

·       Training for Tokyo during COVID

·       Chanelle’s Olympic Trials experiences

·       The importance of maintaining a healthy relationship with sport and surrounding yourself with supportive people

·       Her current definition of success

·       Chanelle’s ‘why’

 

Quotes:

“I just didn’t really find track fun. It felt more like punishment.”

“Once I started that singular focus on track once I got to high school, you know, it really paid off.”

chanelle price_quote.png

“It was definitely the success that got me to like it.”

“That is where my sense of identity came from was my achievement on the track.”

“I don’t know who I am if I’m not Chanelle Price the track star.”

“It was like a 100 pound weight on my shoulders every time I went to race.”

“Behind closed doors, I was really, really, really struggling.”

“Chase after Me like you chase after track.”

“Your worth is not based off of how you perform out there on the track.”

“To whom much is given, much is required.”

“I was just a completely different person on the track.” 

“You know, God, I’m going to come back to You.”

“The past 4 years have been the hardest years of my life…He answered, but it just wasn’t really what I expected.”

“I miss being that desperate for Him.”

“It was a very humbling experience.”

“God, I don’t know what You’re doing, but I’m about to break here…I don’t know if I can take this.”

“Every other month I said I was going to quit.”

“Maybe He’s telling me it’s time to move on.”

“I knew that this extra year was definitely a blessing in disguise for me.”

“Honestly, I considered retirement after that.”

“The woman that you have become through this journey is worth it.”

“I’m not thinking about anything else besides using my gift, and for me that’s when things seem to fall into place.”

“Some pressure is good, don’t get me wrong, but it shouldn’t get you to the point of suicide like it has for me in the past…that is not a healthy relationship with sport.”

“This is what you do. It’s not who you are.”

“The person that we become along the way - I think that’s what brings a smile to God’s face.”

“The sole thing that kept me going was my ‘why’.”

“Don’t sacrifice the gift.”

“There is always hope beyond what is happening in front us right now.”

 

Links:

5 Smart Strategies to Confidence

Conquer Your Fear in 5 Days

Pursuit of Gold on Instagram

Laura’s Social Media:

Instagram:   Laura's Instagram

Facebook:   Laura's Facebook page

Connect with Chanelle:

Chanelle's Instagram

Chanelle's Twitter

Chanelle's Facebook

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23. When the beautiful Olympic moment is not what you expected with Abbey and Jacob Cooper

Laura’s guests on the podcast today are Olympic runner, Abbey Cooper, and her sport psychologist husband, Jacob. Abbey’s impressive college career includes being seven-time national champion, 16-time Ivy League champion and 12-time All-American. In 2012, she became the first Dartmouth woman to win a national title, and in 2013 she became the first Ivy League student-athlete to win the cross-country title. Currently running for New Balance and pursuing the Tokyo Olympics, Abbey is perhaps best known for her inspiring performance at the 2016 Rio Olympics, which she describes in full here today. Highly talented in his own right, Jacob was a scholarship athlete and four-year starter on the football team at Taylor University. This experience led to his interest in the field of sport psychology, and currently, he is the Director of Sport Psychology Services at Appalachian State University and a member of the Mental Health Registry of the USOPC.

Their conversation with Laura today explores not only their story in sport and in their personal relationship, but also of their unwavering faith, and the role that God plays in their lives. Along the way, they touch on Abbey’s experience at Dartmouth and the beginning of her faith journey, God’s grace in her life, His transformation of Jacob’s heart, and how He has taught them lessons about hardship, suffering, and what really matters through His ministry to them. Of course, Abbey’s historic and inspiring performance at the 2016 Olympics is recounted from both of their perspectives, and they also share details of their unique dynamic, what the past four years have been like, what they’ve been working on during the pandemic, and the dream that they have for helping other athletes. Having been through so much, and having faced it all together, supported by the power of their faith, Abbey and Jacob have many lessons to teach about making meaning out of experiences, and they do precisely that here today with extraordinary grace, humility, and sincerity.

 

Episode Highlights:

·       Abbey’s experience at Dartmouth

·       The beginning of her faith journey and her transitional moment

·       God’s grace in her life

·       Jacob’s athletic experience

·       God’s transformation of his heart

·       Jacob’s transition into sports psychology

·       How Abbey and Jacob’s relationship started and built

·       Abbey’s 2016 Olympic experience, and how God prepared her for the moment

·       Jacob’s perspective of it

·       God shifting Abbey’s perspective on the meaning of hardship

·       What really matters

·       How God ministers back to us

·       What their past four years have been like

·       The dynamic between Abbey and Jacob

·       What they’ve worked on during the pandemic and Tokyo Games postponement

·       Understanding the purpose of suffering

·       The importance of acknowledging grief

·       The unique fulfillment of inspiring and lifting other people up

·       Jacob and Abbey’s dream to help other athletes rehabilitate their relationship with sport

·       runningwithheart.org (coming soon)

 

Quotes:

“God had other plans.”

“I wouldn’t go back and change it, because it really brought me to the end of myself, and introduced me to this need for the Lord in my life.”

“It was the peace He gave you inside.”

“It was definitely a pretty humbling and arduous path from there that God really used to kind of transform my life.”

“It was this gift to glorify Him.”

“Luckily, God surrounded me with great friends, coaching, and mentors that helped me make meaning of my experience.”

“It was the fastest mile of my life, and probably the slowest of Abbey’s.”

“It was like God’s hand was over the whole thing.”

“I know that I’m here for a reason, but none of this makes sense.”

“That is so unnatural to me to respond in a way that isn’t selfish that I am so sure that it was just the Holy Spirit.”

“Abbey tried to get up like two or three times and run, and just kind of collapsed.”

“It was one of the most memorable and uplifting stories of the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio.”

“Now to him who is able.”

The Pursuit of Gold Podcast Promo (66).png

“When I crossed the finish line, I was already so amazed by what God had done.”

“Lord, bless me with wisdom, bless me with humility, and bless me with a godly wife someday…He gave me all three combined into one.”

“God’s given me a lot of hardship to walk through, and so I’ve picked up a few things along the way about what’s helped me.”

“I hope and pray athletes will feel less alone in their struggles.”

 

Links:

Mental Training:   https://www.laurawilkinson.com/learn 


Laura’s Social Media:

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lala_the_diver  

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TheLauraWilkinson 

 
Connect with Abbey and Jacob:

Running With Heart homepage:   https://www.runningwithheart.org/

Abbey’s instagram:   https://www.instagram.com/abbey_dags/ 

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22. Training and competing with no regrets with World's Greatest Athlete Trey Hardee

The world’s greatest athlete, Trey Hardee, is Laura’s special guest on the podcast today.

Trey’s many accomplishments as a decathlete include being the 2005 NCAA Outdoor champion, the 2006 NCAA Division I Men's Indoor Field Athlete of the Year, and the 2010 World Indoor heptathlon silver medalist. He is also a two-time Olympian, winning silver in London, and is only the third decathlete to ever win back-to-back World Championships. 

Today, Trey shares his journey all the way from his beginnings in sport to what he is busy with these days in retirement, detailing the many highs and lows along the way. In addition to discussing mentors, injuries, and coming up short in competition, he offers his thoughts on encouraging children in sports, his Olympic competitions, adopting a professional mindset, and being a commentator at the Rio Olympics. Woven throughout is his strongly held belief in having no regrets in sport or in life. If you are in need of a ‘kick in the butt’ to pursue your dreams, Trey’s inspirational story and sage advice, combined with the humility and humor with which he shares them, are precisely what you need to listen to here today.

 

Episode Highlights:

·       Trey’s start in sports and athletics

·       His motivation to start pole vaulting

·       Children and sports

·       A walk through of a jump and what it feels like

·       His college experience and his start in the decathlon

·       Trey’s transition from college to pro

·       His first Olympic experience and its impact on him

·       The power of a professional mindset

·       Training for the decathlon

·       His second Olympics

·       The injuries he suffered in the years after the London Olympics

·       Being a commentator at the Rio Games

·       Having no regrets and being personally accountable

·       His comeback in 2017

·       Trey’s retirement and what he’s up to these days

 

Quotes:

 “Sports became this after school daycare for me…it just became this way of life.”

“Basketball was the thing that I loved.”

“I’m going to show this idiot coach, like, how good of a pole vaulter I can be, and be the best doggone pole vaulter that’s ever been at this school.”

“It is a hard hurdle to get over to transition into internal motivation, the real ‘why’ of why you’re out there.”

“Do you want your kid to be good at sports, or do you want them to be happy and full of joy and contentment.”

“Genuinely, it’s one of the most deadly sports in the world in terms of participation and catastrophic incidents…people do pass away, have permanent brain injury.”

“There’s no feeling quite like it really in any other sport that I’ve tried or done.”

“Really good in a lot of things, but not great at anything, that’s kind of where decathletes fall.”

“The moment and everything that went along with it, I was, mentally, so unprepared for, that it just swallowed me up.”

“If I really wanted to be good, and take the next step, kind of, stand on the medal stand, I needed to professionalize this, both from the preparation side, but the mental side as well.”

“Coming up short when you’re giving your best can make you feel terrible.”

The Pursuit of Gold Podcast Promo (63).png

“It is far worse to live with regret than it is to put yourself out there and fail.”

“It became a beautiful thing for me to fail, and fail gloriously, because you learn so much from it.”

“Regret nothing, let’s go for it.”

“It was time to start being a dad and being, you know, a real family.”

“I’m still…trying as many hats on as I can to find that next thing that I’m passionate about.”

“It’s really important to me that I’m around and I’m available and, kind of, flexible to be a dad, all day, 24/7, and not out of commission too much.”

“Don’t be afraid to put it all out there. There’s worse things in the world but non more difficult to deal with than living with regret.”

 

Links:

Mental Training:   https://www.laurawilkinson.com/learn 


Laura’s Social Media:

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lala_the_diver 

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TheLauraWilkinson


Connect with Trey:

Website:   http://www.treyhardee.com/

YouTube:   https://www.youtube.com/user/hardeetrey

Instagram:   https://www.instagram.com/treyhardee/

Twitter:   https://twitter.com/treyhardee 

Facebook:   https://www.facebook.com/treyhardee

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21. Make each day better than your last with shot put gold medalist Michelle Carter

Olympic shot put gold medalist, Michelle Carter, is Laura’s very special guest on the podcast today. Michelle is a three-time Olympian and a World Championship gold medalist who has excelled at the national and international level over the past two decades. In addition to capturing eight Texas State U.I.L. titles in shot put and discus as well as two national girls’ shot put records and the Texas state record in discus, Michelle’s gold medal winning performance in the shot put at the 2016 Olympics made her the first United States female athlete to win the event since the women’s competition began in 1948. Michelle is also an outspoken advocate for females in sport which becomes readily apparent as she shares her remarkable story with Laura here today.

Michelle details her career in sport from its very beginning through to current day, touching upon her ‘Coach Daddy’s’ role in it, her experiences in high school, college and the Olympics, and how her mindset was developed and impacts her performance, along the way. She also discusses drug use in her sport, being on the pro circuit, dealing with illness and injury, and her tremendous faith, including how God ‘shows up’. She finishes up the conversation with an update on her career these days, how COVID has affected it, and the various initiatives that she has started to help girls in sport. Michelle Carter is undeniably an elite athlete whose achievements are utterly spectacular, and, as you will hear today, she is so much more. In her mindset, her confidence, her faith, her ethics, and her passion, she is a role model not only to other athletes, but to absolutely every one of us.

 

Episode Highlights:

·       Michelle’s start in sports and her journey to shot put

·       Her dad’s track and football career and his role as ‘Coach Daddy’

·       Michelle’s high school and college experience

·       Her Olympic experiences and how they all differed for her

·       Her mindset and how it was developed

·       Handling the build up to, and atmosphere at, the Olympics

·       Dealing with drug use in track and field

·       The pro circuit

·       Dealing with an injury in the build up to 2016 Olympics

·       A throw by throw account of her Olympic gold medal performance

·       How God ‘shows up’

·       Her career since the 2016 Olympics

·       How COVID has impacted her

·       Michelle’s ‘You Throw Girl Sports Confidence Camp’

·       Her ‘One Golden Shot’ non-profit

 

Quotes:

“I didn’t look at it as if I always had to win. I just knew I had to do better than I did last time.”

“I wanted to meet the expectations that I had for myself.”

 “It was like I always kind of expect something to go wrong, and to be ready to kind of face that challenge.”

“I didn’t want my first Olympic…experience to be horrible, and I did truly feel like I was not ready.”

“That year really proved to myself that I knew that I had what it takes to be successful.”

“I didn’t see myself as one of the world’s greatest athletes…I was just so in awe.”

“I didn’t want to put any extra pressure just because it was the Olympics…I just have to go out there and compete to the best of my abilities.”

“I had pretty much just stayed off social media from the time I got to the Olympic Village until after I competed because I had to protect my energy.”

“I was actually diagnosed with Hashimoto’s in 2010, so I knew that 2012 wasn’t going to be easy.”

“All I control is me…I pride myself on being a clean athlete…what’s done in the dark will come to light.”

“I want to beat the dirtiest person on their best day with my clean self being ready on that day…I’m going to beat you while you’re cheating.”

“Being a part of one of the world’s greatest teams, Team USA, we have all the medical things you ever need or want. “

“I’m having these conversations in my head to keep myself balanced.”

“Lord, listen, this is it. I only have one more throw. If You said that I could win, you better show up right now, because this is it.”

“What I had worked on showed up.”

“I know she has the ability to beat me. The question is, like, can she meet the challenge?”

“Whatever you want to do is possible.”

“I know now why He did it that way. It was to humble me and to reach so many more people and change their lives…that’s just such a God thing.”

“He believed in me when I didn’t quite believe in myself.”

“I know that I can still do better.”

“You can be me and better.”

“I feel like once you’re confident in who you are outside of your skills, add your skills on top of your confidence just in who you are, you become so powerful.”

“You are so passionate about young girls and helping young girls. I love your heart.”

 

Links:

Mental Training:   https://www.laurawilkinson.com/learn 

Laura’s Social Media:

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lala_the_diver 

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TheLauraWilkinson

Connect with Michelle:

Website:   https://www.shotdiva.com/

‘You Throw Girl’:   https://www.shotdiva.com/you-throw-girl

Her non-profit One Golden Shot:   https://www.shotdiva.com/onegoldenshot

Instagram:   https://www.instagram.com/ShotDiva/

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18. When your purpose becomes greater than your goal with Chaunte Lowe

Olympic high jumper, and Laura’s newly declared BFF, Chaunte Lowe, is her very special guest on the podcast this week. Chaunte is a 4-time Olympian, 3-Time World Championship medalist, and 12 times US National Champion, who is always a crowd favorite with her impossibly defined abs, dramatic dance moves, and occasional backflips. She is also a mother of 3 and a breast cancer survivor who is currently training for an opportunity to compete in her 5th Olympic Games in Tokyo 2021. Hers is a story of determination, perseverance and strength that you do not want to miss.

In today’s episode, Chaunte shares this story of her personal life and career as they intertwine from childhood to today. Along the way, she discusses her childhood difficulties, the resilience she developed, her various Olympic experiences, including the remarkable story behind her Bronze medal, and the incredibly moving and inspiring account of her battle with breast cancer. She and Laura also talk about coming out of retirement, preparing for the coming Olympics, and the challenges of doing so with all the changes that the current pandemic presents. Woven throughout their conversation is the importance of Chaunte’s faith, the powerful motivators which keep her going, and the sheer strength that she possesses, not just physically, but mentally, emotionally and spiritually as well. As you listen in today, you will discover that Chaunte Lowe is, indeed, an ‘unstoppable force who has a purpose greater than her goals’, and is truly an inspiration to all.

 

Episode Highlights:

 

·       Chaunte’s background and how she got into high jumping

·       Her childhood difficulties and how she worked through them

·       Chaunte’s high school and college careers

·       The role her faith plays

·       Her journey to the Olympics

·       Chaunte’s experience at the Athens Olympics

·       Becoming a professional athlete

·       The story of her Beijing Olympics, receiving her medal, and her feelings about it all

·       Chaunte’s battle with breast cancer and the importance of knowing your body

·       Her retirement

·       The training she is doing now

·       Laura and Chaunte’s experiences with their children learning at home

·       What the next year looks like for Chaunte

·       What keeps her motivated

 

Quotes:

“We never had a lot, but we were always happy.”

“No matter where I was or how dire the situation was in my life, I would always be able to find a home within the church.”

“Something about the high jump was calling me to it, and I believe that now to be God putting me on my right path.”

“The day that I stepped onto campus, there was a plan. I was focused on executing the plan.”

“He told me to think beyond athletics.”

“I kept my integrity intact.”

“The advancement in testing technology caught some things that weren’t initially caught in 2004.”

“I’m a firm believer that everything happens for a reason in the right time.”

“I was so confident that it wasn’t breast cancer, that I brought my kids to the appointment to get the results.”

The Pursuit of Gold Podcast Promo (54).png

“Throughout that whole process, and with the strength of God, because I couldn’t have done it on my own, I decided to train.”

“I wouldn’t have made it to my 40th birthday, that’s how dire it was.”

“As athletes, we know our body.”

“I’m figuring out ways to have my own…series of meets.”

“I want my daughters to grow up in a breast cancer free world, and so that’s what I’m doing it for.”

“That’s when you change the world.”

 

Links:

Mental Training:   https://www.laurawilkinson.com/learn 


Laura’s Social Media:

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lala_the_diver 

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TheLauraWilkinson

 

Connect with Chaunte:

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