Team USA on Their Favorite Athletes Growing Up
Every budding Olympian has an idol to look up to. Whether it's the dominance of 28-time Olympic medalist Michael Phelps, or the influence of four-time Olympic gold medalist Serena Williams, the Team USA Olympic and Paralympic athletes each have their own source of inspiration.
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00:00Sue, Bird, Sue and Diana, those are like the ones that I'm always looking up to, even though
00:09I had the pleasure of also playing with them.
00:13But then it's like Lisa Leslie, Dawn Staley, Cheryl Swoops, we had a lot of amazing role
00:20models come through USA Basketball.
00:22I don't think I had anyone to like look up to, I think Gabby Douglas was pretty in my
00:28face when I was, you know, watching the Olympics and whatnot, but I think everyone is an inspiration,
00:35honestly.
00:36Allison Felix is definitely my inspiration when I was younger, kind of growing up, thinking
00:41about wanting to go to the Olympics.
00:43She was someone I really, really looked up to, but she's someone who I think just carries
00:47herself so well and does such a wonderful job representing women in every sport that
00:52goes to the Olympics.
00:53I loved watching Apollo Ohno, because I loved speed skating, and Michael Johnson was fantastic
01:01to watch running.
01:02I think watching him race still brings awe.
01:06I think my favorite Olympian growing up was actually Usain Bolt.
01:09I used to be a sprinter before my accident, and he was my big inspiration.
01:14I definitely was never watching any swimming events unless Michael Phelps was swimming.
01:21Yeah, so Michael Phelps is probably, they just gotta give it to him, he's the man.
01:26The young kids don't know who he is though, it's okay, they don't know Jamal Hill.
01:30I would say recently my favorite Olympian, and she's like my friend too now, is Keri
01:35Walsh-Jennings.
01:36And I looked up to her maybe in the middle of my career, just because her and my other
01:44teammate Keri Miller-Ortiz, both of them, because they redefined what a woman in sport
01:49looks like.
01:50People think your life ends, you have your kids, you can't do anything else, you can't
01:54still compete.
01:55So from her, it was really cool seeing her maintain her notoriety, maintain her athleticism,
02:02and her competitiveness, and still have her children, and still have her business, P1440,
02:07and still be just so nice, and just humble, and able to talk to people.
02:12There's so many amazing female athletes, I got a poster of Mia Hamm on my wall, I thought
02:16she's amazing.
02:17And then tennis got out of the Olympics, I'm a huge Serena Williams fan, and I feel like
02:21she's done so much for women's sports in general, and so that's super exciting.
02:25I love gymnastics, I love track and field, but in swimming, I was always very inspired
02:31by Jessica Hardy.
02:33Michael Phelps sticks out, he won so many times, just dominated really for so long,
02:38and I think as I've gotten older, seeing how hard that actually is to do, and understanding
02:45it more, it's really impressive, and in swimming as well, which is a very difficult sport.
02:51I actually did not have a favorite Olympian growing up, or Paralympian, because I did
02:56not see anyone that looked like me.
02:58And for me, I knew of all these incredible athletes.
03:03I obviously knew, like, Keri Walsh, and Serena Williams, and knew all these incredible athletes,
03:09and I was like, oh my gosh.
03:10But that's not me, I can never be that.
03:13They don't, they have their legs, they can do this.
03:16I didn't have that person that I really connected to, and could aspire to, because you can't
03:23be something that you cannot see.
03:25I really looked up to, well, Anita more recently, she's been in the last two Olympics, but her,
03:30especially throughout my competitive years.
03:33Someone who I also call my teammate, who made a national teammate at an early age, would
03:38probably be Matt Scott.
03:39He's the first Paralympian, I think Athens, if I'm correct.
03:44And I think he was only like 16 at the time, and basically that was right around when I
03:48first started.
03:49So to see him, you know, making a team that early, and while still me competing against
03:55him along that age range, was amazing.
03:59And I just wanted to be that as well, being able to compete at a high level that young.
04:03I watched a lot of beach volleyball, actually, Keri Walsh is an icon to me.
04:09And Gabby Douglas, Allie Raisman, just all those big names out there, I love them.
04:16Actually my favorite Olympian, she's from China, and her name is Jiang Ning.
04:21Same sports, and she's playing badminton.
04:24Towards her end of her career, actually she won the second gold, her Olympics gold, yeah.
04:30I don't think I had one favorite, I think I just remember watching it when I was younger,
04:34and just seeing everyone, and how they inspired so many of my friends and I, and like, to
04:38be in that same position, it feels weird saying it, but we are the potential next Olympian,
04:45so to follow in their footsteps is like a huge honor.