Dwight Phillips

Dwight Phillips (born October 1, 1977) is an American former athlete and a four-time world champion in the long jump. Quotes The sport never came as naturally to me as to some of my colleagues, so I understood the importance of being disciplined. I was a late bloomer. I definitely saw the benefit of being fully disciplined from my junior year at college. From this year I paid more attention to my nutrition and my strength work in the weight room, and this year from the age of 17 to 18 it made a big difference. I went from an unknown with a long jump PB of 7.28m, to one of the best athletes in the world with a best of 8.18m. I was aware that there were kids better than me, so to be as good as them I paid attention to detail and I flourished. To deliver my dreams of appearing in the Sydney Olympics I knew I had to be razor sharp focused, start eating right and trust in my coach. All of that helped me make my first Olympic team in Sydney. At the 2000 Olympics I competed purely off emotion and I had very little technical knowhow. So in an effort to be better, I started studying all the great jumpers from Bob Beamon to Ralph Boston and Mike Powell to Carl Lewis, and discovered there was an art to jumping. There were things they were doing consistently that I needed to integrate into my performance, if I wanted longevity in the sport. The US had a great legacy in the long jump and I wanted to maintain that legacy, so I studied like I was a student at school and took the same approach to the long jump as I did completing my degree in broadcast communications. This to me made a huge difference and definitely contributed to my long-term success and longevity. I came up with different drills that I integrated into my training programme for the next decade. I had total body awareness and I was totally prepared in any situation. Becoming a student of the sport helped me understand the sport better than many of my competitors. Hard work beats talent when talent doesn't work hard. To have great performances, I prepared better than anyone in the world. I had a 400m mentality [Phillips came from a 400m background], so I trained like a 400m runner and I think that really helped separate me from the rest of my competitors. I felt I could outwork anybody. I trained with all the greatest sprinters and that really helped elevate my performances. I knew I was powerful and I didn’t think I could lose to anybody in the world. Where I was different is that I could do the same workouts as a 400m runner but then I would bound, lift weights and then go to the pool with an hour work out. I would do that every single day for nearly 14 years. Hard work is the foundation for every athlete – if you don’t have that, you won’t be successful. Words of Wisdom – Dwight Phillips, September 16 2015 You have to make a decision to be as good as you think you can be in your mind, On my fifth jump I kind of tweaked my hamstring. I was winning, and Yago Lamela, from Spain, passed me on the fifth attempt. I made the decision that [even] if I have to rip the hamstring off the bone today, I’m gonna come out victorious. And that’s what I did – I won by 1cm. But that 1cm changed my whole attitude and my whole approach to jumping. I really wanted that world record, I think that it got away from me at the Prefontaine Classic in 2009. I jumped my personal best into a negative 1.2 headwind. It wasn’t meant to happen. But hopefully I can coach somebody to that world record. I want to be a part of it in some capacity! I’m at the point where I dissect everything, I think everybody could have run faster, they could have been more efficient, they could have had better tactics. I just want to have fun and continue to share the greatest sport on this earth. You've Got To Commit, February 16 2016 Just to bring everyone up to date with how I'm feeling, I was obviously disappointed with how I have been jumping at the start of this season. You know, I haven’t competed in two years and when you return to competition, you always have high expectations. Sometimes it goes really well and sometimes it doesn’t go so well. Unfortunately, it hasn’t gone as well as I had anticipated, but this year everything is about preparing for the World Championships and being ready when I get to Moscow. Any time I compete, I expect to win, and when you don’t, you have to go back to the drawing board and see where you went wrong and make the proper adjustments. I wasn’t so nervous at the meets. It’s difficult returning after such a long wait, and having to deal with major Achilles surgery makes it even harder. The guys I am competing against have been preparing all their lives for these meets. In my mind, I felt no matter if was out of the sport four years, I could come back and start winning. That’s just my mentality. I am an optimistic person by nature.  I will turn things around when I need to turn them around. My manager Caroline Feith has been recording all of my jumps and I saw some things I did wrong, just rushing everything, I know I have a few months to prepare for Russia and get my speed and power intact. I am confident I will be ready. The World Championships is definitely the pinnacle of everything for me.  It’s important because I want to make history and become the first American to win five individual World Championships gold medals. Hopefully I can influence some of our younger generation of jumpers so they can jump far as well. It’s been busy on all fronts lately. My two boys are seven and six now. They are my pride and joy, the most important people on the planet and, whenever, I have to leave them it’s difficult. But I know they are cheering me on: ‘Dad’ is the superman, the greatest hero on earth to them. We were talking about superheroes and I asked one of them, ‘Who is your biggest hero?’ He said, ‘Daddy you are. You are my favourite hero.” I felt like, ‘Don’t make me cry.’ I am not a sentimental guy but that right there almost brought tears to my eyes. I have also been doing some corporate videos for some clients and that has been a lot of fun. I am starting another company that will manufacture apparel I am excited about that. Really, I am on the edge internally but outside I have to keep cool. Trust me; I am always on the edge. When you are an athlete, you want to continue to have success. You are always thinking, ‘What can I do next’. To be ready for nationals, I have to get my rhythm back. My technique, I study daily, I have pinpointed things I need to address. I have three or four weeks until the US trials but I have already made the World Championships because I won in Daegu two years ago. The reigning champion gets a bye. However, my goal is to go out and win the nationals though, because it will be my last one; that will give me a lot of momentum going into the World Championships. I will do indoors next year but this is probably my last outdoor season. Now I intend to turn things around. Dwight Phillips: " I will turn things around when I need to turn them around" - IAAF Online Diaries, June 03 2013  I would have liked to have had a better result but, never mind, I enjoyed my last competition and Zurich is an appropriate place to end my career,” reflected Phillips on Thursday night. What will I do after athletics? I live in Atlanta and I have a video production company. We do photography, videography and commercials and I'm really involved in that when I'm not training. We work with recognisable brands in the entertainment and corporate arenas. I do want to spend a lot more time with my boys. There are just a lot of sacrifices you have to make (to be an elite athlete). I also work with The Leap of Faith Community Outreach which is an organisation with the purpose of helping people live in the community. After my injury last year it was a blessing for me to make it to the (World Championships) final in Moscow. It was devastating not going to London for the Olympics. I actually wanted 2012 to be my last year in the sport but after tearing my Achilles, I knew that I wanted to go out competing rather than when I was injured. Due to the fact I tore my Achilles and I knew I had an automatic place for the World Champs this year, I just decided in my mind that I wanted to go out of the sport on my own terms: competing and not injured. What’s kept me going for so long is that I absolutely love track and field. I’ve been doing it since I was eight. A hiatus to his early career came when he was hit by a motorcycle, driven by a friend of his brother, while playing in the street in his home town of Decatur at age 14 and broke both of his legs. My legs were very weak. I guess just overcoming adversity, that's how I've been my entire life. I've accomplished all the major accolades in winning the Olympics and World Championships. The only thing I'm really missing is the World record,” added the ever-smiling Phillips when asked to look back on his career. I’ve had the opportunity to watch the greats like Sebastian Coe, Carl Lewis and Edwin Moses. They really inspired me with their longevity to be the best I could possibly be. Hopefully I’ve inspired many people too, who can follow in my footsteps. Hopefully, I left a great legacy and will be remembered like other big long jumpers like Carl Lewis. Goodbye Dwight, and thank you, September 1 2013 I'm  a very positive person, LIfe for me is about being happy and smiling. I think I just enjoy  winning and I know how to deal with losing. Some people can't fathom losing. It kind of crushes them when they do. Me -- I embrace defeat just as I do victory. Obviously you're mad. You're angry at yourself. But then -- it's only track and field. It's only a track meet. There are so many more important things in life than athletics, and I try to keep things in perspective. Life is precious. You only live one time. I think you should live it with a smile. It's not how you respond in victory, It's how you respond in defeat. I came into this competition -- I wasn't even picked to make the final. When it comes to long jump, over the last decade, I think it's about longevity -- if you compete over numerous years, And over the last decade, I've held it down for the USA. I've done my best to represent us well with integrity. I'm so grateful that I can even be mentioned [along] with those great athletes. I admire them all so much. Dwight Phillips' "1111" destiny, September 2 2011 External Links Category:Olympic gold medalists Category:1977 births Category:1970s Category:Track and field athletes Category:Living people