He’s already considered the fastest man in the world, and with hopes of winning two more gold medals this week, Alexandria’s Noah Lyles is speeding through the Olympics with exactly the kind of confidence needed to attain the goals he has.
There aren’t many people in the world who can relate, but Andrew Valmon — who used to coach the U.S. Olympic track team, and is the current track and field coach at the University of Maryland — is one who can.
Before he coached the U.S. team in 2012, he was part of two gold medal-winning 4×400 meter relay teams for the States, winning in 1988 and 1992.
“In many cases, it could be four years for nine seconds,” said Valmon, about the training for the 100 meter sprint. “Four years, in my case, was 44 seconds.”
“We talk about gold, silver, bronze, but no one talks about fourth,” said Valmon. “No one talks about just making it to the finals. And so the pressure is immense.”
When asked what it’s like to be on the finish line of the track, knowing you’ve just won an Olympic gold medal, Valmon used a scattershot of words like “history,” “legacy” and “dreams” to describe the emotions you begin to feel.
“The thing about the Olympics is you have to perform on that day, on that said time,” he explained. “There’s no do overs.”
Valmon is in Paris to watch the Olympics now, and is finding it a little more relaxing than he did in 2012, when he was coaching the team, but felt “helpless” about being able to do anything about any runner’s performance.
“You’re not a true spectator, where you could just kind of go back and relax. You’re not a competitor because you’re not running,” he added. “You’re right stuck in the middle trying to balance the two worlds.”
The trip to Paris has also given him a chance to watch Thea LaFond of Dominica win the small island nation’s first ever Olympic gold medal. LaFond is a UMD graduate who now works for Montgomery County Public Schools. This is her third Olympic Games representing the Caribbean island where she was born.
“Thea’s determination and will is second to none,” Valmon said. “Thea is somebody that just from meeting her, the kind of person she is and she’s well balanced. There was no question that Thea was going to take Dominica to the next level and prove that you can be from a small place and still shine.”
“And Terrapin nation is proud that we got a gold medalist,” he added, smiling through the Zoom call.