Hi, my name is Kareem Streete-Thompson, I am the associate head coach here at University of Texas at San Antonio.

I grew up in the Cayman Islands, and I was actually born in the US, but I moved to the Cayman Islands before I was even one year old. But I’ve spent my first 17 years in the Cayman Islands. Unbelievable upbringing, and I guess you could say, kind of a happy-go-lucky kid, always out playing in the street or in our neighborhood. But at 11 years old, I was bitten by the track bug, if you will. I watched the 1984 Olympics, and saw Carl Lewis achieve the incredible four gold medal tally. And at that point, I made up my mind that I was going to be an Olympian one day. I was going to be on that stage. And that’s really where my journey started. 

There’s no doubt that you have athletes that are born to do it. There are athletes that are physically more capable than others. But the ones that can combine that workman, blue-collar mentality, that ability to stay level headed, with all the ups and downs that come with training just on a normal, you know, you talk about the typical athlete, there are peaks and valleys. There are days you show up where things are great. There are days you show up, and you feel like garbage. And, on the days you feel like garbage, if you’re not mentally strong, and able to say, “Okay, let me just take what I can out of this,” and keep the train moving on down the track. The ones that can’t handle it, those are the ones that struggle because you have to have a quick short term memory, in terms of the failures, because you are going to fail, there’s no ifs, ands, or buts about it. I mean, we’re not dealing with robots here. We’re dealing with human beings here. So whether it’s stuff that’s going on off the track, stuff that’s going on from a diet standpoint or from a rest standpoint, or from extenuating circumstances, you really have to be able to keep your level-headedness throughout the peaks and valleys.

My mentality was that I was on a mission to be the greatest long jumper in history. And that was my singular goal.

Track and field is a singular sport, and it’s a sport where what you put into it is what you get out. I’d say specifically to the jumping events, you have to be a bit of an exhibitionist. You know, you have six attempts if you make finals, and so on six different occasions, you have to be able to soak up what’s going on, the energy, at the track, in the arena, wherever it is, and you’re basically trying to pull all of that into you in order to produce a result. And so it’s not for the squeamish, it’s definitely not for those that are intimidated by large crowds or anything like that. You have to find a way to use that energy to your advantage. And so at a young age, I loved it. I absolutely loved it. There’s a willingness to fail, there’s a willingness to put yourself out there again, and again, and again. And for me, it gave me much joy to go out there and compete with my peers.

Quint Smits, Longitude fellow, Tilburg University:

A massive thank you to Kareem Streete-Thompson for sharing those really inspiring words.

Everywhere, there are peaks and valleys, whether you are a college student studying artificial intelligence like me, or cognitive science, biology, or philosophy, or whether you are enrolled to be an athlete. I say take it to heart like Kareem shared, and push through those harder days, keep your level-headedness, and train as hard as you can. Who knows, you might just become an Olympian in your field.