STILLWATER, Okla. — The Olympics are for the world, and sometimes, that world boils down to Oklahoma.
Lance Walker, the executive director of Oklahoma State University’s Human Performance and Nutrition Research Institute, shared his Olympic story with 2 News Oklahoma.
“I spent 15 years in the Dallas metroplex working with a fella by the name of Michael Johnson. Famous Olympian, gold shoes, Michael Johnson,” Walker said.
Walker and Johnson teamed up to train Olympians, and Olympic hopefuls, behind the scenes. Their work focused on some of the underlying factors.
“[Olympians] are doing three things. They’re moving, they’re eating and they’re sleeping,” Walker said.
Walker helped several Olympians over the years.
“Probably what I’m most proud of …. was the folks that came to us that had an Olympic dream,” Walker said.
SEE THE FULL INTERVIEW WITH WALKER
Johnny Quinn comes to Walker’s mind. A football player at the University of North Texas, and later the NFL. His Olympic sights were set on the bobsled. His dream came true at the Sochi Olympics.
“Those are the types of stories that I get excited for, because he had a dream,” Walker said, “He had a dream to be an Olympian, and to leverage his athleticism for a completely different sport to realize an Olympic dream.”
Walker said everyday people can adopt an Olympic mindset.
“There’s a process that they go through,” Walker said, “It’s a consistency process, it’s, we’re gonna have an entirety of a planning process to get to that point. We’re gonna win each day. We’re gonna be consistent with what we do.”
With lots more events on tap. With more medals to be awarded. A parting message from Walker.
“Take in the games for the event, but remember that each of these Olympians has a story behind them,” Walker said.
For some of them, a page of that story was written in Oklahoma.
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