Part 1: Jenny Simpson UNCUT, The First U.S. 1500m Olympic Medalist
Watch Part 2 of the Interview Here!
At the Rio Games, Jenny Simpson became the first U.S. 1500m Olympic medalist when she closed on a field that threw in a 56 second lap from 800m to 1200m in the race.
Simpson finished the race (with an unofficial 800m PR of 1:59!) to earn the bronze medal and nearly kick down world record holder Genzebe Dibaba in the process. Simpson is one of four women to win three or more medals at the World Championships and Olympic Games over 1500m (*There is 1 additional woman who won 3 medals but is a convicted doper). If Simpson earns another medal over her career she will be one of the most decorated 1500m women of all-time.
In this uncut interview with Simpson (who is currently in Paris waiting to race in the Paris Diamond League), she gives us an in-depth look at her 2016 season, including round-by-round analysis in Rio and her lap by lap game plan in the Olympic final. See full breakdown of this interview below:
00:00 — 00:50 - How she feels about becoming first US medalist at 1500m
01:05 — 03:05 - How was the preparation and dealing w/ set backs over the season with a stress reaction
03:05 — 04:50 - Hitting stride at Olympic Trials and then getting sick before Rio, mindset going into the Games with no pressure
04:50 — 06:35 - After two years of medaling at worlds and two years of misfortune (failing to make finals in London 2012 and losing shoe in Beijing 2015 finals), Simpson talks about what it would have meant if she missed the final
06:35 — 08:20 - Simpson explains why the pressure of the Olympics is so much greater when compared to World Championships and why she felt her experiences gave her an edge
08:20 — 11:05 - Making the finals, she talks through her game plan each lap and the anticipation of waiting for Dibaba to take off when the pace was so slow
11:05 — 12:55 - Jenny said to herself with 300m to go “run as fast as you can” after thinking she wasn’t in a good spot with 400m to go. She goes into the thoughts that come to mind when being behind leaders by 3 seconds with 300m to go
12:55 — 13:57 - The moment in the race when Jenny thought “am I going to look back and realize this was my mistake” and when she realized she might kick down Dibaba
14:00 — 16:00 - Explaining the final 100m when chasing Dibaba, being chased by Shannon Rowbury and what was going on behind her
16:00 — 19:08 - The “war cry” and emotions that flushed through when she crossed the finish line and she realized she ran her best race on the right day.
List of multiple time women 1500m medalist:
4 medals - Hassiba Boulmerka (ALG) - 1 Oly gold, 3 WC (2 gold, 1 silver)
3 medals - Gabriela Szabo (ROM) - 2 Oly (silver, bronze), 1 WC gold
3 medals - Maryam Yusuf Jamal (BHR) - 1 Oly silver, 2 WC gold
3 medals - Jennifer Simpson (USA) - 1 Oly bronze, 2 WC (1 gold, 1 silver)
3 medals - **Tatyana Tomashova (RUS) - 1 Oly silver, 2 WC gold
2 medals - Tatyana Kazankina (USR) - 2 Oly gold
2 medals - *Gunhild Hoffmeister (GDR) - 2 Oly silver
2 medals - **Tatyana Dorovskikh (URS) - 2 WC (1 gold, 1 silver)
2 medals - Carla Sacramento (POR) - 2 WC (1 gold, 1 silver)
2 medals - **Regina Jacobs (USA) - 2 WC silver
** tested positive for PEDs during career
* it is known that East German athletes were on doping programs and also publicly talked about that the 1980 Olympics in Moscow may be more accurately be described at the “Chemists’ Games” due to the introduction of testosterone and other drugs that were not able to be tested at the time (also the first documented case of blood doping)