King
04-22-2007, 10:21 AM
Source: www.telegraph.co.uk (http://www.telegraph.co.uk)
Published: February 17, 2006
By Sue Mott
The X-Man cometh, and he is a bit tired. He has just flown into Birmingham, the second-fastest 200 m runner in history, but he is not firing with adrenalin at this precise moment. He is 21, jet-lagged and had to leave his girlfriend on Valentine's Day. All in all things could be better, except the predictions. The predictions are fine. The predictions are that the United States has just uncovered the next best thing since Jesse Owens.
This is Xavier Carter. He is 6ft 3in, 170 lbs and in July last year he stunned the athletics world by running the 200 metres in Lausanne in a time of 19.63 secs. Only one man has ever run faster - 19.32 sec - and that was Michael Johnson, in his legendary performance at the Atlanta Olympics in golden shoes. Carter had only just turned professional and made up his mind that he wanted to turn professional as an athlete as opposed to an American footballer. He was known to be a fledgling superman at both.
But a couple of things decided it. One was his performance at the United States national collegiate championships last summer when he became the first man since Owens to win four titles. And another thing, he wants to be an icon, a global superstar, a crushing world beater. If an eye-watering deal with Nike also nudged him in the direction of track and field, he doesn't say so. In fact, he doesn't say much. Not all at once. He is short and sharp in conversation like his sprinting distances, but he is not rude. He smiles, he pulls his (diamond loaded) ears, he laughs, he rubs his eyes. He just needs sleep. He seems a fine boy and somewhere in staccato answers lie the jigsaw pieces of his remarkable story.
"Growing up I wasn't into athletics. I only did athletics to get in shape for the football. Then I became in love with it. Dad got me involved with the sports from a very young age. He got me in the police athletic little league."
How old were you?
"'Bout nine."
Did you realise you were faster than everyone else?
"No, because when I started I was behind everyone else."
What made you stick at it?
"Because I didn't like losing. I'd lose my temper. Go off on my own. Sit in the car. My dad would calm me down. Tell me to keep at it. He tell me: 'One day you'll be the best'."
These dialogues with his patient father were taking place in the Palm Bay area of Florida, not far from Orlando where Xavier lived with his parents, Ken and Michelle, two younger sisters and a little brother. He lived near Disney World.
"I went a few times on school trips. By the time I was a teenager, I didn't want to see it any more." There are only so many times you can ride around in a tea cup.
"I was an active kid. I got into trouble doing boy things."
Like what?
"Throwing lizards at the girls at school and stuff."
What else did you do as a boy?
"I liked good music. Bikes. We weren't a rich family. It was just a regular neighbourhood. You had your goods and your bads. I felt safe wherever I went. My mom worked as a claims investigator for a state insurance scheme. It was a full-time job so I looked after myself until she came home to take me for practice."
Who were your heroes?
"Michael Jordan. I played basketball throughout high school."
Who else?
"My dad."
His dad, Ken Carter, a former schoolboy linebacker and now a computer engineer, let his eldest boy make up his own mind when it came to the crunch decision last year. In the end, it wasn't that hard. "It was one of my dreams growing up to be an Olympic champion. I thought: if I didn't try to be an athlete how was I going to conquer my dream?"
Have you met Michael Johnson?
"Yeah, I met him."
What did he say? Lay off my record?
"Nah, he just said his record was out there to be broken. But he probably thinks nobody can."
Why you?
"I feel anything is possible. If he did it, why can't I?"
Good question. Judy Garland as Dorothy asked the same thing, only her dream was over the rainbow. This one seems founded on solid earth, or at least, track. The moment he won nine races in three days to win the 100 m, 400 m, 4 x 100 m relay and 4 x 400 m relay at the NCAAs to put him up there with Jesse Owens, the question rang all the more loudly.
Did you study the Jesse Owens story in school?
"Yeah."
Did it strike you that athletics is in a very different place these days because he ended his days in poverty, and you're going to make a fortune?
"I hope so."
What's your ambition this year?
(Promptly) "Just becoming No 1 in the world."
In what?
"Probably specialize in the 200. I don't know yet. It depends.
Anything else?
"Win the World Games."
You're up against tough people.
"Mm-mm."
The official IAAF website lists Carter as ranked 22nd in the 100 m, fourth in the 200 m and 16th in the 400 m, if anyone cares to check. Carter himself does not care to check.
"I don't really know rankings. It doesn't matter to me at this point. I just focus and think about what I got to do in my race."
What do you think your body's capable of in the 100 m?
"My best time is, ah, I think it's 10.1. [Close, it is 10.09]. But my start's horrible."
Why?
"I dunno. It's always been like that. I can't get out fast enough. I'm working on it. I think I can go under 10."
Carter's time today is not relevant. He is making his one and only indoor appearance this year at the Norwich Union Grand Prix at the National Indoor Arena, Birmingham, in the 400 m. He doesn't know all of his opponents. In fact, he only knows one of them.
Do you have to know them or are they just bodies to overtake?
"I don't have to know them."
Track and field has had a very traumatic recent history: the Balco scandal, Justin Gatlin testing positive, Tim Montgomery disgraced. Do you worry that people will lump you in with others accused of cheating?
"Not really because I know that I'm clean."
That's what they all say. What can you do to prove it?
"Not test positive. You can run fast without taking drugs. You just got to be focused and determined."
You said you wanted to be an icon for the sport. It's a big claim. Do you regret saying it?
"Not really."
Who would you call the icons in American culture?
"Michael Jordan, he's one. Brad Pitt."
What about Bob Dylan?
"Yeah, or Jay-Z."
So you'd be in huge company. Does that put pressure on you?
"I like a challenge."
As the Beijing Olympics will be next year, are you looking forward to the athletes village?
"Yeah."
Who do you most want to meet?
"Um, probably Serena Williams."
What would you say to her?
"Will you marry me?" he grinned.
Do you know any British athletes?
"I don't know too many."
Heard of David Beckham?
"Yeah, I know of David Beckham."
You have tattoos in common. How many do you have?
"Twelve, I believe."
Saying what?
"Saying different things. Some are biblical scriptures, some have my initials. They're words of wisdom and motivation. Things like: 'No weapon formed against me shall prosper'."
Do they serve as inspiration?
"Yeah."
It's brave because they hurt a good deal.
"Yeah, but I think it gets addictive. Probably when I get back to the States, I'll get more."
Carter is still a student, in theory. He was studying Sports Medicine at Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge until his athletic career intruded, but he still lives there with his girlfriend, Yannika, (not yet enshrined in his tattoo roster) and dog, Dollar. He wants to finish his degree and considers the possibility of launching a sports medicine clinic one day.
How would you describe yourself?
"Depending who I'm around. My friends would probably say I was a clown."
You come over as quite shy.
"Yeah sometimes."
Has all the attention come as rather a shock?
"I was always kind of shy when it came to attention. When I was playing football [he played wide receiver for LSU] and people came up to me in the street, I'd be real shy about it."
You may have chosen the wrong sport in that case, an individual sport of global reach.
"Yeah, but I'll have to cope with it. Accept it."
It might be worth letting your prankster side creep out from time to time. Maybe smuggle a few lizards on the start line.
"Yeah, but people would get mad. I'm trying to raise the bar for athletics in America, so it's like the way it is over here in Britain. I've just got to keep a good image, stay clean and perform."
At the end of your career, what do you want to look back and say the X-Man achieved?
"I want to be remembered as doing things people thought were impossible. To make it hard for the up-and-coming runners to ever break the records I set."
Four gold medals at the next Olympics?
"I'm not aiming for that the first time around. Maybe just the 100 m, the 200 m and a relay. Or the 200 m, the 400 m and a relay. But by London 2012 maybe I'll be going for the same as the NCAAs. Two single titles and two relays."
That would make you one of the greatest athletes of all time.
"Yeah."
Then retire?
"Yeah, retire on top."
Then what? Open your clinic or open a bottle of beer and relax at last?
"Both."
Published: February 17, 2006
By Sue Mott
The X-Man cometh, and he is a bit tired. He has just flown into Birmingham, the second-fastest 200 m runner in history, but he is not firing with adrenalin at this precise moment. He is 21, jet-lagged and had to leave his girlfriend on Valentine's Day. All in all things could be better, except the predictions. The predictions are fine. The predictions are that the United States has just uncovered the next best thing since Jesse Owens.
This is Xavier Carter. He is 6ft 3in, 170 lbs and in July last year he stunned the athletics world by running the 200 metres in Lausanne in a time of 19.63 secs. Only one man has ever run faster - 19.32 sec - and that was Michael Johnson, in his legendary performance at the Atlanta Olympics in golden shoes. Carter had only just turned professional and made up his mind that he wanted to turn professional as an athlete as opposed to an American footballer. He was known to be a fledgling superman at both.
But a couple of things decided it. One was his performance at the United States national collegiate championships last summer when he became the first man since Owens to win four titles. And another thing, he wants to be an icon, a global superstar, a crushing world beater. If an eye-watering deal with Nike also nudged him in the direction of track and field, he doesn't say so. In fact, he doesn't say much. Not all at once. He is short and sharp in conversation like his sprinting distances, but he is not rude. He smiles, he pulls his (diamond loaded) ears, he laughs, he rubs his eyes. He just needs sleep. He seems a fine boy and somewhere in staccato answers lie the jigsaw pieces of his remarkable story.
"Growing up I wasn't into athletics. I only did athletics to get in shape for the football. Then I became in love with it. Dad got me involved with the sports from a very young age. He got me in the police athletic little league."
How old were you?
"'Bout nine."
Did you realise you were faster than everyone else?
"No, because when I started I was behind everyone else."
What made you stick at it?
"Because I didn't like losing. I'd lose my temper. Go off on my own. Sit in the car. My dad would calm me down. Tell me to keep at it. He tell me: 'One day you'll be the best'."
These dialogues with his patient father were taking place in the Palm Bay area of Florida, not far from Orlando where Xavier lived with his parents, Ken and Michelle, two younger sisters and a little brother. He lived near Disney World.
"I went a few times on school trips. By the time I was a teenager, I didn't want to see it any more." There are only so many times you can ride around in a tea cup.
"I was an active kid. I got into trouble doing boy things."
Like what?
"Throwing lizards at the girls at school and stuff."
What else did you do as a boy?
"I liked good music. Bikes. We weren't a rich family. It was just a regular neighbourhood. You had your goods and your bads. I felt safe wherever I went. My mom worked as a claims investigator for a state insurance scheme. It was a full-time job so I looked after myself until she came home to take me for practice."
Who were your heroes?
"Michael Jordan. I played basketball throughout high school."
Who else?
"My dad."
His dad, Ken Carter, a former schoolboy linebacker and now a computer engineer, let his eldest boy make up his own mind when it came to the crunch decision last year. In the end, it wasn't that hard. "It was one of my dreams growing up to be an Olympic champion. I thought: if I didn't try to be an athlete how was I going to conquer my dream?"
Have you met Michael Johnson?
"Yeah, I met him."
What did he say? Lay off my record?
"Nah, he just said his record was out there to be broken. But he probably thinks nobody can."
Why you?
"I feel anything is possible. If he did it, why can't I?"
Good question. Judy Garland as Dorothy asked the same thing, only her dream was over the rainbow. This one seems founded on solid earth, or at least, track. The moment he won nine races in three days to win the 100 m, 400 m, 4 x 100 m relay and 4 x 400 m relay at the NCAAs to put him up there with Jesse Owens, the question rang all the more loudly.
Did you study the Jesse Owens story in school?
"Yeah."
Did it strike you that athletics is in a very different place these days because he ended his days in poverty, and you're going to make a fortune?
"I hope so."
What's your ambition this year?
(Promptly) "Just becoming No 1 in the world."
In what?
"Probably specialize in the 200. I don't know yet. It depends.
Anything else?
"Win the World Games."
You're up against tough people.
"Mm-mm."
The official IAAF website lists Carter as ranked 22nd in the 100 m, fourth in the 200 m and 16th in the 400 m, if anyone cares to check. Carter himself does not care to check.
"I don't really know rankings. It doesn't matter to me at this point. I just focus and think about what I got to do in my race."
What do you think your body's capable of in the 100 m?
"My best time is, ah, I think it's 10.1. [Close, it is 10.09]. But my start's horrible."
Why?
"I dunno. It's always been like that. I can't get out fast enough. I'm working on it. I think I can go under 10."
Carter's time today is not relevant. He is making his one and only indoor appearance this year at the Norwich Union Grand Prix at the National Indoor Arena, Birmingham, in the 400 m. He doesn't know all of his opponents. In fact, he only knows one of them.
Do you have to know them or are they just bodies to overtake?
"I don't have to know them."
Track and field has had a very traumatic recent history: the Balco scandal, Justin Gatlin testing positive, Tim Montgomery disgraced. Do you worry that people will lump you in with others accused of cheating?
"Not really because I know that I'm clean."
That's what they all say. What can you do to prove it?
"Not test positive. You can run fast without taking drugs. You just got to be focused and determined."
You said you wanted to be an icon for the sport. It's a big claim. Do you regret saying it?
"Not really."
Who would you call the icons in American culture?
"Michael Jordan, he's one. Brad Pitt."
What about Bob Dylan?
"Yeah, or Jay-Z."
So you'd be in huge company. Does that put pressure on you?
"I like a challenge."
As the Beijing Olympics will be next year, are you looking forward to the athletes village?
"Yeah."
Who do you most want to meet?
"Um, probably Serena Williams."
What would you say to her?
"Will you marry me?" he grinned.
Do you know any British athletes?
"I don't know too many."
Heard of David Beckham?
"Yeah, I know of David Beckham."
You have tattoos in common. How many do you have?
"Twelve, I believe."
Saying what?
"Saying different things. Some are biblical scriptures, some have my initials. They're words of wisdom and motivation. Things like: 'No weapon formed against me shall prosper'."
Do they serve as inspiration?
"Yeah."
It's brave because they hurt a good deal.
"Yeah, but I think it gets addictive. Probably when I get back to the States, I'll get more."
Carter is still a student, in theory. He was studying Sports Medicine at Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge until his athletic career intruded, but he still lives there with his girlfriend, Yannika, (not yet enshrined in his tattoo roster) and dog, Dollar. He wants to finish his degree and considers the possibility of launching a sports medicine clinic one day.
How would you describe yourself?
"Depending who I'm around. My friends would probably say I was a clown."
You come over as quite shy.
"Yeah sometimes."
Has all the attention come as rather a shock?
"I was always kind of shy when it came to attention. When I was playing football [he played wide receiver for LSU] and people came up to me in the street, I'd be real shy about it."
You may have chosen the wrong sport in that case, an individual sport of global reach.
"Yeah, but I'll have to cope with it. Accept it."
It might be worth letting your prankster side creep out from time to time. Maybe smuggle a few lizards on the start line.
"Yeah, but people would get mad. I'm trying to raise the bar for athletics in America, so it's like the way it is over here in Britain. I've just got to keep a good image, stay clean and perform."
At the end of your career, what do you want to look back and say the X-Man achieved?
"I want to be remembered as doing things people thought were impossible. To make it hard for the up-and-coming runners to ever break the records I set."
Four gold medals at the next Olympics?
"I'm not aiming for that the first time around. Maybe just the 100 m, the 200 m and a relay. Or the 200 m, the 400 m and a relay. But by London 2012 maybe I'll be going for the same as the NCAAs. Two single titles and two relays."
That would make you one of the greatest athletes of all time.
"Yeah."
Then retire?
"Yeah, retire on top."
Then what? Open your clinic or open a bottle of beer and relax at last?
"Both."