Aaron Brown Interview
We are back as promised with another Canadian Olympic interview for you. Today we talk to Aaron Brown, who won bronze as part of the Men's 4x100 Relay team in Rio 2016. Aaron tells us about the differences in training between running the 100 and 200 metres, as well as how precise the exchanges are in a relay. Aaron also talks about having to compete against, as well as compete with his own Team Canada teammates. Aaron competed in both London and Rio, and details some noticeable differences in the facilities and experiences in the games. We also for the first time are able to get an athletes take as Aaron tells us his feelings on the postponement of the Tokyo 2020 Olympics.
EPISODE TRANSCRIPT
Please note this is an automated transcript that may contain errors.
COLIN HILDING: Welcome back to Off The Podium for another special athlete interview as we continue to carry you through the summer of 2020 with what we hope to be a big series of athlete interviews to fill the void of the Tokyo 2020 Olympics being cancelled. And we were meant to bring you Brendan Rodney today, track and field star and bronze medallist from the Rio Olympics and the 4x100 Relay. Due to some scheduling issues, that interview is gonna be postponed for a little bit, but we're actually happy today because we still get to talk about the men's 4x100 Relay in Rio. As we're talking to one of Brendan's teammates, Aaron Brown, one of the fastest men in Canada, one of the biggest track stars in Canada. And you're gonna get to hear thoughts from him on everything from multiple world championships he's been in, the London Olympics, the Rio Olympics, and as I said, a little bit on Tokyo's postponement. So sit back and enjoy as we bring you another great Canadian athlete here, Aaron Brown.
COLIN HILDING: Even though everybody's listening to this post-Canada Day, we're actually recording this on Canada Day, and we can't think of any better way to spend our Canada Day than to be speaking to a bronze medallist from 2016 Rio, Aaron Brown from the 4x100 Relay. Aaron, thanks so much for joining us today. Just the way we start off all these interviews, and we get a different answer from everybody because we typically talk to people in different sports, but I think you're the first sprinter we've actually had on the show, but how did you actually break into the sport in the first place?
AARON BROWN: So, man, I got to go back to high school days.
COLIN HILDING: Figured, yeah.
AARON BROWN: Yeah, I used to run for fun just to stay active. You know, I'd rotate through different sports and all that, but I didn't get into competitive track until I started to figure out that there was an actual market for it. You know, I just ran high school, and then my club coach ended up noticing me and said, you know, you could be really good in track if you took this seriously and practised full time, enjoyed my club. So I did, and I started dropping my time, getting faster and faster. And then I found out you can qualify for the World Youth Championships, which is under 17. And that gave me the incentive to train hard and come to practise and actually do some workouts and stuff like that, you know, invest in getting proper spikes and uniforms and all that stuff. So I started running locally in Canada, and then eventually my first competition was the World Youth Championships, my first international competition. And I finished second in the hundred there. And that's when I started getting noticed by scouts in the NCAA system, got a couple of offers and ended up going to the University of Southern California for four and a half years. And then I went professional with Nike, and that's where I'm at right now.
COLIN HILDING: Yeah, and you're wearing their logo today, which is good. When you start with the youth championships, I don't know much about the world youth championships, but this is something that is held in different countries around the world, and where were the championships that year?
AARON BROWN: Yeah, so it's in different parts of the world. It was actually in Italy. So that was my first time going anywhere outside of the US or Canada. And yeah, that was my first major championship was in Italy in 2009.
COLIN HILDING: Did you watch the Olympics growing up? Did you follow any of the sprinters like Donovan Bailey or anybody prior to you getting into the sport?
AARON BROWN: So I was too young for Donovan Bailey. I was only four when he won gold in 96. But I would idly watch it. I didn't really know anything about it specifically. I would just casually watch it if it was on and take an interest. But I didn't really know the ins and outs of the Olympics other than just cheering for Canadians that I saw on TV. But of course, being in Canada, I've heard of Donovan Bailey. I mean, everybody's heard of Donovan Bailey. And I've seen art like textbooks and stuff like that. So we just knew that he was really good. And my knowledge of the Olympics is very limited as a kid.
COLIN HILDING: I think I sort of got into the Olympics around the time of Donovan Bailey. And I don't know if it was just a time period or something, but he sort of had his distance in everything. But I mean, nowadays, it seems more common for runners to do multiple different things. Like you will run the 100, the 200, and obviously the relay as well. Do you have to train differently? Like when you're getting ready for a world championships or Olympics or something like that, do you have a day where I'm going to focus on this distance? How does the training differ for those? And then how do you ultimately decide what you're going to go out for and what you're going to focus on?
AARON BROWN: So I actually started out more with an emphasis on the 100, just because I was always fast in short sprints. And I was young. I just always saw the 100 as the most popular, so I wanted to do that. But over the years, I've developed into more of a 200 runner. So I think people recognise me as a 200 runner that also runs the 100, but I see myself as both. So I train for both. I wanna be known as a dual threat in the 100 and 200 metre sprinter. But I would say my bread and butter so far has been the 200 metres. And I've kind of just approached that with my coach and made decisions based off of that.
COLIN HILDING: You started on the Youth Championship. Now, how does that eventually lead to you becoming a member of Team Canada and then working your way towards the Olympics?
AARON BROWN: So it's just a building blocks, really. So in 2009, I went to World Youth, and then in 2010, I went to World Juniors, which was under 19. And then it's just kind of going to more and more championships, qualifying and getting your confidence up, lowering your times, and then figure out what you have to do to meet the standard and criteria to make the team. And fortunately for me, I've been on a team every year, ever since that first championship, just kind of taking it year by year and assessing what I need to do to continue to climb the ladder. So basically, you just have to be amongst one of the fastest in the country, hit the qualifying times, and then go to, usually there's a trial. When you're younger, there's not really a trial like that. They just took the top two times. But now to make a senior team, like the Olympics or world championships, you have to be in the top three at your national championships and also have the qualifying time in order to make the team.
COLIN HILDING: And your first Olympic experience was actually in London. So you've done multiples at this point. What was it like going into London for the first time, you know, experience the Olympics for the first time?
AARON BROWN: It was surreal. You know, I was 20 years old and I had an unorthodox way of making the team. You know, I said, you have to finish top three and I actually didn't. But because I had the standard, I got hurt at the trials and they gave me like a test run. So I was able to prove my fitness and because I had the standard, I was one of three people that had it. They let me run the 200 at the Olympics. So that was a very unbelievable feeling and I was so happy to make my first Olympic team and just soaking it all up, being in the Olympic village with the greatest athletes in the world. Yeah, it was something that I still remember very, very vividly.
COLIN HILDING: I think at that time too, Canada wasn't quite like the powerhouses developed into in track and field. And I remember, at least by the time Rio came around, I already knew of your name because you did much better in London, I think, than most people expect. I mean, I think you just barely missed out on the finals. Is that right?
AARON BROWN: Yeah, so I had no expectations going because I felt like I wasn't even supposed to be there. So this is all just icing on the cake. But yeah, I went out there and finished ninth and missed the final by 5x100 of a second. And I didn't even realise that until I walked off the track into the warm up area, and they were like, you must be so excited but disappointed. I'm like, no, I PR by a lot. And I finished fourth, I raced Usain Bolt. I'm like, I couldn't be happier. Yeah, but you're so close to the finals. I'm like, really? And I didn't know how close I was. But then they told me after and I was like, oh man, I missed it by just a little bit. But it was just really a learning experience. And I left the games feeling very confident.
COLIN HILDING: The thing I find so interesting about sprinting too, is that when you take other sports that are more like distance running or anything else like that, or even score based sports, you can train and you could say, okay, I need to earn extra points here, or I need to take a whole minute off of a kilometre if you're doing like 5,000 metres, something like that. But I mean, there's such a small margin of error. So when you're talking about like a personal best and everything, I mean, how does somebody even begin to train for and expect, okay, I need to take a 10th of a second off or when it's even such a small margins, 10 seconds or 20 seconds for the 100 to 200 metre, how do you even get ready or even get in the mindset of, I just need that fraction of a second more?
AARON BROWN: I mean, it's like very meticulous. So you have to nuance it down to very, very small details because like you said, it's such a finite distance of 100 metres. There's only so many things you can do within that distance in that time period. In 200, it's a little longer, so you have a little more to work with, but at the same time, it's still not very long, being 20 or 19 seconds. So every step counts, you have to scrutinize every angle that you're coming out with out of the blocks and the force you're applying and your transitions and all that. So when it's so nuanced like that and so specific, you really have to hone in on your training and be really in tune with your coach. And a lot of reps, just going over and over again and practising so that it's muscle memory and it's instinctive. Like you don't want to be out there thinking because if you get in a race and you're trying to think of your next move, the race is over just like that and you can't cover. So it's just repetition, getting the stuff ingrained in your muscles so that you can do it instinctively on game day.
COLIN HILDING: I think Canada really started to take big steps when it came to the World Championships following London. And obviously in the relay, you medalled in both 2013 and 2015, is that right? Yeah. Yeah, and what were your experiences in relay running prior to that? Like were you on the relay team for London?
AARON BROWN: I wasn't. So I wasn't on the London team, but I was a reserve just by virtue of being at the Olympics, but I didn't run the prelims or the finals. I was there for the training camps, and we had two teams because we had eight people in the pool. So I had experience running with the guys. It's just I didn't run at the actual championships itself. But I'd say my experience came early on just by going to Birchmont Park, because I, as a 10th grader, was running with the seniors. Ian Warner and Andre Hamilton were very experienced runners at the school, and they pulled me up from, usually it's ninth graders running against ninth graders, and grade 10 people running against grade 10, but they saw the talent in me in grade 10, so they pulled me up to their team, and we ended up breaking the off-the-record. But we practised from high school days, and I think using those baton skills and that experience of running at a high level against older people just early on is something that carried over when I got to the senior level.
COLIN HILDING: You were saying how you were on the reserve for London too, and I think that's the other thing I always find interesting with the relay is that the team's not usually even announced until the day of. How much notice do you even have if you know you're gonna be running that? And I guess the second part being what position you're gonna run, if you're gonna be a starter, if you're gonna be in the second, third, later, the anchor?
AARON BROWN: So last fall about the relay coach, which has been Glen Roy for the majority of the time, he'll see your assets and what your skill set is or your best fit and kind of judge that and put you at certain spots on the track and you'll practise with people who correspond with that spot. So if you're second leg, like I've majority been, they'll practise you with the first and third leg and they'll just see how you handle it. They'll pair you up usually against someone else who they think could be good at that spot. And we do a lot of repetition and we film it and do a lot of film study. We take time measurements and see how fast we're going through the zones and how fast our stick passing is. And if we give a good target and if we leave on time and stuff like that, the fundamentals. And then just based off of that and flat raw speed, they make a decision to put the best four out there.
COLIN HILDING: I probably don't even have to tell you this, but one of the most intense things about the relay is that exchange. You experience it as opposed to just having to watch it. And obviously, there have been multiple instances where somebody just steps on a line or the exchange is just outside of the zone. And watching on TV, I don't think there's any way to even comprehend how precise that has to be. Because when I'm looking at it, I'm like, I can't even see the line. I can't even see where the exchange zone begins and ends. Do you get a lot of time to practise those exchanges? And have you experienced a lot of instances where it was just so tight, and you're like, oh, am I actually gonna make this?
AARON BROWN: Oh yeah, I mean, I've been through it all in the relay program, just by virtue of running so many times. You kind of experience everything. There's been times where I've left early, and I'm like, oh, I don't know if he's gonna catch me. Sometimes he does, sometimes he doesn't. There's times where I've left late, and they've run into me. There's times where I've run into people. There's times where we dropped a stick, and there's times where we had it bang on. So it's kind of just rolling the dice. Depends on, I don't know, luck, I guess, in just how much time you put in to practise.
COLIN HILDING: Okay, so you win the bronze medal in the World Championships in 2013 and 2015. Are you starting to think at that point, going into relay, or going into real, we really have a shot in the relay?
AARON BROWN: Yeah, I saw that our group of guys was getting stronger over the years, and we're collectively getting faster. And I just looked at the landscape of the field, and I thought, if we're on point on the day, we can achieve great things. And we've always believed that we can break the Canadian record. It just never manifested, but we knew at any given moment we could do it. So it was kind of just a perfect storm when we got to Rio.
COLIN HILDING: That Canadian record, now, I don't know if it was offhand, but was that still the same record that was set by the team in 96?
AARON BROWN: It was.
COLIN HILDING: Wow, so like 20 years, and that's probably one of the most iconic moments in Canadian Olympic history as well. What's the feeling where you know, not only are you meddling, but you're breaking this long-standing record that Canadians had just known for so long, it's still, a couple weeks ago, still being aired in reruns on TV.
AARON BROWN: It was bittersweet because when we first broke it, we were in fourth position, and that's the worst position, or one of the worst that you can finish, because you're just off the meadows and you're so close. And we saw the time, it was really fast, and we were kind of confused, how we could run that fast and that good of a race, and not be in the medal position. And to be so close, it kind of just felt incomplete. So then when the disqualification came down for the US, we kind of just felt like, okay, at least we got a medal now, to go along with the record and appreciate the record a little more.
COLIN HILDING: Yeah, like that was one of those moments where I think Rio all around was such a successful games for Canada, especially in summer. It tends to be much smaller medal count than we get in the winter. And that being also, I guess in some ways, the unofficial main event of the Olympics. What was the reaction like in the stadium that night? And then I even remember, I think I still have recorded videos of it, of the media afterwards and all the interviews. How crazy is it to be there on that night?
AARON BROWN: Oh man, the media golem was crazy. Just all the hype around it. You know, it was a special night just because of what we were able to achieve. And you know, a lot of the craze at the Olympics itself, just by virtue of being there came with it. But to be in a medal position, that just takes it to a whole nother level.
COLIN HILDING: The other thing I find really interesting with relays, whether it be swimming or with athletics, is that you're basically on a team with the very people you're competing against in other events too, which is crazy. I mean, you've over the years competed against Andre and Gavin and Brendan, your teammates, and then you have to suddenly switch it on, okay, now we're a team. Do you guys get to train much together throughout the year in either the individual events or in the relay?
AARON BROWN: Not in the individuals. In the individuals, we're always against each other, but in the relays, we usually have a training camp. Now, over the years, we've been going to the camps less and less, just because we've had more emphasis on our individual events, but early on, we were at the camps for a really long time, almost too long, because it would sacrifice the individual events, but we're trying to still find that balance of getting enough time in to practise amongst each other, while also being able to give priority to our individual events. But yeah, we make it work. We've been working with each other over the years for a very long time. We're all friends off the track, and we only hate each other when we're lined up against each other in different races. But other than that, we like each other, so it's not that difficult.
COLIN HILDING: Well, I would also wonder, is there a friendly competition there between you guys? Because particularly with you and Andre, am I right? You two are the only ones currently competing in Canada that are below the 10 and 22 marks for the 100 and 200?
AARON BROWN: Yeah, we're actually the only two Canadians ever to do that. Wow. So, yeah, we're definitely always trying to be the number one Canada's fastest man and hold that title and a national championship, especially there's a lot of heat between us, but off the track, we're still friends and it's always love.
COLIN HILDING: One other question just on Rio, because it's crazy, we started this show around the time of Rio, which was originally just to cover the Olympics itself on a daily basis. And then we're like, well, let's start talking to these athletes. And at least from my memory of all the athletes we've talked to who are in Rio, we never actually asked this question, but there was so much media criticism, it felt during Rio on the facilities and the handling of the Olympics there and everything. And at least from my perspective, I'd love to get your take on it. To me, it always sort of felt like, maybe we're just sort of spoiled. We've come off of these countries like England and China, you know, first class facilities and now we're in maybe a not so rich nation. And it almost felt like to me, it was maybe an unfair criticism. The expectation had just been set so high. But what were your experiences like with the games in Rio?
AARON BROWN: I mean, yeah, you covered it pretty much like coming off of London, I was expecting the same thing, you know, kind of A1 facilities, top-notch service and all that stuff. And that just wasn't the case, you know, my room, I had a portable AC unit in it, and there would be water that would come out of it. And so I would put it in a bucket so that it wouldn't get on the floor. And then some nights it would just overflow. And then I'd wake up and the floors in the hallway were like covered in water. You know, my shower wasn't the greatest, like sometimes the hot water wouldn't come. Yeah, there's just, it just seemed like it was kind of rushed and there wasn't the same quality that you come to expect at the Olympics.
COLIN HILDING: And obviously you would have been getting ready for Tokyo at this time. And you're, I think the only athlete we've talked to recently was John Montgomery, who's a winter athlete. You know, his experience would only be as a commentator if you would ever do anything now. But you were ready to go to Tokyo. And I think it's interesting, you're the first person we've actually been able to ask about this postponement. You know, they're around the time that they were talking about postponing it, it seemed like the majority athletes seemed to be on board with let's postpone this thing. You know, where did you sort of lie as you knew that this was potentially going to get pushed?
AARON BROWN: Um, you know, it kind of was a whirlwind. As the news started to come out, we kind of were waiting and anticipating if the Olympics were still going to go on and there wasn't much coming out on it. And the little that we did see, they kept saying over and over that they're going to go on and it's going to happen and scheduled and everything's gonna be fine. Um, so I gave us a false sense of, uh, security and then it was just kind of like once the NBA dropped and all the other sports, the major sports came out, I was like, okay, there's no way that the Olympics can still go on as scheduled. And, uh, lo and behold, they still were until, you know, it seemed like once Canada put the pressure on that, if the Olympics still happen, they won't go. And then Australia came saying the same thing. Um, it kind of just seemed like the whole dominoes just fell and it's just like, okay, they're pulling out entirely and just going to postpone it. And at first I was kind of like, man, uh, I don't know how to feel about this because if the Olympics actually happen and Canada doesn't go, like that would be insane. Like that'd be like the worst possible scenario. But I kind of thought there's no way you can have a games. Like if you can't have an NBA game where there's maybe like 30,000 people, how can you have an entire stadium in an Olympic games with, with track fans and people from all over the world? And, you know, just people in general at the games in the village and in all over the world, you know, travelling, it just seems like that would be the most risky type of championship to have. You know, it's not just people from one spot. It's people from all around the world mixing and matching. So I thought there was no way that the Olympics could actually proceed and, you know, and ended up getting postponed, which was good. And something that we definitely needed to have happen because people were going to still train for it. You know, they can see Olympic Dream, it comes every four years, you know, what comes with it and what you stand again if you do well at it. So, you know, it's hard to practise social distancing and staying off of facilities when your dream is still out there, hanging in the balance. So they needed to push it back so people would stop risking their lives and actually take the warning seriously.
COLIN HILDING: Yeah, exactly. And that was what we were saying, you know, we did an episode immediately after they did that. And it was it was funny that it was as soon as Canada and Australia said, we're not going, it was almost like the IOC was just waiting. OK, if if if somebody's pulling out, then we know this is a bad idea. You know, and it just sort of took that push of OK, there's nations who aren't going to be here. And then suddenly, OK, let's just take a step back. Let's take a look at this. Twenty twenty one, you know, still up in the air if that's feasible or whatever. You know, maybe it could be something with empty stadiums or whatever. But I'm assuming you're still training or what's it like now? How are you spending your summer knowing that this is push for another year?
AARON BROWN: Still trying to stay in shape and still training. We recently got back our access to our tracks, so that was good. For a while, we were just training on parks and in the grass and, you know, bike trails and stuff like that. And that was not ideal because we're sprinters and, you know, we belong on the track. But we may do just to stay fit and, you know, try to still practice safe training and stuff like that. So we would wear masks and disinfect and, you know, gloves and all that jazz. But you know, the numbers seem to be spiking up again, especially where I'm at in Florida. So we might be having to go back to that. It seems that it's kind of just, you know, staying low key, not really going out and hang out like I normally do with friends and stuff like that. But you know, we'll see how it plays out. Meets are slowly starting to get cancelled. And right now they still have some type of a semblance of a season happening or scheduled to happen at the end of the year, starting in August. But you know, as more information comes out and time passes, we'll see if that actually happens.
COLIN HILDING: And I'm guessing you're still, you know, planning and aiming to be in Tokyo whenever it does happen.
AARON BROWN: Yeah, for sure.
COLIN HILDING: How far ahead do you plan? Because I guess that's a weird thing with the Olympics is, you know, we saw with Usain Bolt, he sort of knew, okay, I'm going to do one more Olympics. I'm going to do one more world championship. You know, are you just going until you're like, okay, now's the time to stop? Or do you have like a game plan? You know, I want to go for two more Olympics. You know, I want to be there in 2024 or whatever.
AARON BROWN: I mean, I don't really think too much about my mortality. I have an idea of like when I ideally like to stop, which is like mid thirties, you know, I'm not looking to do this thing for the rest of my life. I know that my body is going to eventually deteriorate, not deteriorate, but I still have goals that I want to achieve. And, you know, I'd like to have some longevity with it. So I'm just going to look to keep pushing it as long as I can till I hit those goals. And, you know, I definitely would like to do two more Olympics for sure.
COLIN HILDING: I just have to say on a personal level, it's been so exciting to see what's happened on the track with Canada. It's not like, you know, I think we had a complete drought after, you know, 96 and Donovan Bailey and everything. But I think even Donovan Bailey, just looking at his excitement, seeing you guys in Rio, you know, it's really something that's just building. And, you know, I'm so pumped to see what's going to happen in Tokyo. Who knows? I mean, we could be talking to you, you know, another year, year and a half from now, and you could be, you know, medallist in 100, 200 and another relay. You know, you just keep building your resume.
AARON BROWN: Yeah. Yeah. I mean, that's what's motivating is the fact that I still have a career ahead of me. You know, I've been in the sport for quite a while because I started so young, but, you know, I still have a whole bunch to, I want to achieve and still opportunities ahead of me. So that's what motivates me every day, to keep going out there and working hard.
COLIN HILDING: Well, you're making Canada very proud, and you're obviously giving us a lot of excitement along the way here. You know, I had multiple times during Rio where I was jumping up and cheering. It's just been great watching you, and it's so good to have you on the show today and to be able to talk to somebody about this sport for the first time.
AARON BROWN: Yeah, I appreciate it. And like you said, we're filming this on Canada Day, so happy Canada Day to all my Canadians. You know, every time we put on the maple leaf on our chest and have that Canada going across, you know, we take that with great pride and we just want to make you guys proud.
COLIN HILDING: All right, thanks so much for joining us today, Aaron.
AARON BROWN: All right, no problem, thank you.
COLIN HILDING: Huge thanks to Aaron Brown for joining us today. As we said, recorded on Canada Day, taking time out on this Canada Day here to talk to us. And as I said at the beginning, we have a bunch of athlete interviews that we're lining up to carry you through the entire summer. Some that we're going to keep as a surprise, some we've already partially announced. We've got one really big one that we're hoping to bring you in the next couple of weeks, which if you go back and listen to our John Montgomery interview from last week, you hear a little bit of a tease of one of the huge athletes we're going to be bringing you in just a couple of weeks. Also, you can go back and listen to our interview from John Montgomery from last week, the Skeleton Gold Medallist from Vancouver 2010, also host of Amazing Race Canada. We had a good chat with him last week. And if you do enjoy the show, make sure to subscribe to us on iTunes or Apple Podcast, whatever is called now, Stitcher, Google Podcast, wherever you can find us. We also now are on Twitter for the first time, and who knows how many years we've been doing this show. You can also find us on Facebook. But most importantly, make sure to subscribe to us, because we are going to be bringing you lots of interviews over the next couple of months, and you don't want to miss any of them, trust me. Thank you to Aaron Brown again, and thank you to everybody for joining us and subscribing, and happy belated candidate to all our Canadian listeners.
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