© 2024 WRVO Public Media
NPR News for Central New York
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

Tell Me More Athletes Come Home With Hardware

MICHEL MARTIN, HOST:

And now, it's time for Backtalk. That's where we life the curtain on what's happening in the TELL ME MORE blogosphere. Editor Ammad Omar is back from his vacation. What do you have for us today, Ammad?

AMMAD OMAR, BYLINE: All right, Michel. Today, we've got an exciting Olympic Backtalk, so we talked to quite a few Olympians before they competed in London at the games and we figured it would be a good time to check out how they did. And, Michel, they didn't do too shabby.

MARTIN: Of course, we are the program of champions. Tell us the good news.

OMAR: All right. You talked to Leo Manzano. He runs the 1,500 meters, also known as the metric mile. The U.S. hadn't won a medal in that event since the legendary Jim Ryan took silver back in 1968, but that all changed when Leo blew by a huge pack on the home straightaway and moved from near the back of the field to the medal podium. And I caught up with him on the phone from London yesterday.

LEO MANZANO: I feel like I won a race. I mean, I feel like I won. You know, coming around that bend and then just blowing by everybody. I mean, pure excitement, joy and I'm just thrilled I was able to do that and I'm so happy that my body could respond the way - in that manner.

OMAR: So Leo's run was the fastest an American has ever run the race in the Olympics and he had some people to thank afterwards.

MANZANO: I just want to thank Michel. I want to thank NPR and you for giving me this opportunity to do this interview. And again, I just want to thank my biggest sponsor, which is Nike.

OMAR: I'm guessing he's going to get a few more sponsors now that he's made history and he might not be the only person who wants to thank you, Michel.

MARTIN: And why is that?

OMAR: All right. You spoke with Women's Water Polo goalie, Tamua Anae, and you also spoke with Women's Soccer player Sydney Leroux and, yesterday, within a few minutes of each other, both teams took home gold for the U.S.A.

MARTIN: Yay. Congratulations, ladies. And we should say that Sydney scored a goal in the quarter finals against New Zealand that helped the U.S. team advance.

OMAR: All right. A quick note. As of this morning, if Team Tell Me More were a country, we'd be 22nd place in gold medals won. That would put us tied with countries like Spain and Brazil, just ahead of Canada.

MARTIN: Food for thought for anybody trying to make it big in Brazil for the 26 team games. Give us a call. Thank you, Ammad.

OMAR: Thank you, Michel.

MARTIN: And I should tell you that there are a number of stories that we covered this week where there were new developments that we didn't have time to tell you about, so if you visit us online, we'll put that information there. Just go to npr.org/TellMeMore. Remember, you can also call our comment line at 202-842-3522 to talk about any of the stories we've covered and you can find us on Twitter. Just look for TELL ME MORE NPR.

(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)

MARTIN: Coming up, the mass shooting at a Sikh temple in Wisconsin was a national tragedy, but was it a hate crime or an act of domestic terrorism and why does that matter? The Barbershop guys offer their thoughts on that and other news of the week. That's ahead on TELL ME MORE from NPR News. I'm Michel Martin. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.