MOHAMMED AHMED
"My high school coaches in- grained in my head: believe in yourself, believe in your coach- es, believe in your training. If you do that, if you really believe in those three things, you'll be good to go. "But everything starts with believing in yourself because if you don't believe in yourself, no matter what training you've done, no matter how good your coach is …''
It won't matter. Ahmed believes in himself and the balance that he has in his life. "So many people focus on just
one aspect of their life, 'I'm a runner, that's it,''' he said. "But you can't just focus on that. I try to be good at school even though I don't think I'm the best student. I try to be good as an individual as far as my behavior towards others.
"I practice my religion and I
just trying being a good person. I have younger brothers; I'm the oldest of four and I try to rep- resent them and inspire them. My parents? I try not to let them down.''
"It's part of my resume now," Ahmed said of his Olympic qual- ifying mark. "I've always wanted to go to the Olympics. It's been a dream for a long time. I wanted it to be a part of my name.''
Obviously, he hasn't let any- one down. Ahmed is now taking some time to recover physically from last Sunday's race. His next focal point is the Big Ten outdoor championships next weekend in Madison. "I don't know what I'll be running; whatever
I'm needed for, I'll compete,'' he said. "But I want to win the Big Tens at home — that would be the biggest thing in the world for our team.
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Everybody is passionate about that. We can defi- nitely challenge (for the title).'' For any competitor, the ultimate challenge is
the Olympics. "I can use that to my advantage,'' he said of his qualifying time for London. "It's part of my resume now. I've always wanted to go to the Olympics. It's been a dream for a long time. I wanted it to be a part of my name.'' Mo is on Mo's side.
