Carmen Jackson has trained thousands of track runners in Miami’s Liberty City neighborhood. She’s the longtime coach of the girl’s track team at Miami Northwestern Senior High School--and her Lady Bulls team dominates. This year they won their eighth consecutive state championship.
Jackson was in Rio de Janeiro for the Olympics cheering on one of her former athletes, Liberty City native and Miami Northwestern grad Brianna Rollins. Rollins won big.
She is the first athlete from Miami to win a gold medal in an individual Olympic track and field event--the 100-meter hurdles.
Coach Jackson joined WLRN's Nadege Green to talk about the recent Olympic games and what this gold win means for Miami -- and her school.
You coached Brianna in high school. Tell me a bit about young Brianna growing up in Liberty City. What was she like when you met her?
I made an announcement, "All interested young ladies interested in coming out for track come by Coach Carmen Jackson's office and sign up."
This particular afternoon, it’s after school. Brianna walked into the office and said, “I came to get a form for track. Can I sign up?” I said, “Track? Really? You don’t want to run track." She said, “Yes I do.”
Well, that went on for about two weeks. She kept coming back and that last time, she said, "I’m not leaving until you give me a form. I want to run track."
And I chuckled a little bit and said, "I hope you know what you’re getting into because this is a very difficult sport. It’s very hard." She was a very fragile little girl, didn’t know anything about track. Nothing. She never did any organized sports at all. But there you go. You never know. Now she’s the world champion in the 100 [meter] hurdles.
You were in Rio. You went for Brianna. What was that like watching her before she took off for the hurdles and seeing the process which took less than 13 seconds? What was going through your mind?
Well, my nerves were real tense. I knew that it was a short race and I knew that she was a favorite, so that’s pressure. She was in the block setting her blocks and she took her -- they call it a run out when you set the blocks and you run out to the first hurdle -- and she appeared to look like she was ready. But still I just was praying that she get through every hurdle without any issue and get to the finish line
And she won, she won gold.
Gold medal. Gold medalist.
How does her performance in the Olympics affect how you feel going into the high-school track season?
Years ago, when I was younger, yeah I want to win...a coach wants to win of course. You’re not going out there to lose, but after winning so much you got to get a new passion. You must push these kids to a higher level. You got to push them. A lot of these kids might not reach the Olympics, maybe not, but 99 percent of them will go to these colleges and universities and get a degree. That’s the ultimate goal.
What do you think this win means for Miami, for Liberty City?
This is big. This is big for Miami-Dade County. This is big for Liberty City. This is big for Miami Northwestern. This is big for the Lady Bulls track and field team because it lets you know that with a lot of commitment, determination and hard work there is great success at The West. It just tells everyone in the world, in Dade County, Palm Beach, Monroe County that there are good things happening on 71st Street. We need to elevate it. We need to shine our own light. We need to let the world know that we have an Olympian in Miami-Dade County that came from the West.
