Olympic gold medalist Brittney Reese chats with Trey Elling, prior to her appearance at SXSW 2022. Reese won a gold and two silver medals in long jump during her four Olympic performances for the US. The conversation includes:
- Speaking at South By as part of a panel on serving as a brand ambassador while staying true to yourself (1:15)
- Growing up in Mississippi (2:21)
- The importance of her grandfather, beginning in childhood (3:41)
- When she realized she was good enough at track to pursue it in college and as a professional (4:56)
- Getting back into track after initially choosing to play basketball in college (6:12)
- Why she eventually decided to focus strictly on long jump (8:21)
- Lessons learned from falling short of the goal during her first Olympics in 2008 (10:25)
- Winning gold at the 2012 Olympics (12:00)
- Her happiest moment away from the track (13:52)
- Setting the American indoor long jump record (14:54)
- Settling for silver at the 2016 Olympics (15:50)
- The weirdness surrounding the 2020 Tokyo Olympics (17:39)
- Whether she’s dealing with the void that arises for a lot of athletes, after they retire (19:10)
- What fuels her numerous humanitarian efforts (20:09)