Speaker 1: Hello Sunshine, Hey besties, Our bright Side Countdown to the
Speaker 1: Olympics continues, and today we're super excited because our guest
Speaker 1: is a record setting athlete and the second most decorated
Speaker 1: women's track and Field Olympian of all time. Sonia Richards
Speaker 1: Ross is an Olympic champion and commentator and you may
Speaker 1: recognize her from the Real Housewives of Atlanta too.
Speaker 2: She's joining us today to talk resilience, what.
Speaker 1: It's like to compete at the highest level in the world,
Speaker 1: and what she's most looking forward to this summer in Paris.
Speaker 2: It's Thursday, July eighteenth. I'm Simone Boyce and.
Speaker 3: I'm Danielle Robe. This is the bright Side from Hello Sunshine,
Speaker 3: a daily show where we come together to share women's stories,
Speaker 3: to laugh, learn and brighten your day.
Speaker 1: Danielle, our bright Side Countdown to the Olympics continues. We
Speaker 1: are exactly a days from the start of the Paris Olympics,
Speaker 1: which means we are exactly eight days from me clearing
Speaker 1: my calendar so that I can just watch Olympics events
Speaker 1: all the time. But truly, this season has got me
Speaker 1: thinking about the precision and the pressure that these athletes
Speaker 1: have to navigate as they're staring down the finish line.
Speaker 3: Oh yeah, especially for runners, sometimes it comes down to
Speaker 3: a tenth or even a thousandth of a second. That's
Speaker 3: what can separate an athlete from victory or heartbreak. In
Speaker 3: the two thousand and four Athens Olympics women's two hundred
Speaker 3: meters race, Veronica Campbell Brown won the gold with a
Speaker 3: time of twenty two point zero five seconds, and Alison Felix, yeah,
Speaker 3: we all know her. She finished second with a time
Speaker 3: of twenty two point one eight seconds. The difference between
Speaker 3: the top three finishers was less than a tenth of
Speaker 3: a second.
Speaker 1: And then when we think about nineteen ninety two in Barcelona,
Speaker 1: the women's one hundred meter sprint remains one of the
Speaker 1: closest finishes in Olympic history. It was so close to you, guys,
Speaker 1: slow motion footage was the only way to con firm
Speaker 1: who won. In the end, Usay's Gail Devers took home
Speaker 1: the gold after a painstaking waiting period for the results.
Speaker 3: The kind of fortitude and tenacity and just gusto that
Speaker 3: it takes to work towards being one of the best
Speaker 3: in the world when the margins are that small, especially
Speaker 3: on days when things just don't go your way. Well,
Speaker 3: to me, that requires not just physical strength, but mental
Speaker 3: strength too.
Speaker 1: Well. Our guest today knows what it's like to stare
Speaker 1: at a finish line and grasp at every thousandth of
Speaker 1: a second. Sonia richards Ross moved to America from Jamaica
Speaker 1: when she was just twelve years old, and as a
Speaker 1: little girl on the playground, she quickly learned she.
Speaker 2: Was fast, real fast.
Speaker 1: She won a national title in women's track and field
Speaker 1: when she was a senior in high school, and then
Speaker 1: she made her Olympic debut. By the time she was
Speaker 1: in college, She's won medals at the two thousand and four,
Speaker 1: two thousand and eight, and twenty twelve Olympics, making her
Speaker 1: the second most decorated women's track and field athlete of
Speaker 1: all time.
Speaker 3: I'm just going to brag on her for a second.
Speaker 3: She remains the only female athlete in history to win
Speaker 3: the four hundred meter relay at three successive editions of
Speaker 3: the Games. I know we're throwing so many numbers out there,
Speaker 3: but TLDR impressive and this kind of success it did
Speaker 3: not come without challenges. That's what I love about Sonia's story.
Speaker 3: She's honest about it all. She was favored to win
Speaker 3: the gold in two thousand and eight, and she landed
Speaker 3: with the bronze, and then, after an incredible comeback in
Speaker 3: twenty twelve, a foot injury prevented her from competing again
Speaker 3: and it forced her to re examine her life without
Speaker 3: the title of athlete, and since then, she's gone on
Speaker 3: to become a sports analyst for NBC covering the Olympics.
Speaker 3: She published a memoir in twenty seventeen called Chasing Grace
Speaker 3: What the Quarter Mile has taught Me about God and life.
Speaker 3: And she made her debut on the Real Housewives of
Speaker 3: Atlanta just a few years ago. I know I was
Speaker 3: tuning in, but she is leaving the show, so I
Speaker 3: have to ask her about that.
Speaker 1: At the heart of all these accomplishments is her resilience,
Speaker 1: her champions mindset, and her multitudes that shine both on
Speaker 1: and off the track. So let's bring her in now, Sonya.
Speaker 1: Welcome to the bright Side. Oh yeah, I'm excited. Thanks
Speaker 1: for having me, Sonya. We are only a couple weeks
Speaker 1: away from this summer's Olympic Games in Paris, and you
Speaker 1: will be attending and covering as an NBC commentator, Who
Speaker 1: are you going to be watching on the track this
Speaker 1: year in Paris?
Speaker 2: Give us your expert preview?
Speaker 4: Oh Man, So you know, I don't think I'm exaggerating
Speaker 4: when I say that this may be the deepest team
Speaker 4: of superstar athletes that I've ever seen on the track.
Speaker 4: We start with Shakarie Richardson and the women's hundred. There's
Speaker 4: Sidney McLaughlin, Lavoni and the foreigner hurdles, Noah Lyles, Rye Benjamin.
Speaker 4: The list just goes on and on and on with
Speaker 4: so much talent on the track, and they're gonna be
Speaker 4: going up against some incredible competition with athletes all over
Speaker 4: the world. So it's just literally every day that there
Speaker 4: is a track me on, You're gonna want to watch
Speaker 4: it because there's gonna be somebody to watch, somebody, the
Speaker 4: great story, Tara Davis Woodhall in the long jump. There's
Speaker 4: just so much to be excited about. And I get
Speaker 4: to be front row in Paris. I can't wait.
Speaker 1: We are so excited for you. There are so many
Speaker 1: eyes on Shikari Richardson this year. I mean, she is
Speaker 1: competing in the Olympics after missing out on Tokyo because
Speaker 1: she tested positive for marijuana, and in her word she says,
Speaker 1: I'm not back, I'm better, And she does seem different.
Speaker 1: I mean, she's showing up even more authentic than she
Speaker 1: was before. Like she's traded in the wigs for braids,
Speaker 1: she's still rocking that fire manny all the time. How
Speaker 1: would you describe the legacy that Shakerrie is creating for
Speaker 1: herself as we speak.
Speaker 4: I would say it is absolutely beautiful to see all
Speaker 4: that Sha Carrie has been through as an athlete, as
Speaker 4: a young woman. To see her maturing right in front
Speaker 4: of our eyes has been a treat to watch. She's
Speaker 4: also been authentic in how she expresses how much she's growing,
Speaker 4: how much it matters to her that she shows up
Speaker 4: and represents, especially for black women. And so I can't
Speaker 4: imagine what it was like for Sha CAIRI when she
Speaker 4: first burst.
Speaker 2: Onto the scene.
Speaker 4: We'd never seen an athlete have that much of an
Speaker 4: impact so quickly in our sport, and so that was
Speaker 4: a heavy load for her to Carrie. And then of
Speaker 4: course the disappointment was not going to her first Olympics,
Speaker 4: and there was just so much and I felt like.
Speaker 2: She was fighting for her life.
Speaker 4: But now I think she's settled into her role as
Speaker 4: the face of the sport. She's not fighting, she's just
Speaker 4: going with the flow of competition.
Speaker 2: She just seems happier, more mature and men.
Speaker 4: It was really fun to watch her make the team
Speaker 4: and now lead Team USA to Paris.
Speaker 3: I love hearing you talk about all these superstar female athletes,
Speaker 3: but we can't sleep on the fact that we have
Speaker 3: gold medalists Sonya Ross in the house. So I want
Speaker 3: to back up a little bit and talk about your
Speaker 3: journey because you grew up in Jamaica and you started
Speaker 3: running at seven years old. To me, that sounds like
Speaker 3: you basically started running when you were walking, like this
Speaker 3: was just for you. So when did you know you
Speaker 3: wanted to be an Olympian from.
Speaker 2: The very beginning?
Speaker 4: You know, being born in Kingston, Jamaica, track and field
Speaker 4: is by far the most popular sport, and so I
Speaker 4: remember the country shutting down to watch Merlin Atti and
Speaker 4: some of the greats from Jamaica, and I was like,
Speaker 4: oh my god, I want that to be be one day,
Speaker 4: Like I want people sharing for me and rooting for me.
Speaker 4: And I was lucky that when I was seven I
Speaker 4: went out for like we had like a fun day
Speaker 4: at school, and I beat all the boys and all
Speaker 4: the girls, and the coach Sawda had the gift of speed,
Speaker 4: you know. And I'm so grateful for all the coaches
Speaker 4: and of course my family that poured into me and
Speaker 4: allowed me to live this dream. I said when I
Speaker 4: was nine for my class assignment, I was gonna be
Speaker 4: an Olympic champion.
Speaker 2: And I did it.
Speaker 1: I guess you did, Sonya. You are a gold medalist,
Speaker 1: but that road to gold was challenging. I think back
Speaker 1: to two thousand and eight when you were favored in
Speaker 1: the Olympics that year to win gold, but you wound
Speaker 1: up taking home the bronze. I have no business even
Speaker 1: asking you about this because I have never even set
Speaker 1: foot onto an Olympic track. But what did that experience
Speaker 1: teach you about resilience, about bouncing back from life setbacks.
Speaker 2: It taught me everything.
Speaker 4: It taught me everything, And in the moment I hated it,
Speaker 4: I thought I was gonna die.
Speaker 2: I thought it was the worst thing that could ever happen.
Speaker 4: But you know now, you know, looking back on that experience,
Speaker 4: I'm so grateful because now I am not afraid to fail,
Speaker 4: you know, And I truly believe that failure is an
Speaker 4: important part of our journey to success. I think more
Speaker 4: people are afraid to fail than they are to succeed,
Speaker 4: and that's what holds a lot of people back from
Speaker 4: really living in their purpose. And so for me, having
Speaker 4: experienced that failure on the grandest scale and realizing that
Speaker 4: the sun came up the next morning, my heart was
Speaker 4: still beating. Everybody that loves me was still there supporting
Speaker 4: me and loving on me.
Speaker 2: It made me realize that I can rebound from anything.
Speaker 4: And the truth is, when you set your sights on
Speaker 4: something so epic, you might fail. But it made me
Speaker 4: appreciate twenty twelve so much more. I worked my butt
Speaker 4: off to stand on that track again and to realize
Speaker 4: that dream. And you know, I always say I felt
Speaker 4: like I ran into my fairy tale ending.
Speaker 3: You did run into your fairy tale ending, because you
Speaker 3: ended up winning gold in the twenty twelve Games in London.
Speaker 3: I looked up photos of that moment, and you're on
Speaker 3: that podium, You're representing Team USA, you have thousands of
Speaker 3: people cheering for you, the music is playing, and you know,
Speaker 3: I think they're all excited because you.
Speaker 2: Brought it home.
Speaker 3: For the US. But I can only imagine what that
Speaker 3: moment means to you, because you're the one that knows
Speaker 3: all of the heartache and the sacrifice that it took
Speaker 3: to get to that moment. So what's going through your
Speaker 3: mind when you're standing up there being award of this medal.
Speaker 4: It's such a good question, and every time I'm asked
Speaker 4: that question, Danielle, I try to figure out how to
Speaker 4: put it into words.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it is almost impossible.
Speaker 4: It is literally the greatest feeling in the world, because,
Speaker 4: like you said, you know all the hard work that
Speaker 4: it took to get there, you know all the people
Speaker 4: that poured into you, all the sacrifices, everything that you
Speaker 4: had to overcome mentally, physically to be there. And it
Speaker 4: is true when you're on the podium and the national
Speaker 4: anthem is playing, kind of your life kind of flashes
Speaker 4: before your eyes, right. You think about childhood, and you
Speaker 4: think about the highs and the lows, and think about
Speaker 4: the thousand sit ups and all the rest and the
Speaker 4: ice bass and just everything that you did, and you
Speaker 4: just kind of wish they would just loop the anthem, like,
Speaker 4: I need more time.
Speaker 2: I earned about two of these running back.
Speaker 3: Did anybody's face come into your mind or was it
Speaker 3: mostly memories of you?
Speaker 4: Oh no, I mean by far my family, like my
Speaker 4: mom and dad. I don't like to say I made
Speaker 4: sacrifices because I always think that I made an investment
Speaker 4: in my future. But when I think of my family,
Speaker 4: I don't want to get emotional. They made sacrifices, you know,
Speaker 4: like my mom and dad moved to the States for
Speaker 4: us to have the opportunity. My mom turned her garage
Speaker 4: into a gym. She learned to become a trainer so
Speaker 4: that she could be my first strength coach. My dad
Speaker 4: literally moved to Waco and came to all of my practices,
Speaker 4: didn't miss a practice when I was in high school.
Speaker 2: And they did all of.
Speaker 4: This just for me, Like my coach Bruce Johnson, who
Speaker 4: was with me since college and would drive to Waco
Speaker 4: every day sixty miles to come to my practices, my
Speaker 4: physio who was from Switzerland who moved in to my
Speaker 4: home in Austin to be with me during the season.
Speaker 2: I mean, it was just countless people.
Speaker 4: My sister who didn't misattract me, you know, would come
Speaker 4: on her own dime, and just my aunts. It was
Speaker 4: less about me, and really more about all of them
Speaker 4: because I just knew how proud they were, and it
Speaker 4: was really a moment for all of us.
Speaker 3: I watched a few episodes of Real Housewives of Atlanta
Speaker 3: while you were on it, and hearing you talk about this,
Speaker 3: I understand your family dynamic even more because your parents, like,
Speaker 3: we're living with you for a little bit, Like you
Speaker 3: guys are really tight knit.
Speaker 4: Yeah, no, my family, they've always meant everything to me.
Speaker 4: After the pandemic, so we all had three houses in
Speaker 4: Texas and then we were always at my mom's house
Speaker 4: because of course, you know, you weren't able to be
Speaker 4: around other people. So we kind of were doing life together.
Speaker 4: And when I decided to move to Atlanta, I was like,
Speaker 4: you guys have to come and we'll just get one
Speaker 4: big house. We were doing it anyway when we were
Speaker 4: in Austin, and so it was fun, like, you know,
Speaker 4: that was my real life. And a lot of people
Speaker 4: are like, oh my god, I've never lived my parents.
Speaker 4: But our love runs deep and we support each other
Speaker 4: in every way that we can. And although we're not
Speaker 4: living together anymore, you know, we still obviously had this
Speaker 4: incredible bond and I you know, I appreciate them with
Speaker 4: all that I am.
Speaker 3: You could feel that in the show, Yeah, thank you, Sonya.
Speaker 1: We've talked to a few Olympians on our show, and
Speaker 1: each one of them mentions the sacrifices that go unseen,
Speaker 1: the sacrifices of family members behind the scenes, and particularly
Speaker 1: in your sport, there's something so symbolic about the finish line,
Speaker 1: Like I am imagining you and all of your family members,
Speaker 1: like your whole tribe, crossing that finish line each time. Yeah,
Speaker 1: And I wonder if that finish line was as symbolic
Speaker 1: for you as it is for all of us watching
Speaker 1: at home. Was there something that you envisioned that was
Speaker 1: waiting for you on the other side of the finish line.
Speaker 1: Was the feeling the same every time that you crossed it,
Speaker 1: or was it a different emotion each day?
Speaker 2: That is such a good question.
Speaker 4: In the four hundred, only in the four hundred the
Speaker 4: finish line and the start line are at the same
Speaker 4: point on the track. And I always thought that was
Speaker 4: so significant because I always feel like there are no
Speaker 4: finish lines, you know what I mean. It's like we're
Speaker 4: constantly having the opportunity to do it again, to start over.
Speaker 2: To like relive the dream, you know.
Speaker 4: And so it's funny that you say that, because on
Speaker 4: the end of every start line for me, was an
Speaker 4: opportunity to do it again, was an opportunity to dream bigger.
Speaker 4: It was like, was this always the springboard kind of
Speaker 4: springing me forward? Like even when I ran through the
Speaker 4: finish line in London and I lived this dream, it
Speaker 4: was like, Okay, what's next. When my career transitioned, it's like, hey,
Speaker 4: there's no finish line. Like, I'm just gonna keep going.
Speaker 4: I'm gonna keep winning. I always tell people I don't
Speaker 4: think greatness is fleeting. I think it lives in us.
Speaker 4: And when you've achieved greatness in one area of your life,
Speaker 4: you can do it again if you apply yourself. And
Speaker 4: so I love that question because I think a lot
Speaker 4: of times people think of things like this solid thing,
Speaker 4: you cross this finish line, and it's like you're expecting
Speaker 4: some magical thing or this thing is over. It's like, no,
Speaker 4: it's like track and Field was a springboard. I learned
Speaker 4: so much that I'm taking it to the next thing.
Speaker 4: I'm running through this finish line to get to the
Speaker 4: next start line.
Speaker 2: You know, you just.
Speaker 1: Gave me a whole new visual language to describe pivoting. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I mean, I'm I truly like, I'm going to think
Speaker 1: about pivoting differently, Like there is no finish line, it's
Speaker 1: just a new star every time, it's a new star.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 3: When I think about this success or quote unquote failure,
Speaker 3: even though I hate that word of a track athlete,
Speaker 3: it's just based on seconds, sometimes tenths of seconds. It's
Speaker 3: so nicecule is it really?
Speaker 2: Yeah?
Speaker 4: Thousandths, No, it can be. It could go down to thousands. No,
Speaker 4: your point is well made. I mean people lose back
Speaker 4: thousands of a second. People miss the Olympic team by
Speaker 4: thousandths of a second. Like it's yeah, it's to your point,
Speaker 4: it is, you know, it could be that specific and
Speaker 4: that minute.
Speaker 3: When I think of the personality type that it takes
Speaker 3: to be a part of that sport, there's obviously so
Speaker 3: much resilience, there's I think a healthy ego in a
Speaker 3: great way, and there's this wanting of wanting to like
Speaker 3: the wanting to be the best in the world. Yeah,
Speaker 3: where did that come from for you? Like, why did
Speaker 3: you want to be the best in the world?
Speaker 4: I would say from two places I would say one,
Speaker 4: I always had like an internal drive and I still do,
Speaker 4: like I'm so motivated to always be my best, like
Speaker 4: it's just a natural gift, it's my superpower. But I
Speaker 4: would also say that my dad, since I was about
Speaker 4: nine years old, told me.
Speaker 2: You want to be the best in the world. You
Speaker 2: want to be the best in the world. And he
Speaker 2: said it so much.
Speaker 4: I tell people he made me believe it before I
Speaker 4: understood what that really meant, before I understood that we
Speaker 4: could quantify that and that it was possible. My dad
Speaker 4: told me for years, you are going to be a
Speaker 4: world beater.
Speaker 2: You're going to be the best.
Speaker 4: I just credit him so much for doing that for me,
Speaker 4: for seeing greatness in me at such a young age.
Speaker 4: And then I feel like that really bolstered me to
Speaker 4: help me to believe it was possible.
Speaker 2: And I do that for my kids too.
Speaker 1: You know.
Speaker 4: It's like we have an opportunity to be that positive
Speaker 4: voice in people's lives, especially those of our children, and
Speaker 4: my dad was that for me, and I hope to
Speaker 4: be that for my kids as well.
Speaker 3: Do you have a tool that you use for your
Speaker 3: mental toughness?
Speaker 2: Yeah?
Speaker 4: So, you know, I actually after two thousand and eight,
Speaker 4: I started working with a sports psychologist. It's the only
Speaker 4: regret of my career is not working with a sports psychologist. Sooner, Yeah,
Speaker 4: every person. I talked to him like, we have a
Speaker 4: strength coach, we have a track coach, and you have
Speaker 4: to have a mind coach, because at the highest level
Speaker 4: it's no longer about physical Everybody there is physically gifted
Speaker 4: and talented and the best in the world, but it's
Speaker 4: who can be mentally strong and tough enough and in
Speaker 4: the moment, who executes the best who's gonna win. I
Speaker 4: learned a lot from him in the final few years
Speaker 4: of my career that I still use to this day.
Speaker 4: There are two skills I'll share with you. One is
Speaker 4: how to go into emotional neutral. And what that means
Speaker 4: is that a lot of times in our lives we
Speaker 4: get so worked up about stuff that haven't even happened yet. Right,
Speaker 4: A lot of the stress we feel is about worry
Speaker 4: about something we think is going to happen, and it
Speaker 4: causes us so much unnecessary stress.
Speaker 2: And so he taught me emotional neutral. So if I
Speaker 2: don't know.
Speaker 4: What's going to happen and I just don't have any
Speaker 4: feelings about it like it's just I'll just wait until
Speaker 4: if the worst happens, I'll react to it then, but
Speaker 4: I'm not going to get myself all worked up about
Speaker 4: something that hasn't happened yet. That really helps me to
Speaker 4: keep an even mind so that I'm clear for what
Speaker 4: is going to happen, for like what is in front
Speaker 4: of me. The second thing he taught me was like
Speaker 4: a physical practice. But a lot of times when we
Speaker 4: get really nervous and stuff and our mind is racing heart,
Speaker 4: we're breathing fast. If you put your hand on the
Speaker 4: bottom of your belly and you breathe into your hand,
Speaker 4: there is a grounding that happens to you that helps
Speaker 4: you to become very present in the moment so that
Speaker 4: you can now heighten your senses and awareness around what
Speaker 4: it is that you need to do, whether it's compete
Speaker 4: at the highest level on the track, give a speech,
Speaker 4: whatever it is. It really helps to ground you when
Speaker 4: you connect to your breath in that way, because I
Speaker 4: think what happens is where most of the time.
Speaker 2: We're prepared right like we've done the work, we're ready
Speaker 2: to go.
Speaker 4: It's just that we're not able to be present in
Speaker 4: the moment to show up in the way we have
Speaker 4: seen ourselves. We have planned for it, we just you know,
Speaker 4: bomb it because we're not present. So those are the
Speaker 4: two things that I do to really help myself be
Speaker 4: present so that I can use the fullness of my
Speaker 4: mental capacity and my skill sets to show up holy
Speaker 4: and authentically myself.
Speaker 3: Thank you for passing those on.
Speaker 2: It's so good.
Speaker 3: Of course, we need to take a quick break, but
Speaker 3: we'll be right back. Stay with us and we're back.
Speaker 3: So you are going to be live in Paris at
Speaker 3: the Olympics because you have been in these athletes shoes. Literally,
Speaker 3: are you easier or tougher on them on air?
Speaker 2: Oh?
Speaker 4: Easier, way easier. So I've taken it on as my duty.
Speaker 4: I care about what I say because I know that
Speaker 4: athletes are listening, and so as much as obviously I'm
Speaker 4: unbiased and I'm going to speak to what I see,
Speaker 4: I'm very careful with my words. And that was that's
Speaker 4: on purpose because when I was competing sometimes I felt
Speaker 4: like the commentators would harp on she was the bronze
Speaker 4: medalist and she you know, she was favored to win gold,
Speaker 4: and she was like, tell the folks the good stuff like,
Speaker 4: you don't have to always lead with the negative. And
Speaker 4: so for me, what I hope to do, and especially
Speaker 4: with an audience as big as what we get for
Speaker 4: the Olympics, is for them to feel our passion for
Speaker 4: the sport, for them to fall in love with the
Speaker 4: people that they're watching, and to understand how incredible their
Speaker 4: performances are.
Speaker 2: And so that's what I want to do. I want
Speaker 2: to illuminate how hard it.
Speaker 4: Is for them to get here, what they're experiencing in
Speaker 4: the village, what it's like when they're back there warming up,
Speaker 4: when they're being held in the call room, that that
Speaker 4: thirty ways before the race with their competition. You know,
Speaker 4: that's what I like. I like making it feel like
Speaker 4: the people watching aren't there and they can truly appreciate
Speaker 4: the performances. And so I would say, you know, lighter
Speaker 4: on there. I try not to be too tough.
Speaker 3: You know, a few years ago I interviewed Peyton Manning
Speaker 3: and he told me that SNL was way more nerve
Speaker 3: racking than the Super Bowl. But he meant it like
Speaker 3: I could tell he meant it for you, is commentating
Speaker 3: more nerve racking or performing and competing in the Olympics.
Speaker 2: No, Definitely, competing was way more nerve wracking for me.
Speaker 4: But I understand what he's saying, because the sentiment is
Speaker 4: the thing that comes more naturally to you will feel
Speaker 4: easier than something that somebody else thinks is would would
Speaker 4: be easier. I wish sometimes I didn't put so much
Speaker 4: pressure on myself to compete, like I wish I was
Speaker 4: able to be in the mind space that I was
Speaker 4: from about two thousand and eight and beyond, where I
Speaker 4: was having fun and it wasn't.
Speaker 2: I didn't make myself.
Speaker 4: Always feel like the weight of the world was on
Speaker 4: my shoulders, And certainly because of those skills that I
Speaker 4: learned in the latter part of my career, I carry
Speaker 4: that over to what I do now. So it was
Speaker 4: definitely much tougher on the check than it has been
Speaker 4: being in the booth.
Speaker 1: Well, the athletes that you cover are so lucky to
Speaker 1: have you in the booth because you just spoke about
Speaker 1: how intentional you are with your words and your language
Speaker 1: when you cover them, and that feels more needed than
Speaker 1: ever before because we're in a time right now where
Speaker 1: black female athletes are under the microscope often for displaying
Speaker 1: the same Bravado as male athletes, only the black female
Speaker 1: athletes are the ones who are heavily criticized for it.
Speaker 1: So sure, what do you think the media is getting
Speaker 1: wrong when it comes to covering athletes like Shakri Richardson
Speaker 1: or Angel Reese or Kennedy Carter to be.
Speaker 4: A lot more thoughtful about that, because I'm not always
Speaker 4: sure if it's just the media or if it is
Speaker 4: the perception that we as a society have of black
Speaker 4: women and how we expect them to act, how we
Speaker 4: feel comfortable digesting them. I think it has equal parts
Speaker 4: with how media portrays black women and equal parts with
Speaker 4: how society accepts black women. And what I will say
Speaker 4: to that is that I feel like there has been
Speaker 4: a turn of the tide where the women who are
Speaker 4: in the spotlight are not backing down and not allowing
Speaker 4: anyone to paint their pictures for them, you know, like
Speaker 4: Angel Reese specifically Shakarie Richardson. The way that they carry themselves,
Speaker 4: the way that they show up one hundred percent authentically
Speaker 4: without a care for what anyone wants them to be
Speaker 4: or what feels digestible. I admire it so much because
Speaker 4: it is very hard as a black woman to always
Speaker 4: show up in every and be authentically yourself. There's just
Speaker 4: no if ends or buts about that. And I remember
Speaker 4: my own career always feeling like I had to say
Speaker 4: all the right things, and it's like, you know, it's
Speaker 4: like if you don't, you might miss out an opportunity.
Speaker 4: And so I'm really proud of this new generation of
Speaker 4: black women and Black girls who are owning all of
Speaker 4: who they are and you can take it or leave it.
Speaker 4: And I think that it's also helping society to see
Speaker 4: that we are not a monolith. That black women show
Speaker 4: up in all different kinds of ways, and that's okay.
Speaker 4: We can own our confidence and however we want to
Speaker 4: own it. We can be humble if we choose, We
Speaker 4: can be loud, we can be self spoken.
Speaker 2: All of those things are acceptable. I love where we
Speaker 2: are right now, but I think.
Speaker 4: That the burden of black women's perception falls on both sides,
Speaker 4: the public as well as the media.
Speaker 1: Can you give us an example of a time when
Speaker 1: you were competing where you felt like you had to
Speaker 1: compromise a part of who you are as a black
Speaker 1: woman or sanitize a part of who you are as
Speaker 1: a black woman. To appe he is the mainstream. Did
Speaker 1: you ever run up against that?
Speaker 2: I would just say it wasn't.
Speaker 4: I don't have like a specific example where I was like,
Speaker 4: oh my god, i't feel like I'm being fully authentically myself,
Speaker 4: but I certainly feel like there were guardrails and parameters
Speaker 4: for which I operated in, and not just that that
Speaker 4: was how black women showed up, but how Olympic athletes
Speaker 4: showed up, how Team USA athletes showed up. You know,
Speaker 4: were there times where they asked the question and I
Speaker 4: had to answer the way that I thought was like.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I'm just excited to represent Team USA or.
Speaker 4: Something like that, And in my head, I'm like, this
Speaker 4: is symbol like you know, like we know that athlete
Speaker 4: is not clean, or you know, like things that I
Speaker 4: feel like athletes say now without having any fears of repercussions.
Speaker 4: So I would just say it was more about like
Speaker 4: modeling what I had seen before in my own way.
Speaker 2: I don't think I was.
Speaker 4: Ever like disingenuous to myself, right, Like, this was probably
Speaker 4: ninety nine percent of who I was, But there was
Speaker 4: also parts of me that I didn't show because I
Speaker 4: wasn't I was afraid that it might exclude me from
Speaker 4: opportunities that came to Olympic athletes based on how positive we.
Speaker 2: Were and you know and all that kind of stuff.
Speaker 4: So I don't have a specific experience where I'm like, man,
Speaker 4: I hated how I showed up in that space, or
Speaker 4: I didn't feel like myself, But I certainly feel like
Speaker 4: I always kind of you know, I knew this is this,
Speaker 4: I should show up like this because this is what
Speaker 4: people expect.
Speaker 2: From an Olympic champion.
Speaker 1: Oh, it's really interesting to hear you describe the difference
Speaker 1: between the media climate back then and how there's more
Speaker 1: freedom or at least these athletes are feeling more permission to.
Speaker 2: Show up absolutely, show up authentically.
Speaker 3: And the next generation of girls right, because I think
Speaker 3: each generation paves the way for the next one to Yeah, yeah,
Speaker 3: we have to take another short break, but we'll be
Speaker 3: back in just a minute. Don't go anywhere, and we're back, Okay, Sonia,
Speaker 3: I gotta talk real housewise. I'm the resident fan in
Speaker 3: the house and you just announced that you are leaving.
Speaker 3: You and og Candy are leaving. Why did you decide
Speaker 3: to leave?
Speaker 2: It was mutual.
Speaker 4: Househards has been in a really sticky spot for a while, right,
Speaker 4: Like they have an issue casting the show. I think
Speaker 4: the fans have this nostalgia for the show where they
Speaker 4: want it to be what it was before, and the
Speaker 4: reality is that it will never be that way again.
Speaker 2: It is impossible. The same women can't come back.
Speaker 3: Right.
Speaker 4: Also, if they're casting the show, obviously the women who
Speaker 4: are going to be coming in aren't going to be
Speaker 4: friends of the old women in the same way that
Speaker 4: they were before, right, So it causes a dynamic that
Speaker 4: I think is disappointing for the fans. So whenever you
Speaker 4: come in as a newbie, they already have like, oh.
Speaker 2: You know, like what is she doing?
Speaker 4: And so it sets a tone that's really hard to
Speaker 4: kind of break into.
Speaker 2: And although I had the.
Speaker 4: Best intentions joining the show, I really wanted to show
Speaker 4: black excellence and love and all the things that I am,
Speaker 4: it was a really hard space to navigate with a
Speaker 4: group of veteran women who know the ropes, who already
Speaker 4: had established relationships. And so I never have regrets in life,
Speaker 4: because I think everything teaches you something about yourself, prepares
Speaker 4: you for the next thing. So I certainly don't regret it.
Speaker 4: I felt like I learned a lot. It just wasn't
Speaker 4: the right space for me. I wanted to try to
Speaker 4: make it fit, but it just doesn't. It didn't feel
Speaker 4: like a fit for me. And to be quite honest,
Speaker 4: this season I can't film now, like this is my
Speaker 4: very heavy season.
Speaker 2: Where I am traveling for track meets.
Speaker 4: I certainly was not going to miss the Olympics, and
Speaker 4: so when you're filming the show, you have to be
Speaker 4: one hundred percent committed.
Speaker 2: Weekends are dedicated to the show.
Speaker 4: It was a really tricky show to navigate, but I
Speaker 4: still had fun, so all good.
Speaker 3: It was so funny, honestly for me to watch you
Speaker 3: because you are so like highbrow and chill, and this
Speaker 3: show is so high drama and sort of low brow.
Speaker 2: And I was like, this just doesn't fit.
Speaker 3: Like I felt like you must have felt so awkward
Speaker 3: in all of these fights, and like it just it
Speaker 3: was not It was not a Sonia thing.
Speaker 4: No, you're right, And I think what I learned in
Speaker 4: that season of my life is that everything about my
Speaker 4: personality and who I have become because of my athletic
Speaker 4: prowess does not serve me now. And so for me
Speaker 4: as the athlete, it's like oh housewives, Oh check, Like
Speaker 4: you know I'm gonna get there, like check that box.
Speaker 4: Like I can do it, you know, like I'll make
Speaker 4: it work, I'll make it make sense. And it's like, Okay,
Speaker 4: now I know that there are circumstances and situations and
Speaker 4: opportunities that don't serve me, and it's okay, Like I
Speaker 4: don't have to win every race. I don't have to
Speaker 4: break every record anymore. I can do the things that
Speaker 4: bring me joy and peace. And you know, as I
Speaker 4: was navigating, like what is truly important to me and
Speaker 4: how do I want to show up in the world
Speaker 4: and all those things, family is the most important thing
Speaker 4: to me, and so it just didn't fit all of
Speaker 4: those things. Though I was well intentioned in join me,
Speaker 4: I felt like, Okay, now I know I got to
Speaker 4: start saying no to some things that just don't fit
Speaker 4: all of who I am.
Speaker 1: We want to ask you about Momination. It's a multimedia
Speaker 1: and virtual community that you created that supports black moms.
Speaker 2: Why do you love doing this work? Because it's necessary
Speaker 2: and it's needed.
Speaker 4: When I became a mom, I wanted to be a
Speaker 4: mom more than anything in the world.
Speaker 2: And it was still a very overwhelming role for me.
Speaker 4: I trained for the full hundred and it was harder
Speaker 4: than that, and I was just like, wow, like, how
Speaker 4: are moms doing this without support, without resources, without community?
Speaker 4: And so we started the platform with twenty five black moms,
Speaker 4: vibrant young moms, just kind of sharing their stories, and
Speaker 4: it just blew up, like you know, like because women
Speaker 4: wanted to feel seen and heard, and they wanted to
Speaker 4: be in community, and they wanted to know that they
Speaker 4: weren't alone on their motherhood journey. And it's been the
Speaker 4: joy of my life to still do that now have
Speaker 4: our mammin Nation Gives foundation where we raise money to
Speaker 4: help moms. We've helped all sort of moms, but the
Speaker 4: one that we've done the most working, where I feel
Speaker 4: like we're having the most impact, is helping homeless moms
Speaker 4: because I just cannot imagine having a child and not
Speaker 4: having a place to go to at night. So that's
Speaker 4: really our passion through Mammination Gives is to figure out
Speaker 4: how we can help moms who have hit hard times
Speaker 4: to like have a roof over their head, even if
Speaker 4: it's temporary, for come for three four months while they
Speaker 4: figure everything else out. So it's a huge passion of
Speaker 4: mine because I am a mom and I just know
Speaker 4: how hard it is, and I know for sure that
Speaker 4: the one thing that we all can relate to as
Speaker 4: mothers is that we want our kids to have the
Speaker 4: best opportunities and the best life that they can and so,
Speaker 4: you know, I want to help moms provide that for
Speaker 4: their children.
Speaker 2: So that's why I started, and that's why I still
Speaker 2: do it.
Speaker 3: Sonya. We talk so much about sport on this show,
Speaker 3: and not in a professional way, but sport has given
Speaker 3: Simon and I both so much. So I'm going to
Speaker 3: ask you a really simple question. What has sport given
Speaker 3: you in your life?
Speaker 2: Sport has given me everything. It's given me everything.
Speaker 4: It has given me an opportunity to see the world.
Speaker 4: It's given me an opportunity to dream. It brought me
Speaker 4: my husband, my scholarship to you, t is where I
Speaker 4: met my husband.
Speaker 2: It's just given me so much.
Speaker 4: It's taught me so much about myself and what I'm
Speaker 4: capable of. It has taught me so much about hard
Speaker 4: work and resiliency and delayed gratification. I'm really grateful that
Speaker 4: I had the opportunity to be a part of sport
Speaker 4: and still do right in different ways.
Speaker 2: Sonya.
Speaker 1: It was so wonderful having you on our show. Thank
Speaker 1: you so much for coming to the bright Side. Oh yeah,
Speaker 1: and I just love you too. You guys are great.
Speaker 1: Thank you so much for having me. This was a
Speaker 1: great conversation.
Speaker 3: Thank you You're so real, Sonya. I love it.
Speaker 2: You know.
Speaker 4: I do what I could do when I could do it.
Speaker 1: Anya Richards Ross is one of the most decorated track
Speaker 1: and Field Olympians of all time. She's an NBC sports
Speaker 1: analyst and a former co star on the Real Housewives
Speaker 1: of Atlanta. Her memoir is called Chasing Grace. What the
Speaker 1: Quarter Mile has taught Me about God.
Speaker 3: That's it for today's show. Tomorrow, on the bright Side,
Speaker 3: We're popping off with NBA Today host Malika Andrews all
Speaker 3: about the week and pop culture, plus storylines from this
Speaker 3: weekend's WNBA All Star Game. Listen and follow the bright
Speaker 3: Side on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you
Speaker 3: get your podcasts.
Speaker 2: I'm Simone Boye.
Speaker 1: You can find me at Simone Voice on Instagram and TikTok.
Speaker 3: I'm Danielle Robe on Instagram and TikTok. That's ro Ba y.
Speaker 2: See you tomorrow.
Speaker 1: Folks, keep looking on the bright side.