On The Line - Khalifa St Fort
Rising track star Khalifa St Fort opens up about bullying and her road to Rio 2016.
Transcript
00:00 This episode of On The Line is brought to you courtesy the sports company of Trinidad and Tobago.
00:06 On this episode, I'm on the line with Khalifa Saint-Claude
00:12 under the watchful eye of four-time Olympic medalist, Atul Ghoro.
00:17 Ready?
00:20 Ready.
00:21 Set. Go!
00:26 On the Line
00:30 In every sport, there's a line.
00:34 All athletes put themselves on the line for club and country.
00:41 On the Line
00:46 On the Line
01:14 I'm particularly excited about our trip today as I'm heading to meet rising star Khalifa Saint-Claude.
01:19 At just 18 years old, she's already turned professional and turning heads.
01:33 And I just got a message from national champion, Kellyanne Bautiste, who said she's going to pop by, so I'm excited about that as well.
01:41 On the Line
01:44 She's ten in purple and Atul just said she was at 60%.
02:09 And that's just their warm-up.
02:11 So, just a reminder out there, this is just training.
02:17 Phew!
02:19 On the Line
02:23 On the Line
02:49 The obvious question is, what's it like having Khalifa as a daughter?
02:52 It's been a very, very exciting experience.
02:55 I mean, I've got to thank God for blessing us with a child like that.
02:58 Very dedicated.
03:00 Very good daughter, never had any major issues.
03:03 There's nothing but God that could have got her to this point, especially when she's on the brink of quitting track.
03:10 Now, I read that you were very instrumental in bringing her to Atul Bholen.
03:14 Yes, I mean, me and my daughter are very tied together.
03:18 We're very close.
03:19 I know that she wasn't happy, and I just knew that she could be doing a lot better than what she was doing at the time.
03:27 I think, obviously, the coach had other players on the team, other competitors on the team.
03:32 I just felt she wasn't reaching her full potential.
03:34 After her freshman year, her times was kind of going backwards instead of forward.
03:38 So, I just took a chance to talk to Mr. Boulder for like an hour and a half and said, "Look, you know, I don't know what her talent level is.
03:45 I'm not saying that she's this, she's that.
03:47 But if you have an opportunity, can you take a look at her?"
03:49 Because I think that we're kind of limited a little bit to a lot of people who probably know track as well as he does because he's competed at a high level and stuff.
03:57 But, yes, I said, "Hey, if you get an opportunity, can you take a look at her?"
04:01 And one day, he gave me a call at the right time, and he took a look at her, and the rest is history.
04:06 Thank God for that.
04:07 Man, she's still my little girl no matter what.
04:10 I mean, at the same time, I do understand how things progress.
04:12 I mean, she's a teenager.
04:13 She's 18.
04:14 I do understand what my role is as a parent.
04:17 I'm not one of those parents that are afraid to let go.
04:20 I mean, she is a young lady, very responsible.
04:23 If she needs, obviously, she still lives with us, but if she needs any advice, anything from us, we're here.
04:28 But at the same time, we're not going to smother her and allow her to grow and live her life and see where it goes from there.
04:34 As long as she stays healthy and she's happy, then we're very grateful as parents.
04:39 [♪♪♪]
04:42 If I beat you in the race itself, it's okay.
04:50 My legs are longer than yours.
04:51 My stride is longer than yours.
04:52 I'm going to get up right probably faster.
04:55 Don't be disheartened by it all, all right?
04:58 There's always tomorrow.
04:59 You just need to train harder.
05:00 That's what it's about.
05:01 Just train harder and harder and harder.
05:03 [♪♪♪]
05:07 So is it important the way the hands are?
05:09 Not really.
05:10 It's actually up to people.
05:12 Like, Barbara Pree actually has a certain measurement she does with her hand, but me, kind of just anywhere.
05:18 Just as long as you remain behind the line.
05:19 As long as you're behind the line.
05:21 So all this sort of motion I see there, it's just the psyche.
05:24 It's the psyche itself, right?
05:25 Basically, yes.
05:26 Some people have their thing they do before races, and that's just some...
05:29 What are the things you work on?
05:31 I usually do a box, stretch to the block.
05:33 So I usually stand up, stretch, stretch my toes, and then get back to my box.
05:36 All right, well, I want to do that in a second, because I want to pick you up from the start.
05:40 All right.
05:41 So what we do is...
05:42 Here, here, and then down.
05:45 [♪♪♪]
05:51 So here.
05:53 So...
05:54 That's when you start.
05:55 And then start from the right.
05:56 [indistinct chatter]
05:58 And then...
05:59 Right.
06:00 Yeah.
06:02 I didn't look as graceful as you did there.
06:03 [laughs]
06:04 It's okay.
06:05 As high as you can get.
06:06 As high as you can get.
06:07 Yes.
06:08 Are you trying to remain as horizontal as possible?
06:11 Yeah, so you're trying to stay down.
06:13 You're trying to stay this way.
06:15 [indistinct chatter]
06:17 Oh, okay.
06:18 I'm excited.
06:19 Just one thing I need to look for.
06:21 Yeah.
06:22 So Ato says take it easy.
06:24 All right.
06:25 [indistinct chatter]
06:27 You don't study, huh?
06:29 Set and go to two commands you want to get.
06:31 All right?
06:32 So on your marks first.
06:35 Set.
06:37 Go.
06:38 [♪♪♪]
06:43 [♪♪♪]
06:49 [♪♪♪]
06:54 [♪♪♪]
06:59 [♪♪♪]
07:04 [announcer] Khalifa A. Ford, Trinidad and Tobago.
07:08 [♪♪♪]
07:13 So Khalifa just popped out onto the scene.
07:16 You've become a household name.
07:17 Take me through that.
07:19 Well, I made my first appearance at the Junior Champs last year.
07:24 I was trying to qualify for the World Youth in Cali, Colombia.
07:28 I went out there and I ran 11.8, I believe.
07:32 And it wasn't actually my best race,
07:34 but it was my first introduction onto the trinny scene.
07:37 I consider myself a trinny American.
07:39 I'm half trinny, half American,
07:41 but most of my family that I spend time with here are trinny.
07:44 I'm proud to have the opportunity to come out here
07:47 and represent Trinidad and Tobago every time I step on the track
07:50 and to represent them well.
07:51 Ato, putting it lightly or mildly, very tough on you.
07:56 How do you guys get along?
07:58 We get along very well.
07:59 I mean, he has to be tough as a coach
08:01 because there's things that he has to put me through,
08:03 that friends can't push you through,
08:05 the pain that I have to go through in order to run well.
08:09 He has to be hard on me,
08:10 but he's hard on me because he knows I can do it
08:13 and because it will push me to be in a better place.
08:16 What would you say are some of the most important lessons
08:18 you've learned from Ato Mullen as well?
08:24 Definitely perseverance, and with hard work,
08:27 you can reach anywhere you want to and anywhere you need to.
08:30 I've definitely learned that you may not have it now,
08:35 but you can definitely achieve it later.
08:37 Ato has a lot of confidence within himself,
08:40 and I'm seeing that in yourself,
08:41 and you actually see yourself there,
08:43 and you see yourself getting the rewards
08:45 that come with being at the top of your game.
08:47 Anything in particular that you're looking forward to?
08:50 Well, I'm most looking forward to having the platform
08:52 to inspire young girls and boys my age to achieve their dreams
08:57 because that's what I've always wanted to do.
08:59 Because in order for you to actually be able to have a voice,
09:02 you first have to have a platform,
09:03 and this is my platform or a way for me to give back.
09:06 So what would you say are some of the things
09:08 that you'd want the public of Trinidad and Tobago
09:10 to know about you looking on at this,
09:13 the younger generation, not just athletes,
09:15 but just young ladies in general?
09:17 That it's important that you respect yourself,
09:20 important that you always believe in yourself,
09:22 and know that anyone take your confidence away from you.
09:25 My school and I don't have a very good relationship.
09:27 They don't speak of me.
09:28 No one really knows my accomplishments unless they ask me.
09:31 I was training very hard at my school,
09:33 which is St. Thomas Aquinas in Fourth Lauderdale, Florida,
09:35 under Coach Alex Armenteros,
09:37 and after a while, I started to--
09:41 I wasn't getting any better.
09:43 I was actually--I was regressing terribly.
09:46 By the end of my freshman year,
09:47 I was struggling just to run 12s.
09:50 I was almost dipping into almost the 13s.
09:52 And to be told, you know, as an athlete by your coach
09:55 that it's not the program, it's you,
09:57 and no matter how hard you train, you won't get there.
10:01 You know, it was like I'm kind of wasting my time.
10:03 My first year on the team, I was actually bullied
10:06 by one of the older girls there.
10:08 I was an upcoming freshman, pretty close to her times,
10:10 and she tried to intimidate me.
10:13 She bullied me for about a good two years.
10:16 I went to the coach about it,
10:17 but she was the coach's favorite,
10:19 so nothing really registered.
10:21 The girls on the team kind of sided with the other girl,
10:24 of course, because those were her friends.
10:27 So freshman year was a little difficult for me
10:29 because the coach always said, you know,
10:31 "Khalifa, you're not going to get anywhere
10:32 because you're too nice.
10:33 You're always happy all the time,
10:35 and sometimes it's required to be so."
10:36 But that was just naturally how I am as a person,
10:39 and to be told because I'm naturally happy
10:41 or naturally nice that I wouldn't get anywhere
10:45 was kind of, you know, it was kind of disheartening
10:47 to hear that from a coach, let alone an adult.
10:52 Overall, it was just--
10:54 it just made me dislike my sport
10:56 because I was no longer having fun.
10:58 When practice started to become a chore,
11:00 when I realized when I had to--after school,
11:02 I'm like, "I have practice again,
11:03 after people I know who are not for me."
11:07 It just makes you not enjoy your sport anymore.
11:10 It makes you feel like, "I'm doing this for what?"
11:14 I didn't see--I'm not happy.
11:16 I'm not enjoying it. I'm stressed.
11:18 And I didn't see the point of me really continuing
11:21 if I'm going to be this unhappy
11:22 because I wouldn't want to do this in college.
11:24 I can't go to college running 12.3.
11:26 So I felt like I was almost just wasting my time
11:28 and wasting everybody else's time.
11:29 When I'm on the track,
11:30 I'm able to not really think of anything
11:32 but other than something I love, which is running.
11:35 So when I'm out here, I get to focus solely
11:37 on what I want to do,
11:38 which is focus on getting faster,
11:40 whether it's 300s to 400s to 60s.
11:43 People think because I've turned professional,
11:46 everything has changed.
11:47 I've been under a pro system for a while.
11:50 All that changes is my title.
11:52 I'm doing the same workouts,
11:53 but now it's just I'm training harder than usual
11:57 just because I know that with that title,
12:00 I'm expected to do great things.
12:02 - And what are some of the goals
12:03 you're setting for yourself personally?
12:05 Not Atul, not your dad.
12:06 What are some of the things you're setting for yourself?
12:08 Not just for real, but where does Khalifa see herself?
12:10 - Well, by the end of this season,
12:11 my goal is to run 10.72,
12:14 and I don't care how hard I have to work to get there,
12:18 and if I'm a little shy of it,
12:19 10.8, 10.9, I'll still be happy,
12:21 but my goal is 10.72 this year, by Rio.
12:24 This is my line.
12:25 We have great conversation out here.
12:27 We joke, we laugh.
12:29 When I'm out, I just--
12:30 - I love jokes, you know?
12:31 - Yes, we all have jokes, and it's real kicks,
12:33 especially when Richard comes and Monique and Reese
12:37 and everyone's out here having a great time.
12:40 It's a lime out here for us.
12:42 - What's your relationship like
12:43 between yourself and Kellyanne,
12:44 and even having the opportunity to train with her?
12:46 - Kellyanne's almost like a bigger sister to me.
12:48 She has definitely told me a lot of her experiences,
12:52 especially when it comes to Olympics,
12:53 and she told me, "Enjoy your first Olympics.
12:56 "Do not let the stress of it get to you."
12:59 I mean, I'm 18.
13:00 Not many 18-year-olds go to the Olympics
13:02 or even have the opportunity to go.
13:04 I'm just happy to go out there,
13:06 compete against the best athletes in the world,
13:09 and see where God takes me.
13:11 [dramatic music]
13:16 ♪ ♪
13:23 [upbeat music]
13:26 ♪ ♪
13:32 [indistinct commentating]
13:35 ♪ ♪
13:42 ♪ ♪
13:47 ♪ ♪
13:52 ♪ ♪
13:56 - A man who is very, very capable of running much faster.
14:00 Remember that he is still very, very young.
14:02 Of all the guys I'm about to talk about,
14:04 he is one of the youngest.
14:06 ♪ ♪
14:11 - Where do you find the time?
14:13 Clearly, over the past three or four days
14:15 here being with Khalifa,
14:16 you are actively involved in her life.
14:19 You've flown back to Trinidad.
14:21 You're doing your NBC thing.
14:22 Even when you told me you're gonna be juxtaposing
14:24 between your job as a coach in Rio
14:28 plus in the commentary box.
14:30 How do you manage it all?
14:32 - I manage it by making sure that on every day,
14:39 whatever I am into, I am passionate about.
14:42 'Cause that's the only way to make that clock
14:43 keep going and not notice it.
14:45 - So you've been--you've traveled the world.
14:47 You've been there, done that.
14:48 You've seen the best facilities.
14:51 How does Trinidad and Tobago match up?
14:54 And if they don't match up,
14:56 what do you think is a fundamental issue or issues?
14:59 - Administratively, yeah, we have some challenges,
15:03 but I think we've come a long way.
15:04 The way our club system is still run.
15:08 When you look at what other islands--
15:10 and let's not say Jamaica, 'cause we know Jamaica's
15:12 the gold standard.
15:13 Let's go to Bahamas.
15:15 When you look at what Bahamas has done
15:17 with their high school system
15:19 and with their club system,
15:21 they have continued to get better.
15:24 How is it that we went from second behind Jamaica
15:27 to third behind Bahamas and Jamaica
15:29 to fourth behind Barbados, Bahamas, and Jamaica,
15:32 and nobody's saying anything?
15:33 Every time we come back from Corrupted Games,
15:35 "Oh, we did very well.
15:36 We are not doing well."
15:37 Well, guess what?
15:38 This year, we slipped to the lowest I think
15:40 we've been in 20 years.
15:43 And part of the problem is--
15:45 and this is a national thing--
15:47 call a spade a spade,
15:49 because part of rectifying a problem
15:51 is identifying it as a problem in the first place.
15:53 We still feel that somehow the day is going to come
15:56 where we're going to win the World Cup.
15:58 I love football as much as anybody else.
16:00 It is not going to happen.
16:01 The country--the sport that our country
16:05 has done the best in is track and field.
16:07 That's not up for debate.
16:09 That's a fact.
16:10 But the resources that get pushed
16:13 towards other sports versus us,
16:16 that doesn't happen in Jamaica.
16:17 - When did you notice Khalifa?
16:20 I know what that came to.
16:22 When did you notice that, you know what?
16:25 I want to put it all behind this young lady.
16:28 And she became your Batman.
16:31 - I really felt like her situation
16:35 and her high school and where she had come from
16:38 and being--she was the definition.
16:40 She's Cinderella, you know,
16:41 'cause she was the ugly stepsister
16:44 who nobody wanted--
16:45 nobody wanted to do anything with Khalifa, right?
16:48 Because she had these other people on this team
16:51 who were better than her.
16:52 He'll go in the corner and wash some wares
16:55 or clean the house.
16:57 That's where she came from.
16:58 And the day that her ex-coach said to her
17:02 that she wasn't any good,
17:04 and it didn't matter whether she worked
17:05 with Atto Bold and Maurice Green,
17:07 she just wasn't that good,
17:09 something--
17:11 I don't want to say it snapped, but it did.
17:14 Because the rage that I felt that day,
17:16 and I thought, "This big hardback man
17:18 is going to look at a 16-year-old girl
17:21 and tell her she's not good enough?"
17:23 Unacceptable. Unacceptable.
17:25 And I decided that day, I said, "Listen.
17:27 You and me, we are going to prove not just him
17:30 but everybody on that team,
17:32 everybody in this region, wrong.
17:35 I am going to show you how great you can be."
17:37 When you have that combination of bad mind,
17:40 passion, and expertise,
17:42 is why Khalifa is where she is today.
17:44 - Do you think you're hard on her?
17:47 - She would probably say no.
17:50 But I push her right to the limit.
17:53 We dance on the lip of that volcano.
17:55 [laughs]
17:56 I can be very, very hard,
17:58 but with me, I believe in carrot and stick.
18:02 And if you look at her Facebook or her Instagram
18:05 or her Snapchat, you would think,
18:07 "Well, it's all carrot, right?
18:08 She driving Tesla.
18:10 She getting clothes from Romany Malco.
18:13 She lives the life."
18:14 What they don't see is when I am getting in her face
18:18 in the back in Kharif, though.
18:19 Right after that first round, I say,
18:21 "Khalifa, these people are here to see you.
18:24 You are the one who will be making big splash
18:26 but you're going pro.
18:27 People have bought their ticket to come and see you."
18:30 Khalifa has the credentials
18:33 and the capability where she's the queen bee.
18:37 - Now, of course, under you,
18:40 we have Kelly, who is here briefly,
18:43 Richard, who is at the top of his game,
18:45 still the top sprinter, still national champion,
18:47 and now the rising star Khalifa.
18:49 Does that give you sort of a bigger spread
18:54 in a--I mean, I'm gonna use the word--ego?
18:57 - I have more gray hair this year because of it.
19:01 But that is not a bad pressure.
19:03 My entire life has been proving people wrong,
19:07 proving to people that I do know what I'm talking about,
19:10 I do know what I'm doing.
19:12 You have to realize that the first time I ran in the Olympics,
19:15 there was a headline that says "Bold and Flapper's to be seen,"
19:18 and I have never forgotten that
19:20 because that headline said to me,
19:22 "He is not who he thinks he is
19:24 and he is not who we thought he was."
19:27 My whole career is based on that.
19:29 My whole life is based on that
19:30 because I have always had to--
19:32 I mean, look at this thing with Khalifa.
19:36 In essence, Khalifa is me saying to everybody who,
19:41 I guess, sees me on NBC and sees where I am
19:43 in the track and field community, who goes,
19:45 "Yeah, he could talk it, but he can't do it."
19:48 Khalifa is my--I can do it. I've done it.
19:52 If she never runs another step,
19:55 she is the eighth fastest under-18 girl
19:59 to ever walk the face of the Earth,
20:01 and that is with me working with her part-time
20:03 when she was at her old high school.
20:05 So I--it's not a bad thing
20:08 to have that chip on your shoulder
20:11 as long as you don't let it get to a place of negativity,
20:14 and I don't.
20:15 It's always a, "Khalifa, let's go back to work,"
20:18 because remember, your haters have said
20:21 that you don't deserve this pro contract.
20:23 So it's never from a negative place.
20:25 It's always from a place of,
20:26 "Let's continue to do what we do
20:28 because remember that we have our goals
20:31 and, oh, percentage of it is we are the proven doctors."
20:36 [dramatic music]
20:39 ♪ ♪
20:42 - Um, both whites?
20:43 But you want rum, right?
20:44 - I'm--I'm whatever you want. - Okay.
20:47 ♪ ♪
20:48 - Whatever I deserve after my work.
20:50 - Um, I don't eat beans, but I'm sure you want beans.
20:52 You might want beans. - Uh, yeah, these, um...
20:55 ♪ ♪
21:00 They're too trinny, you know?
21:02 I got red, too. [laughs]
21:05 - No, I don't get this on here, but they have it.
21:07 - Oh, you don't put pepper sauce in your food?
21:09 - Well, not this kind of.
21:10 'Cause I mean, pepper sauce after you run.
21:12 - And your doubles and one, you put pepper?
21:14 - Oh, yeah. - Spice and pepper?
21:15 - Spice. Spice, pepper.
21:17 Um, mild?
21:18 ♪ ♪
21:24 I just don't like to be hungry at any point in the day,
21:26 so I just try to--
21:27 - So it's not like you have to eat, like,
21:28 eight times a day or anything?
21:29 - No, I just keep myself from starving, you know?
21:32 - Yeah.
21:34 So what's with the Chobani, though?
21:36 I know this was one after every workout.
21:38 - Mm-hmm. - And why that particular brand?
21:41 - It has the right amount of sugar
21:43 and the right amount of protein
21:44 that your body needs right after you work out.
21:46 So after a hard workout, you have, like,
21:47 a 10-minute window to put something back in your body.
21:49 - Mm. - And that's just the easiest--
21:51 it's easy to eat. It's small.
21:52 It's not too much, but it's not too heavy.
21:54 - How do you get by with no doubles?
21:56 - No, wait till I go to the gym.
21:57 - [laughs]
21:58 So the first thing as soon as you land in training
22:00 are doubles?
22:01 - Yes, if I'm not in training.
22:02 Like, when I first came down for TTOC,
22:06 oh, yes, I had about five of them.
22:09 - So when you come for--
22:11 when you come to it for nationals?
22:12 - No, I will not have doubles then.
22:14 [upbeat music]
22:17 ♪ ♪
22:19 - Atul gives you a hard time.
22:21 He trains you hard and all the rest of it.
22:23 Now let's turn-- let's turn it on its head now
22:26 and see if he's still got it in the tan versus me.
22:32 - Yeah. - Yeah?
22:34 - So I've lost one step, maybe two, since I ran.
22:37 How many has he lost? - Ooh.
22:39 - Yeah, so we're gonna see how much--
22:42 how much we can do here.
22:44 So just give me--
22:46 you're just gonna do six there.
22:48 Or just--which line?
22:49 You--oh, sorry.
22:51 - Go to the first line now.
22:52 - So you pick the line. I'm alone.
22:53 You pick the line. - Go to the first line.
22:55 - No, I don't--the issue is, I don't--
22:57 with all the people that we have around,
22:59 I don't want to, like-- - You're shifting this way.
23:01 - Yeah, but I don't want to take you down your own backyard.
23:04 - Nah, don't worry. They'll have heard their eyes.
23:06 - So what I'll do is I'll take it easy on them
23:08 the first--the first step. - Okay, yeah.
23:09 Thank you, thank you, thank you.
23:11 - Let's see how this--
23:13 - Tell me, how was that?
23:15 - I need to stretch. I need to stretch.
23:18 - You know where you're too bad?
23:20 [upbeat music]
23:25 - This is how--did it work?
23:27 - Yeah.
23:28 So it's--
23:30 It's mind-blowing.
23:31 You're gonna--you're gonna use that?
23:33 - Go!
23:35 ♪ ♪
23:37 [laughter]
23:39 ♪ ♪
23:41 - Oh, my word.
23:43 - All right.
23:45 - [laughs]
23:47 - I just want to say
23:49 thank you for being--
23:51 thank you for being a good sport.
23:52 - Thank you.
23:53 - Thank you for being on the line,
23:55 putting it all on the line.
23:57 You know I did take it easy on you.
23:58 - Yes, yes, thank you very much.
23:59 'Cause you know my knees been bothering me up here.
24:01 - Yeah, I've got a--I've got a tear.
24:03 My leg's been doing a lot of stairs.
24:05 There's been a lot happening today.
24:07 But thank you for being such a great sport
24:09 and putting it all on the line.
24:12 [sighs]
24:13 Take care. - Take care.
24:14 - Happy birthday.
24:16 ♪ ♪
24:22 ♪ ♪
24:28 ♪ ♪
24:34 ♪ ♪