Sprint legend Yohan Blake was part of Jamaica's golden generation of athletes that included the world's fastest man Usain Bolt, Asafa Powell, Nesta Carter and Michael Frater. The trio of Bolt, Blake and Powell dominated events across the globe from the Olympics to World Championships to Diamond League events.
Blake, the second fastest man in the world and youngest 100m World Champion ever, is the International Event Ambassador for the 18th edition of the Tata Mumbai Marathon 2023 to be held on Sunday, January 15.
As part of the race day build up, the Mumbai Press club organised a Townhall where Blake addressed a media gathering speaking about his journey from his humble beginnings to becoming an Olympic silver medalist and 100 m World Champion.
The 33-year-old is also an ardent cricket fan, and a big supporter of the IPL, with Royal Challengers Bangalore being his favourite team. Talking to Free Press Journal exclusively on the sidelines of the event, Blake highlighted his plans to start an academy here in India.
"India a country of over a billion people can produce a gold medalist"
On being asked about the shortcomings the country has faced in terms of producing elite running and sprint athletes, Blake highlighted the lack of technical know-how from nutrition to training which he plans to bring to his academy in India, the plans of which are in process.
"I think the right coaching is of paramount importance. Apart from coaching, nutrition plays such an important role in giving you that extra mile. Supplements that give you that extra inch."
"That's where I come in, with all the experience I have gained over the years, I plan to share this expertise by bringing in the right technical coaches, sports science coaches, analysts dietitians and nutritionists."
Speed kills but marathon runners deserve respect
When Blake made the second fastest run of 9.69 seconds, he described it as feeling unstoppable. "That day I felt like I wasn’t touching the ground. I felt unstoppable. I was just flying. "
"These marathon runners do not get the respect and publicity they deserve but they are absolute beasts. To run 42 kms you need to have supreme endurance. As a sprinter, the longest I've run is 600m and that was in training. I absolutely hated it. I hated running 600m as part of my training regime. So to cover 42kms in 2 hours these athletes deserve my respect."
Blake has no plans to retire anytime soon and could possibly even target the 2026 Paris Olympics. Post retirement, he plans to follow his passion of cricket and perhaps get into cricket analysis and commentary.
He spoke of his ardent passion for the game and narrated an incident about his father telling him that cricket would be his ticket to escape his life of poverty to bring the food on the table.
He carries with him five computers everywhere he travels so that he can tune in to watch multiple cricket games. Whether it's West Indies or India or Australia, Pakistan and Sri Lanka, Blake follows the sport with utmost dedication.
