FRANCE: ATHLETICS - GOLD MEDALIST KIM COLLINS, THE ST.KITTS AND NEVIS ATHLETE WHO WON THE 100 METRES AT THE WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS IN PARIS, INTERVIEWED.

Record ID: 588594

  • Title: FRANCE: ATHLETICS - GOLD MEDALIST KIM COLLINS, THE ST.KITTS AND NEVIS ATHLETE WHO WON THE 100 METRES AT THE WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS IN PARIS, INTERVIEWED.
  • Date: 26th August 2003
  • Summary: PARIS, FRANCE (AUGUST 26, 2003) (REUTERS - ACCESS ALL) 1. 100 METRES WINNER KIM COLLINS WALKING IN FRONT OF ARC DE TRIUMPHE 2. KIM COLLINS LOOKING AT PAINTINGS BY STREET ARTISTS 3. KIM COLLINS TALKING TO JOURNALIST 4. (SOUNDBITE) (English) KIM COLLINS REJECTING SUGGESTION THAT HE IS A BIG NAME:"The big name has run faster than I have. I mean, Dwain Chambers has run9.86; I haven't done that. You know, Tim Montgomery, he is the world record holder. Bernard (Williams) has gone way under 9...much faster than I have. But the thing is I'm consistent. So, therefore, while I'm being consistent and I have my regular consistent days and they have a bad day, then I'll come out victorious such as what happened last night." [Question: You think they had a bad day?] "They had a bad day".[But that's taking away from you!] "It don't matter. We all get beat, on any given day. I mean, of the eight of us in the finals, you know, everybody has beaten each other on any given day. So I knew any one of us could have taken the race last night, any one of us in the finals could have took it." 5. COLLINS WITH JOURNALIST 6. (SOUNDBITE) (English) KIM COLLINS SAYING: "Physical is one thing, but a lot of it is mental. The guys try to get into your head, they try to, you know, play mind games. The physical strength is one part of it but you have got to have the heart and the mind to deal with everything that goes on around track and field" 7. JOURNALIST TAKING NOTES 8. KIM COLLINS SIGNING AUTOGRAPH Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
  • Embargoed: 10th September 2003 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: PARIS, FRANCE
  • Country: France
  • Reuters ID: LVAACA37JS8JDX2FJHCOR6ZXH2Z3
  • Story Text: Kim Collins speaks of his 100m triumph at Paris
    World Championships.



    Surprise world championship gold medallist Kim
    Collins said the day after his victory that success is as
    much about consistency and mental strength as physical
    force.

    Collins stormed to 100 metres gold for the tiny
    Caribbean nation of St Kitts and Nevis on Monday (August
    25).

    The Commonwealth champion told Reuters in an interview
    in Paris on Tuesday (August 26) that he felt no pressure
    before the final because all the attention was focussed on
    world record holder Tim Montgomery and European champion
    Dwain Chambers, who finished fifth and fourth.

    Collins denied that he was a "big name", saying that
    the really fast runners had a bad day.

    "The big name has run faster than I have," Collins
    said. "I mean, Dwain Chambers has run 9.86; I haven't done
    that. You know, Tim Montgomery, he is the world record
    holder...

    "But the thing is I'm consistent. So, therefore, while
    I'm being consistent and I have my regular consistent days
    and they have a bad day, then I'll come out victorious such
    as what happened last night."
    Collins added: "We all get beat, on any given day. I
    mean, of the eight of us in the finals, you know, everybody
    has beaten each other on any given day. So I knew any one
    of us could have taken the race last night, any one of us
    in the finals could have took it."
    Collins won in 10.07 seconds, narrowly ahead of
    Trinidad and Tobago teenager Darrel Brown and Briton Darren
    Campbell.

    He calls himself "lazy" and says that, more than
    anything, he likes to relax and prefers not to undergo
    strenuous physical effort during his training. He has
    repeatedly declared that he does not like weights or
    push-ups.

    "Physical is one thing, but a lot of it is mental," he
    said on Tuesday. "The guys try to get into your head, they
    try to, you know, play mind games. The physical strength is
    one part of it but you have got to have the heart and the
    mind to deal with everything that goes on around track and
    field."
    Collins' victory is being celebrated long and hard in
    St Kitts and Nevis, Caribbean islands with a combined
    population of 40,000 that gained independence from Britain
    in 1983.

    The 27-year-old, already a national hero after winning
    a bronze medal in the 200 metres at the 2001 world
    championships in Edmonton, spends three months of the year
    in the Caribbean and the rest of his time in Texas.




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