It was just me and my mum growing up, and my mum's always said that's why I'm so mature. We were best friends, and if it wasn't for her, I wouldn't even have started athletics, because she wanted me to have a hobby.

I can handle coming fifth as long as I know I've given my all out there and have no regrets.

I always said I wanted an Olympic medal. It's the pinnacle of any athlete's career.

This is my job. I just wake up, and I train.

Bebop and hip-hop, in so many ways, they're connected. A lot of rappers remind me so much of bebop guys in terms of improvisation, beats and rhymes. My dream is to see hip-hop incorporated in education. You've got the youth of the world in the palm of your hand.

I never had much education in English poetry as such.

I come from a family of educators. My sister is a college teacher. My dad is a college teacher, but first a junior high teacher.

From your parents you learn love and laughter and how to put one foot before the other. But when books are opened you discover that you have wings.