St. Louis has a rich Olympic history.
The Gateway to the West hosted the third Olympiad in 1904. On Friday, 124 years later, the opening ceremony will kick off the Olympics in Paris.
Missouri and Illinois will be represented by dozens of athletes on Team USA — including O'Fallon, Missouri, native Brandon Miller. He will be competing in the 800-meter race, with the first heat on Wednesday, Aug. 7 at 4:55 a.m. central. It will be streamed on NBC, Peacock and in-Spanish on Telemundo.
St. Louis Public Radio’s Brian Munoz asked Miller about his running roots and his journey to competing on the world’s biggest stage.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
Brian Munoz: I’m going to start at the beginning. How did you get into running?
Brandon Miller: It's funny because my mom and my dad kind of just put me and my brother out on the track. When we were kids, we were just tearing up the house. So, it was just a way for us to get energy out of ourselves. As time went on, it just turned into something that I love doing.
Munoz: Your success started early: As a sixth grader at Fort Zumwalt Middle School, you had the fastest youth time in the country for the 800-meter, the 1500-meter and 3000-meter relays. At the time, you also broke some records for your age. How did you do it?
Miller: It was just a testament to the hard work, and I really think that God has given me a gift — first off. But, I put in a lot of hard work. It was a lot of dedication, and I really can attribute the early success to the guidance of my parents. My parents did a really good job of making sure that I stayed a kid, so that when I got to this moment right here and got further and further into my career that my love for the sport still remained.
Munoz: After a notable track career at John Burroughs high school, you went on to Texas A&M and won two NCAA championships your sophomore year. What did running in college teach you?
Miller: One of the biggest things that contributed to my success in college was all the stuff that I learned as a high schooler. You know what I'm saying? But, it taught me a lot of things. It taught me the value of being on a team. It taught me about the little things that I needed to take care of in order to be elite at my sport.
Munoz: Who do you see as your role model? Who inspires you?
Miller: CJ Jones. He ran for Texas Tech, and now he runs for Under Armour. He went to Cardinal Ritter, and we kind of grew up together. That's my brother. Not blood, but blood wouldn’t make us any closer. But coming up — you know, middle school, high school — I just looked up to him, and I wanted to be like him. So for me, that would be my track role model.
Munoz: Inevitably, sometimes things happen in competition. I think about Usain Bolt’s false start in the 100 meter in the 2011 at the World Championships that disqualified him or Sha'Carri Richardson tripping on her shoelace during this year’s trials. But in that case, she still took gold. Nevertheless: How do you keep cool when sometimes things don’t go as planned?
Miller: It all comes down to the preparation because when you get to this high of a level — you're not only preparing for the Olympics, physically, you know. The physical work up to this point has been done through the seasons when we started all the way back in October. But, you also have to prepare yourself mentally, and you have to prepare yourself spiritually. In that preparation, you have to put yourself in a place where things don't go right and be able to react to that and stay calm and stay patient. That's how you see the great ones come back.
Munoz: The 2024 Paris Olympics will be your first trip to the Games. What does that mean to you?
Miller: It means a lot. This is something I've been dreaming about since I was a kid, and for this moment to finally be here — it's amazing. But at the end of the day, you also have to look at it as a business trip. I’m super, super, super happy to make it to the Olympics – it's a blessing — but at the same time, the job's still not finished. I'm so blessed to be there, but I'm still focused on the task at hand.
Munoz: What are you looking forward to the most around the experience?
Miller: Competing against the best in the world. As a competitor, when you're put in situations that you're going to test yourself — it makes you excited. So for me, seeing how the men’s 800 is this year … it's one of the most competitive events in the world right now. So kind of stepping into that fire and seeing what I'm made of. I'm very excited.
Munoz: Many athletes get some Olympic ink to commemorate their time competing. Do you plan on doing the same?
Miller: Oh, 1,000% for sure. This offseason I'm going to go get some ink. I'm not sure where, but I definitely have to get my rings.
