Charles Austin (USA)

Charles Austin answered questions for the Kangaroo Track Club athletes and fans. Charles was an Olympic gold medalist (1996), the American and Olympic high jump record holder, two-time World Champion, and a nine-time national track and field high jump champion. He is the founder and owner of So High Sports and Fitness in TX. Personal Best: 2.40mts (7'10 1/4")

Kale (Apple Valley):  What do you eat before a competition or leading up to it?

Before the competition, you need to keep everything normal.  I never had a specific diet or anything, or a plan that I followed. 

I’ve never been a big eater, never, it didn’t take me a long time to get me a lot of food for me to be full.

 The day before and the day of the competition, I even cut back.  But I had to try to sustain.  The day of the competition I don’t eat very much at all because I’m preparing to jump. 

Jack :  What do you think before jumping?

 Before I jump I have to visualize.  I go over the jump in my head, I try to see myself performing that jump and after that tell myself to basically relax and don’t force anything, to let things happen for me.  Because once you try to force the issue, that’s when things go wrong. 

You know I just have to relax and let my body do what it’s been trained to do.  In the beginning, before I start my approach I try to visualize in my head how I would like it to be and take off after that.

Karissa (Stillwater):  How do you deal with a mental block of a height?

 I’ve dealt with that before when I was jumping.  That goes along with training hard and gaining that confidence in your ability. 

When I was younger thinking 7 feet was a big block for me.  I knew that I could get over, but for some reason when I would hear the number seven I would freak out. So what I did was start watching video, going up to the height and just looking at it. 

I started to believe in myself more.  Being more aware of my jumps at seven feet because a lot of times I was over it but I would just clip it off for whatever reason.  And instead of saying “Okay, I’m close to making it” it became a big mental barrier like I was scared of it.  I just thought of believing in myself and then really working on my techniques.  I got my technique down and that’s when it happened for me.  So focusing on my technique and then more than anything gaining more confidence, that’s what helped me get over that mental block. 

Coach Munoz:  So that means being very positive, right?

Being very positive [with myself], yes.  You have to stay positive.

Jacque (Eagan):  How do you deal coming back from injuries?

 After suffering my major knee injury in the early 1990s and following to have surgery in 1993, it was tough.  It was tough to deal with mentally, you know, because I didn’t want to hurt myself again.  We protect ourselves from pain.  It’s a normal thing to try to prevent that from happening again.  What I told myself is "hey if I wanted to continue to compete at a high level, I’m going to have to get over this and just get out there and prove myself and do it to the best of my ability".  And if it hurts, great, oh well, you know I have to keep working and find a way to make it better.  And if is doesn’t hurt, great, I just kept going.  You just get back out there and put yourself back into it again.  Go back again, and see where you’re at, and you have to work from there.  Once you stop protecting yourself there’s a good chance that it’s not going to hurt anymore.  You just have to overcome that fear and the only way you can do that is to just get out there and give it 100%. 

Gus (Eagan): How did you started?

I started my training in high school. The first time I jumped was in 7th or 8th grade, and I didn’t jump again until high school, and it basically started with my wanted to go and hang out with my friends who were running track, and since it was my last year of high school I just wanted to get out there and see what I could do.  

How strong are you in the weight room?

 In hang clean the most I’ve ever tried was 285 pounds and the most I’ve ever squatted was 425 pounds but that was easy. 

I never maxed out.  I never cared to max out.  I didn’t feel the need to put all that weight on my body. 

Actually I think that’s where a lot of people go wrong, when they’re trying to lift all that heavy weight and there’s not a need for it. 

I don’t know what my max is in the squat, I don’t know what my max is in the hang cling, I don’t know what my max is in the arm curls. 

I’ve never maxed out in the weight room.  Never.  I’ve never cared to.  You know, everything is a balance, you have to find a nice balance. 

Because if you get too strong, it’s big block muscles that you know you don’t need as a jumper.  You need to find a happy medium. 

I didn’t see any benefit of maxing out, other than to say “Oh, I squatted a hundred pounds.”

How hard did you have to train to get to where you are?

I trained really hard.  I would train 5.4 hours a day of hard training.  At the track for 2 ½ - 3 hours and then I’d go to the weight room for approximately an hour.  To compete at this level you’re going to have to work really really hard, it’s not easy. If it was easy everybody would do it.  You have to work hard both physically and mentally.  Just like you have to train your body you have to train your mind. 

Is there anything that you would like to tell the kids? 

First of all, enjoy doing it.  You can’t get to where it becomes a chore.  Like with me, I just enjoy training, I enjoy high jumping, so it shows in my jumping.  I just tried to learn as much about the event as I could.  Learn how to train properly, how to run properly, how to jump properly. You have to become a student of the event.  And more than anything just have fun with it. 

In behalf of the high jump fans and the Kangaroo Track Club jumpers, THANK YOU CHARLES! Thank you for being with us, and for being such a great ambassador of the sport and young jumpers around the world.