Mar 11, 2021
An interview with 4x100m World Champion & Olympian Mechelle Lewis Freeman!
Mechelle exemplifies a champion mindset. 3 years working in Corporate America living a sedentary lifestyle, she sets her sights on the Olympic team. Mechelle gives tangible lessons on how we all can integrate mind & faith to achieve the awesome.
Website: https://www.EvolutionOfLeaders.com/
YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UChXe7AGqkLRzpvm1yblIvjw
Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/evolution-of-leaders/id1533928112
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/2LbmTVDvZdw4aaKsrciT4U
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/darwinevolutionofleaders
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/darwinli25/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/darwin-li-5697581/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/DarwinLi6
I've also been accepted for a show on the membership platform "Millionaireflix". See exclusive content here & more! https://millionaireflix.com/affiliate/darwin
Mechelle's Contact Information:
https://trackgirlz.com/
https://www.instagram.com/mechellelewisfreeman/
AirBNB Experience: https://www.airbnb.ca/experiences/1669717?locale=en&_set_bev_on_new_domain=1615499671_OTBlNTA0Nzg5MWY3
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1:19 - 1-min autobiography
4:27 - Mechelle has been successful at whatever she does - 4 x 100m World Champion, Marketing Expert, Olympic Coach, and philanthropist. She was not only an accomplished athlete but also a very successful student with a 4.0 average.
The movie Boomerang was her inspiration! She attends one of the top journalism schools in the world, and works at Y&R, one of the world’s top agencies.
7:28 - "I'm not pregnant, just fat"
Mechelle works in the corporate world from 2002 to 2006, having missed the 2004 Athens Olympics due to injury. Despite not training for 3 years, she decides to try out for the Olympics.
10:28 - “It is God who arms me with strength … and makes my feet like the feet of a deer;“
“I can do everything… if I read what the Bible says and I believe it, then that means that nothing is impossible for God that means that I can quit my job and I’m going to make this Olympic team”.
“I didn’t really have anyone, I was by myself and so it was a time of isolation in a time of where I really came into my own.”
“The foundation that I had moving forward was rooted in that faith.”
14:02 - Mechelle describes how she moves past the injuries and when she’s losing races.
“One of my mentors told me, do it afraid…. The fear doesn’t leave but you just have to keep moving forward…. You have to take that step. You have to bring that fear along for the ride. Once you take that first step your faith will be acknowledged and then the next step will be presented.”
“You always want to put yourself in an environment that supports what you’re trying to achieve and you’re around people that are aligned to where you need to go”
“It wasn’t easy. I was losing races, I was getting injured. I was facing top athletes in the world and I had to win against them. … What are you saying to yourself every day? You have to be consistent in your actions and your words and making you’re feeding the areas that nee to grow and develop.”
"I used to have this Muhammad Ali posted on my wall. I used to take it down and fold it and take it with me to tall my track meets and put it up on the wall. But I would say that to myself every morning, in the car while I was driving, before I got to bed at night, when I’m writing my journals … impossible is nothing, impossible is nothing”
17:46 - Mechelle describes some of the things she had to starve out her life that held her back from her dreams.
20:05 - How she handles failure/setbacks. What does she do to take lessons and move forward?
“As I’m losing … I’m feeding myself in those things then I always had content to defeat it, you know whether it was Scripture … ‘Nothing formed against me shall prosper’ if I was getting injured”
"“If you felt like ‘oh my goodness” you look at your heat and you have the top 3 girls in the world in your heat and they’re only taking 4 … What are those things that you’re saying to yourself every day that when you’re in the heat of battle that when you tell yourself what you tell yourself every day, in that moment, that you trust it."
26:10 - What did she do to differentiate herself? “That mindset. It was my faith. 100% that was my biggest difference.”
“I can remember lining up in college and run a fast time the week before and then somebody who was ranked top in the country is in the lane next to me and I would lose because I would let that get in my head.”
28:38 - Mechelle describes how she handled not knowing whether she'll run in the Olympics.
36:00 - The agony of the baton drop @ the Olympics and how she supported her teammate.
40:37 - On being a coach ... “Coaching has changed my life… in helping me in my role as a leader and how I can impact others and communities.”
42:44 - Trackgirlz.com and how to find Mechelle. “In order to be a leader, you have to be yourself.”