Home Town Heroes
The Long Run
Africa Williams - 800-meter sprint

Though she harbors Olympic aspirations, sprinter Africa Williams is a realist. That's why this semester, her last on the Sac State track team, she'll focus on the event she's best at -- the 800-meters -- rather than the event she prefers - the 400-meters. The 800 is her best chance to qualify for the Olympic Trials.

That honesty also lets her admit that because the Trials take place on the Sac State campus her stopwatch won't rule her. U.S. Track and Field will pay the travel expenses for athletes who achieve faster "automatic" qualifying times. Athletes who qualify with less stringent "provisional" times have pay their own way to the Trials.

Since Williams won't have to travel to the Trials, she can shoot for a provisional time, saving her best stuff for the Trials themselves.

"It's a benefit to be here. The Trials will be right here at my home school," Williams says. "I don't have to worry about times as much. I can focus on tactical areas like strategy and strength, and not as much on speed."

Williams has only been running the 800 for five years, but it's become her strongest event. "I prefer the 400 -- it's easier to run one lap than two. But I'm too slow," Williams says. "I like the 800 because it's challenging but the 400 is quick."

To qualify for the Trials, Williams needs to drop a second and a half off her 800 time. But even if she met her lifetime goal in the 400, she wouldn't be able to qualify in the 400 field. "It's a matter of what you can do with the time," she says.

This semester, her last on the Sac State track team, Williams had planned to put her energy toward making the NCAA Championships until she found out about the Olympic Trials. "I don't want to peak too early," she says.

Williams confesses that as a child she never dreamed about going to the Olympics. "For me, running is like it is for some people with painting," she says. "It's something I like and I'm good at it, but it's not an obsession."

But as she's gotten older, Williams admits her Olympic interest has amplified. "I'm really excited the Trials are here at Sac State. I told my dad during the Barcelona games that I was going to be a part of the next Olympics, even if it was as a worker. Now the Trials are here in Sacramento and I don't want to have to work."

Williams has already earned her bachelor's degree in liberal studies and is pursuing her master's degree in school counseling. She also has visions of continuing her track career beyond the Trials.

"The 800 is a race you don't run for just a little while," she says. "I've run with women with a lot more experience." Depending on how far she goes in the Trials, Williams envisions opportunities to compete on other track circuits in Europe or Japan.

Running is a family affair for Williams. Her father, who she calls one of her track heroes, competed in the Los Angeles Olympics. And her four-year-old son loves running around on the track, though he hasn't quite grasped the subtleties of athletic events.

"He cheers me on but doesn't understand the difference between competition and practice. Anytime I'm running he thinks I'm racing and he tells me, "'Mommy, you won.'"

This summer at the Trials, he'll get to cheer for his mommy for real.