LaShawn Merritt on his love of music

In the latest in our regular feature about what athletes do away from the track spikesmag.com spoke to Olympic 400m champion LaShawn Merritt about his passion for music.

"I started playing the trumpet when I was about 11 until 16. My brother Antwan [who died falling out of a dorm window in 1999] played the trumpet and at High School he was in a band and liked music. He would listen to the radio and figure out notes for the band. Listening to music is a rhythm and the 400m is like a rhythm.

"I started with the trumpet in middle school when I get to High School I played the baritone, French horn and the tuba. It was hard work and took a lot of practise. The main thing was if I was struggling on a note and I would hit it in a concert that was the best part of it.

"The difference between running and music is we have the music straight in front of us you practise it, you look at it and you recite it.
I haven’t picked up a trumpet for four years. Maybe, when I get older I’ll play the guitar... it is an older person’s instrument. Actually, my dad played the bass. I also like singing R'n'B, although only in the shower that’s about it.

"Actually, a couple of people back home have written songs for me. Some of them wrote the songs before I actually competed [in Beijing] about me winning. They’d written them before I’d actually run.

"I don’t like to listen to music before a competition. I pull energy from everybody else, but back home I listen to a lot of Jay-Z.

"I met him [Jay-Z] in Miami at a Barack [Obama] rally in November. It was set up for me to go there and after the concert we talked a little bit. I’m the type of person [who believes] I’m the best at what I do. You are the best at what you do, so we are equal... you just make more money than me. I do what I do, you do what I do, so let’s talk. We talked for about 10 minutes about the Olympics, music and life in general."