Can You Guess the Olympic Athletes’ Warm-Up Songs? The World’s Best Athletes Share Their Favorite Songs
LOS ANGELES — Curious to know what songs fuel Olympians compete in Paris Starting this month? The Associated Press has an idea.
Some of the world’s top Olympic and Paralympic athletes have shared their favourite warm-up tracks, revealing what gets them going before a crucial match, game or match. The results range from The O’Jays to Red Hot Chili Peppers to Drake, spanning genres and eras – all of which you can find on our Spotify playlist.
Before Rai Benjamin After outpacing the competition, the sprinter and hurdler listen to a slew of musicians for the ultimate hype session.
Benjamin, 26, doesn’t have a specific song in mind. He listens to specific artists like Drake and G Herbo, as well as movie soundtracks like “Interstellar” and “The king.”
“That brings me up here,” Benjamin said, his hands raised above his head. “By the time I get here, I have to bring him back and be ready to do whatever I’m about to do.”
Benjamin said he needed a baseline between upbeat and calming music.
“I get really excited when I’m out there with the energy of the crowd, seeing everyone and wanting to do well,” he said. “It’s good to get your mind moving and get out of your head … just to get over those 10 hurdles.”
During Rebecca McGowan’s preparations, the taekwondo specialist has two songs on deck before launching her roundhouse kick. The Scottish native is rocking Panic! In the nightclubs “High Hopes” during the warm-up and exit to the sound of “Can’t Stop” by the Red Hot Chili Peppers.
“It motivates me and puts me in the mindset to compete,” McGowan, 24, said of “High Hopes.”
“You have to not give up and keep going,” she continued. “When things get tough, that’s the song I listen to. … I listen to it and I practice the rest of the session and I practice everything I do.”
As for “Can’t Stop,” McGowan said, “it’s just a really good beat. It gets me going.”
Logan Edra could be part of the new breakdancing regime, but its foundation is built on old-school hip-hop.
Edra, a Filipino-American, said she regularly hits play on Malcolm McLaren’s 1983 hit “World’s Famous.”
“I felt like I was going back to when breakdancing started,” said Edra, known as B-Girl Logistx. She discovered “World’s Famous” while listening to an old mixtape.
Edra, 21, said music has the ability to travel through time.
“I’m starting to see how music brings us together,” she said. “Music connects generations. Any time I can listen to it and feel good about it, I feel like I’m remembering or paying homage to people from past eras.”
Bradly Sinden still tries to fight, demonstrating his strength in taekwondo matches after stepping out to Kanye West’s “Stronger.”
“It’s a fight song, more of a motivational song,” he said of the track written by the rapper and Daft Punk.
Sinden, 25, became fascinated with the song after the final fight scene of the 2008 film “Never Back Down,” starring Sean Faris and Cam Gigandet.
“Since that movie, it’s still my favorite song,” said Sinden, who won a silver medal for Britain to the Tokyo Games.
“It gets you in the mood. Now it’s like, ‘I’m ready to go out there and do my thing,'” he added.
Veronica Fraley is normally in tune with Afrobeat melodies. But when the discus thrower needs to lock in, she puts on rap music like Future’s “March Madness” before entering the circle.
“There’s a lot of stuff that’s not safe for work,” Fraley, 24, said with a laugh. “Just something to get your blood pressure up, to be honest.”
Fraley said the music she subscribes to helps her immensely.
“It gets me in the mood,” she said. “I’m in the fighter’s mindset. It helps me get all my energy out there.”
When Fernando Dayan Jorge As he climbs into his red and white canoe, the two-time Olympian listens to a song that matches his energy.
Whenever Jorge, 25, trains or warms up, the canoeist puts on “Legendary” by the blues rock band Welshly Arms.
“I feel close to this song,” Jorge said of the 2016 track, which was featured on NBC’s “Shades of Blue” and the 2018 film “Den of Thieves.”
Jorge, who was a Cuban rower won gold in Tokyo for the 1,000 canoe sprint, will be This time I am competing as a refugee. He joined a growing number of Cuban athletes who have defected.
McKenzie Coan is a huge Britney Spears fan, particularly attracted to “Circus” and “Womanizer”.
“Those are my two favorite songs to get me motivated,” said Coan, a Paralympic gold medalist in swimming. Her career began with aquatic therapy in 2001 after she was diagnosed with diabetes as a child. osteogenesis imperfecta, known as brittle bone disease.
Coan, 28, has a Spotify playlist that features artists including Spears and Rihanna.
“I can’t listen to some of these songs unless I’m getting ready for a race, because it makes me feel so excited,” she said. “I can’t even listen to them. I listen to stuff that I can actually move to.”
When it comes to music, Rachel Glenn considers herself the ultimate “hype girl.” Before competing in the high jump and 400 hurdles, It involves listening to several upbeat songs like “Perfect Timing” by YG featuring Mozzy and Blxst.
“I’m a huge music lover,” said Glenn, 22, who listens to artists like Snoop Dogg, Soulja Boy, Lil Vada and Tommy the Clown.
“I like to listen to music wherever I go,” she said. “I listen to music when I’m doing homework, when I’m trying to fall asleep. It’s super important. Athletics is all about mentality. If you have the right mentality, then you’re going to compete properly.”
As Jaydin Blackwell warms up, the Paralympic sprinter focuses more on motivational speeches than songs.
Blackwell’s favorite speech? The inspiring introduction to Madden NFL 13, which introduces Ray Lewis, two-time Super Bowl champion.
He also listens to David Goggins, an ultramarathon runner.
Asked what kind of music catches his attention, he said: “I like soft music when I’m warming up,” said Blackwell, 20, who was diagnosed with cerebral palsy at age 6.
Daniel Roberts is no ’80s baby, but his musical tastes derive from tracks created nearly two decades before he was born.
The hurdler old school R is often used&Route B, selecting the 1979 classic “Use to Be My Girl” by the O’Jays.
“Don’t listen to music that’s going to make me feel good, but listen to music that I like,” said Roberts, 26. “If I really like the music or the song, it’s going to bring that good energy. I’m going to dance. I’m going to move.”
Roberts plays a diverse range of music to help him find his ultimate groove before a race.
“You have to be able to get into that rhythm,” he said.
Even if Cordell Tinch He rarely listens to music during his warm-ups, but certain songs make the hurdler’s head bob with excitement.
“Today it was ‘God Did.’ That was the last song I listened to before I took my headphones out,” Tinch said of the track. DJ Khaledwith Jay Z, Rick Ross, Lil Wayne, John legend and Friday.
“It was this song today, but it might be different another day,” he said.
Tinch, 24, says he consumes a healthy dose of Broadway songs. Rod Wave’s “Yungen” is another favorite.
When training for the Paralympics, cyclist Samantha Bosco usually relies on two songs: Pink the rapper’s joyful “I Am Here” and the gospel-influenced “Chant” Macklemore and Australian singer Tones and I.
“These are my songs,” said Bosco, who was born with a posteromedial curvature of her right tibia and a valgus calcaneal foot that was corrected at age four by surgical removal of a bony wedge. She began riding a bike at age six, riding to and from school with her father.
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Associated Press journalists Pat Graham, Noreen Nasir, Daniel Kozin and Samuel Petrequin contributed to this report.
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