 and honored to introduce Olympic gold medalist in the shot put, three-time Olympian, University of Texas graduate, coached by her father, and we talked earlier about NFL player who has won a Super Bowl and an Olympic medal. Her father, Michael Carter, won the men's shot put silver medal while representing team USA at the 84 LA Olympic Games and also played American football, winning three Super Bowls with the San Francisco 49ers. Michelle Carter enjoys singing, baking, putting on makeup and styling hair. And Michelle, we've got about eight people in this room right now that would like to talk to you about styling hair, including the guy in the cap who I don't know what hairstyling is, but I'd love to have a barber right now. So ladies and gentlemen, welcome Olympic gold medalist, Michelle Carter. Hi, my name is Michelle Carter, three-time Olympian, 2016 Olympic gold medalist for team USA. I am the first American woman to win gold in the women's shot put. I'm also the American record holder for indoor and outdoor women's shot put. Thank you for having me today. It is an honor for me to share a part of my story with you. One of the biggest lessons I've learned in my career is learning how to take care of my body. My body is my instrument. My body is my job. So learning how to take care of it was key to the success of my career. In 2017, I had my very first surgery and it was the 20th year anniversary of me throwing. Yes, I've been throwing for over 20 years and all that wear and tear on my body had finally caught up with me. So in 2017, I had surgery on my left knee where I learned that I tore my meniscus. Don't ask me when, how, or where, cause I do not know. And then they had to clean up some of the scar tissue and just wear and tear in my knee. And at first I was really devastated because my goal was like, I made it 20 years. I could make my whole career without surgery and my body said, no, ma'am, not today. We need some extra help. We need something to put us back together cause we're hurting here. But to make it 20 years in my event where I'm lifting heavy, I'm sprinting, I'm running, I'm throwing, I don't know how many throws I've thrown over the year, but the repetitive motion, like I'm surprised that I've made it this long. So I'm definitely blessed to have made it 20 years of doing the same thing over and over again. And that was my first time having a major surgery. My career started in junior high, but high school was when I realized, you know what Michelle, you're actually pretty good at this. In high school, I have eight state titles. I have foreign discus and foreign shot play. I also held the girls national high school record for indoor and outdoor shot play as well as the state of Texas discus record. I graduated high school in 2003 and earned a full rise scholarship to the University of Texas, Hookham Horns. And that in college, this is where everything changed for me. This is when I really learned how to really be an athlete. I was the only thrower on the team of sprinters. And my coach believed that I should be able to do that everything that the sprinters did. So I lined up in blocks in spikes with my teammates. When we had two mile time trials, I had two mile time trials as well. I even ran the open 400 time trial and guess what my time was? I ran the 459 seconds. Your girl was moving. But this is where I learned how to not just be a great athlete but how to take care of my body as an athlete. My college athletic therapist, athletic trainer, her name was Le Guin Darden. And Le Guin had us on a schedule. We knew that Wednesdays were recovery days. We got massage on Wednesdays. I saw the chiropractor on Wednesdays and on Wednesdays, you have to get into the ice bath. And still to this day, I love a good ice bath. After you get past the first like one or two minutes, after that is good because you can't feel anything after that. So this is where I really learned how to take care of my body and how important recovery was for me to get up and do what I had to do at practice and at a track meet. After a track meet, we had our warmups the next day to just get the blood moving, to stretch. And after the meet, we had ice baths and we had hot soaks. Like we had our routine down. And this is where I learned how to take care of my body and I carried that to my professional career. Now, when I graduated from college in 2007, I wasn't sure what I was going to do but I knew that the 2008 Olympic Games were the very next year. And since I had been training in college and still practicing, I was like, you know what, Michelle? It's the Olympic year. Let's just train and see what happens. Like let's see if you make the team. And I remember it was really hard in the beginning because I didn't have the same staff and the same support as I did as a professional like in college because now I moved back home. My dad was my coach. I wasn't connected to the college resources anymore. So then now I had to figure out how can I get the things that I need to help take care of my body so I can be the best athlete that I can be. And over time, I started to build my team. My team consists of my coach, who is my dad? And he is still my coach today. My trainer, I have a physical therapist that I've been seeing for pretty much my whole professional career. I have a Pilates instructor where this is where I normally do my active recovery days where I love Pilates because it's strengthening the body but also working on my range of motion. I have two massage therapists. I have one that I use locally that I see once a week, sometimes twice a week, depending on how I'm feeling. And then I have one that does really great deep tissue work that I will fly in from time to time when I feel like my body needs some extra special attention. I have a chiropractor that I see at least once a month and then more if I feel like I need it. But then also the two great resources that I have is the USAT of medical staff which is the United States of America track and field team and the USOPC, which is the US Olympic Committee where I have their resources and their people that's a part of my team that helps keep me together to do what I do. Now in 2016, my team became very important to me. In 2016, three months before the Olympic trials, I found out that I had a herniated disc in my back. I woke up in so much pain, I could not sleep, I couldn't sit down, I couldn't lay down, I couldn't stand up, I was in so much pain. And I remember calling my people like, hey, something is wrong, what do I need to do? I called USATF, USATF got with the USOPC and I called my physical therapist. And so they came together and we came up with a plan that was going to work to help give me back to where I needed to be. Now it was like crunch time, I only had a few months before the Olympic trials, but there was some key characteristics that my team had that made this process so easy for me that I was able to do what I need to do and be ready by the Olympic Games. One of the main characteristics that I was looking for for the people in the people on my team was trust, like, can I trust you? Can I trust that you know what you're talking about? Can I trust that if you don't know, that you'll go to someone who does? Because everybody doesn't have all the answers for everything, but I was looking for people like, okay, you know what, Michelle? I'm not sure, let me research, let me go talk to a couple of people and then I'll get back to you. That was very important to me because I've been with people who want to take care of it all and they really don't know it all and they cause more harm than good. So I think a great characteristic is to know where your strength and weaknesses are and be honest about that because that's how you gain the trust with athletes. And if I trust that you know your limits and you want to be honest about your limits, then I can kind of take off, I don't have to worry about that because I know I'm going to be taken care of as an athlete. The second characteristic that was very important is confidentiality. Being a professional athlete, I know people want to work with professional athletes. It's like a golden star that you can have and put out there, but we are in a vulnerable position when we are hurt and when we are injured. I don't want to be the gold star for you at the moment. I need a safe place to come to that I know I'm going to be taken care of and it's going to stay here in this room. And then the third thing that was major for me was communication. Like can we talk, tell me what's going on, be honest with me, and then what's the plan? And another thing too was just having that open communication, not just with myself, but with my whole team because it was a whole team process because everybody that worked with USATF and USOPC wasn't with me here in Dallas, Texas. But they kept in communication with my team to find out what was going on and make sure things were going well. And they kept in touch with me to make sure that I was being taken care of. And I really appreciated that. And then the other people on my team, my physical therapist, my coach, my trainer, my Pilates instructor, massage therapist and chiropractors did not mind being checked up on because they knew how important it was that I was being taken care of so I can do what I do best which is throw the shot put. Being the medical providers that you all are, two athletes, please know that you are a part of our extended family. I have cried with my team. So my team seen me on the brink of crying, but you know sometimes that pride just comes up where I can't let it tear fall, but there have been times where I am at my most vulnerable point because I'm hurt and I can't help myself and I need you. So I don't know if anybody ever has said this to you from the athletes' point of view, I look at my team as part of my family because I cannot do what I do without them. Without their support, without their encouragement, without their knowledge and their willingness to help me and help me be my best. And I appreciate that about my team. So I do want to take the time to say to my USATF family and to my USOPC family, thank you so much for all that you have done for me in my career because I know for me, 2016 was a major year and you all definitely pulled up behind me, beside me, in front of me and made my dreams happen for me. You got me better to the point where I once wondered if I can do it and you put me in position and build me up in such a way that it became true. My dream came true. I won the gold in 2016 and I know I cannot have done it without you all. So I just want to take that moment to say thank you so much for all you have done for me. So we know that 2020 started out pretty rough. We've learned some bad news. The Olympics have been postponed and there's just a lot of uncertainty in the air these days. But my goal remains the same. I wanted to make my fourth Olympic team. It's not going to be in 2020 but it's not going to be in 2021. I want to tell you a quick little story about this picture. Like who would have ever known that me playing around outside, going the biggest rock I could find would actually come true and I'm still throwing rocks today. So there's this little old lady at my church and every time she sees me, she say, hey, baby. I say, hey, she say, you still chunking them rocks? I say, yes ma'am, I'm still chunking them rocks. She said, well, keep on chunking. And I just love that story so much because she just gave me that little bit of encouragement and looking from this two to three year old child into the woman that I am today and all the people that were involved and all the hard work and all the sweat and all the tears, it was all worth it. And I'm not done yet. I'm going for my fourth Olympic Games as well as my second gold. And I know I have the best team in the world behind me. So thank you all for your support and thank you for listening to my story. I really appreciate it. Thank you.