Breaking The Silence on His Career & Legacy ft. Ben Johnson
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Summary
In this episode of All Jokes Aside, I sit down with the greatest Jamaican sprinter of all time, Mr. Ben Johnson. In this episode, we talk about his early life growing up in Jamaica and how he went on to become one of the fastest men in the world.
Transcript
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what a wonderful day you are tuned into all jokes aside with yours truly jay martin the
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renaissance man and as you can see i have the biggest most popular iconic guest in the building
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ladies and gentlemen i present to you none other than the icon himself mr ben johnson how are you
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my friend thank you very much for inviting me here listen this is an honor to be here and i think
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based on who you are and what you've done you must get this all the time don't all the time yeah
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like everywhere you go i can imagine this has been years it's been a lifetime of
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all you've done and it's everywhere you go and i've been places where you are and it's like
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they whisper they start off and they go ben's in the building ben's in the building and how is it
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when you're in a public place how do they kind of approach you uh you know people come and shake
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hand in a smile and say you know great run uh i remember where i was and so you know all different
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kind of thing it's all good you know what people expectation is and yes how you feel about people
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approaching you and everything like that so it's nice it must have took getting used to though
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because as your demeanor and i studied it it was more quiet self within yourself and now the whole
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world everybody in the world knows who you are how did that take on a toll with you i'm a more
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I'm a reserved guy, you know, I'm very shy, I'm very quiet.
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they say that, oh, he's stuck up, or he doesn't, you know.
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And if people talk to me, they will see a different side of me.
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Well, let's start from the beginning, shall we?
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when did you know that you were ready to compete
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Like when in your age would you nail that you're like,
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But on an elite level, when did you know that you could compete?
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Well, I think, I believe when I was about 14 years old, when I, you know, when I just
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came up to Canada from Jamaica, I was about 14 years old, but I was competing in track
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And I know I was pretty fast, but as a young boy, I didn't know that was my destiny and
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But as I go along through my high school years and, you know, meeting my coach, Charlie, at the time, and I said to myself, well, I think I find what I want to do and what my journey is and where I've been in this lifetime.
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So as a young boy, I decided to, this is my destiny.
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So running in Jamaica, for those who know, we are the fastest people in the world.
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And explain to us how the training was in Jamaica when you first started running.
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They would have to, everyone as I know in Jamaica would run track and then the goal
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Explain to me how training was for you in Jamaica.
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Well, in Jamaica, I didn't really train in Jamaica.
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I was just with friends on the street, running around on the streets, running from light
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one of my friends, they were much older than me
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So I was like, maybe like a meter and a half behind them,
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That is when I came from Jamaica to Canada in 1976,
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and my brother said, where'd you get those ribbon from?
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And he go, wow, that's pretty good for your age.
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And then he was doing some homework and he goes to me,
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which was his coach and becomes my coach later on.
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So when you met this track coach and you run pretty fast,
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were other track coaches kind of looking in to see who's this guy who's the next best thing?
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Once I started getting developed and started getting more weight on and running much faster.
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People tend to draw to people when they're doing well.
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And in those days when they were drawing to you, how were you able to differentiate loyalty in where you were as opposed to maybe going to another club or other people that come to make offers?
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Maybe I just block it out of my head and just do what I need to do and do things what I love and just focus and just keep, you know, training hard and keep improving and see where you're going to take me.
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A lot of the runners there, I watch Champs Day in Jamaica, they're getting some really fast kids.
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How do you attribute to the fact that the speed seems to be getting faster and faster every year with these kids?
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Do you think it's something evolved in their genes or just the art form?
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What can you attribute from your knowledge, because you have all the knowledge, on why these kids seem to be getting faster?
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Well, number one, there's not much thing to do in Jamaica.
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uh they see a way of doing track and field and this is a way out uh they're very uh you know
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focused on what they want to do and what they want to achieve they got good coaches down there
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yep uh they say that you know by me running fast and be on social media and see all these athletes
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traveling over the world and making so much money and they want to be a part of it and i think that
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that also give them that push but it's not everybody that go to champs becomes a role
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known sprinters some will make it and some would just very often go and do something else you said
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something very intriguing uh they saw you or their parents saw you or people saw you what you did
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as an example and we know the long line of the amazing sprinters runners in track and field that
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have come out of that little island do you and i know you're humble do you not consider yourself
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one of the forefathers of allowing people to have that vision to look for the future?
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I believe that being on the top of the mountain at that time, that a lot of kids in high school
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and in college in Jamaica look up to me and want to be like Ben Johnson on Run Fast.
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And I think that I give a lot of people a lot of inspiration over the years and continue to doing
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so and uh despite of what happened into my career it's still um a great thing for these young at
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least to want to be a great sprinter in the future around the office here we did a we had a couple
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people ask people ben johnson one word ben johnson one word we did this around the office before you
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came and uh i'd be surprised what you think is the one word and i'll tell you what the word was
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synonymous with everybody here but what would you think would be the one word that anyone would
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describe ben johnson as people got great love for me yeah you know the word was they all said iconic
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iconic and iconic is such a big word you know people say living legend iconic and i'm not here
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to gas you or make you feel that way but you when was the moment that you realized that you became
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iconic like you're in the trenches you're training you're going against that guy you're
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going against everybody in the world everyone is watching when was that time because usually
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people don't remember who came third or who came fourth fourth fourth place people don't usually
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become iconic when was the moment that you're like holy i've become iconic when did it come
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a realization to you uh i would say around early summer of 1985 that's where i break on the scene
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right and people start to recognize who this guy this guy is yes so it is fast um it's different
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blocks okay so now i know because i've done my research uh what has been doing now like everyone
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wants to know what is Ben doing now Ben doing now Ben just finished a six series TV show called
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hey the player yes uh played by uh Shamir Anderson uh he's also involved in a lot of movies like
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John Wick 4 and coming out of movies and and uh Karen Robinson who plays my mom also yes
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long harder and some yes so yes so they really do a really good job on this and and um people
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who believe in my story yeah i believe in me uh take this on and make it a reality yes and uh a
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lot of people who saw the flim uh they love it it's a joke about it i know there's some
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sun some sad part about it but people enjoy it and every time i i saw people people knows me
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and they watch it they said ben it's great it's great this guy do a good job i said yes
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antoni farewell do a good job on the script and everything so i'm gonna i'm gonna dive into that
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because that's my world you know i've seen some comedic satires some favorite comedians some world
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knowledgeable comedians canadian comedians as well as actors i saw the piece of work and i at first
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i thought it was uh like a direct movie but then i was seeing the jokes that were involved with it
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why why humor on a toll to describe your past because i'm a comedian i want to know why the
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choice of humor to get the story across to many people you thought it was easier for them to
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taking why why why i think i think uh anthony fairwell decided it should be a comedy because
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based on based on the facts and some of the things that happen on my point of view i think uh if it
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was a too serious a lot of people wouldn't watch it right so it put it on his background from his
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writers he he do a lot of scriptwriters on on comedy and stuff like that so so it was the best
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thing for him to do to go that route and and it was a great move how involved were you in that
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process of what goes i know you've been involved because it's the story of your life i mean from
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mom sitting down and i feed you yama and all these different foods all the different parts of it did
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they lean on you for some of the help in terms of the script writing and yeah i spent about
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at least four hours with about 13 14 people just making notes and asking other questions right give
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them lots of flesh on the bone and they put it into into this and here we are and you are happy
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with what it would it turn out to be i'm very happy and and the reason why i didn't answer that
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question um about the comedy part i think my career and what happened to me it's a complete joke
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right i i i and now i i just are you know um put it into that way and i just enjoy myself doing it
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and make a laugh and go from there go from there you know um also with what what mr ben johnson is
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doing i know you're still involved with track and field can you tell us a little bit about that and
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your influence influence with coaching and what's working on going on with that i still
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do some coaching in track and field uh uh private coaching uh because i cannot coach internationally
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because okay because of the suspension and uh yeah and the lifetime ban right but uh this is
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how i made my living by coaching and they took that away from me wow so so now i i'm coaching
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private i have some good kids that uh that's also um going to states right now on scholarship
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doing very well i coach a lot of athletes over the years who also doing very well not only in track
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but in the everyday life get married have kids uh good words of wisdom i teach them and taught
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them proper things and they all of my girls and my guys they're all doing good i love that i love
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that so you mentioned it briefly on on the ban do you think that the media how they portrayed
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everything was fair or unfair it was it was unfair we know what they what they did there
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and they believe that they know the story of ben johnson and they didn't right uh so i have the
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the second set record straight once and for all just to you know my point of view and you know
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they think that they were there i was there you were there to see all of it i was there to see
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the truth like you're the truth so what does this entire you know experience taught teach you in
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terms of lessons in handling pressure success and failure what did it really teach you if you think
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well you know it teach a lot you know i it teach me how to well i'm always humble but but it's also
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teach you fairness and it's also teach you um uh you know you know it's it's it's also good to
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trust people and it's also not good to trust people because you trust people they can take
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you for everything you got and uh in my in my life and my career that happened to me so right
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so now you know i i learn and i understand it and i and i um do things my way now and um whatever
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I do, and I think, and get it out there, it goes very, very smoothly.
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But if I bring somebody in, then everything goes sour.
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But once someone else is involved, sometimes it turns it the other way.
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And this time in my life, I can't make any more mistakes.
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I'm 64 years old now, by the end of the year, I'm 65.
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Well, you know, many years of my life being taken away from me.
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So now I try to stay healthy as much as possible.
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And when everything turns around, I can live some more longer life to enjoy some of the good times.
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Because, you know, as older folks, we always sit back and say, in our time, in our time.
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Do you think it's possible, modern athletes, to separate performance from extreme pressure?
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Because you were under a lot of pressure prior to, during, and you still delivered.
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Do you think that the kids growing up today can handle the pressure?
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Never fall up within one, within six, four, five, six months, much less than eight years.
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because so now you know even with my friends that coach basketball they say you can't really coach
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as hard as they were coached uh a lot of things that are different is they have an opportunity to
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train much more uh at their skill set than we did i don't know how many how often you were in
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you're training these kids hard now they don't show up and they look at you funny like you're
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crazy or something you know and and but it's not only these kids can benefit from training but
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You know, we're not expecting it to be a world-class sprinter, or world-class, or anything
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But this will help you through life, to be controlled, to be strong, to be focused,
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to be patient, and to be assisted, you know, all those things.
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And that's why Chuck and Phil is the master of our sports.
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And it teaches teamwork, camaraderie, individualism.
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of that so recommended this is what people are doing uh should be doing um what else has brought
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you i know we discussed it briefly on the walk-in your book tell us a little bit about your book
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well it's called the incredible life of ben johnson the rarefossist man and uh it's come the
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best seller i think two or three times on amazon canada nice and uh people can probably order the
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book on amazon canada or indigo they can go to the bookstore yeah in indigo and they can get it
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but um it's a great book and some of the um the scenery from the book was in the movie okay so it
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was pretty good and uh i'm very happy about it and i'm very thrilled that i can live to see
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this thing i've come to pass in my life at this point in time so i'm gonna go back to the roots
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uh jamaica how often do you get to go back to jamaica and how are you received when you get
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back to the island well my friends in falmouth jamaica just receive me as just ben really they
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don't they don't uh treat me as the word fastest man so when you reach it just like any other guy
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any other guy which is which is which is which is i like that you like that i like that yeah you
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know nothing nothing nothing out of the door but i never say it's a ben is here ben is here ben is
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here yes I never hang out and you know how high you get you go to Jamaica they're gonna say so
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I'm telling you especially even as a comedian and then people go you go back home to Jamaica I go
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back home to Jamaica it is the hardest place to make people laugh when I go to Jamaica and I meet
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with all the other comedians who have done great jobs uh oliver samuel's one of the greatest of
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all time jamaica jamaican jamaican survive jamaican people can survive anywhere in the world yeah
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anywhere you put them out there and they can survive this is all we are we're strong
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mentally emotionally zillion and we can survive i'm telling you i would love to go to jamaica
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with bed and see and be like hey everybody it's in bed last week i didn't buy me a beer it's just
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all level vibes uh we're in canada you came you told me the date when you said april 21st we're
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so close to that day uh when you came here um what was your experience man you came off the plane
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you walked through the door piercing what was your first experience it must have been shocking my
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first experience is when i walk off the plane through custom yes the only person i want to see
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was my mother okay that's it that's it nobody else and she was here and i and i i greet her and
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Well, you know, coming here back in those days, you know, it was sad leaving some of my friends back home.
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But this is a path that I have to take because my mother sent for us.
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And I got here and, you know, culture shock and snow and everything like that.
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And it was cold and, you know, it was just different.
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Getting to use to everybody and meeting new friends and everything like that.
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And we have this opportunity sometimes to sit back.
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If you could ask young Ben, 1985 to 88, if you could tell him something that he would know that you're new now,
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be focused on what you're doing and don't trust a lot of people
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and try to take care of your own business and your own affair
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and make sure that you can invest what you make
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so when you finish your career, you have money.
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my investment to sit down and those things that I tried to do was take away from me.
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So I kind of figured out what they were doing, but they used the law and the track and field
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Well, I'm going to wrap up only to say that I'm very honored to have you on this and you
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time out of your day to come to the podcast all jokes aside here on true patriot love but before
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we leave i just wanted to say to you that i'm honored to know you i'm honored to know that you
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represent our country of jamaica to the fullest uh you to me was the first hero in jamaican history
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and i know they have heroes day with the real heroes in music but i say in track and field
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that we didn't think were human, like a man could do.
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So on behalf of all of our people from the island
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you'd like them to know what's up next for you.
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happy to come Mother's Day, I've got tickets for bed.