Latest / Hurdle with Emily Abbate / 130. Miles Chamley-Watson, Olympic Fencer

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130. Miles Chamley-Watson, Olympic Fencer · Hurdle with Emily Abbate

0:00
Speaker 1: All you need is self belief. I want you to
0:02
Speaker 1: have that you can do anything as well.
0:18
Speaker 2: Hey everyone, Emily a body here bringing you Episode one
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Speaker 2: hundred and thirty of Hurdle, a wellness fogus podcast where
0:25
Speaker 2: I sit down with inspiring individuals to talk about everything
0:29
Speaker 2: from their big wines to how they've gotten through some
0:30
Speaker 2: of life's toughest moments. On the show, you can expect vulnerability, motivation,
0:37
Speaker 2: and candid discussions with everyone from top athletes to aspiring
0:41
Speaker 2: entrepreneurs on what it really takes to follow your passions.
0:45
Speaker 2: My mission is simple to inspire you to be your
0:48
Speaker 2: best self, move with intention, and have some fun along
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Speaker 2: the way. For today's episode, I am chatting with Miles
0:57
Speaker 2: Chamley Watson. He's an Olympic fencer, a red Bull and
1:01
Speaker 2: Nike sponsored athlete, and this was a lot of fun.
1:05
Speaker 2: Standing at around six foot three, Miles is not typically
1:10
Speaker 2: what you would expect to see from a vencer, and
1:15
Speaker 2: he loves that. In fact, he has used that motivation
1:19
Speaker 2: to propel himself through his career, facing a slew of
1:24
Speaker 2: hurdles along the way. In episode one point thirty today
1:28
Speaker 2: we talk all about that and how from a young
1:32
Speaker 2: age he faced a lot of criticism about his choice
1:36
Speaker 2: in sports. We also chat about him and his family
1:39
Speaker 2: moving to the United States and how we got into
1:42
Speaker 2: the sport in the first place, and he tells me
1:44
Speaker 2: all about his journey to put the naysayers behind him
1:49
Speaker 2: and ultimately win a world championship as well as compete
1:53
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1:56
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Speaker 2: Dailyharvest dot com. You' all know the drill at Emily
4:55
Speaker 2: Abodi at Hurdle Podcast. To keep up with me on
4:58
Speaker 2: social media, slew of really exciting hurdle sessions coming down
5:03
Speaker 2: the pipe that I would love for you to participate in.
5:07
Speaker 2: For more details on that, definitely click on over to
5:10
Speaker 2: the show notes. And also, oh my god, I can't
5:13
Speaker 2: believe I'm putting this into the world. Exciting tidbit in
5:16
Speaker 2: the life of me. I am officially going to be
5:22
Speaker 2: crazy and run a virtual New York Marathon in November.
5:26
Speaker 2: So if you two are making some plans to do that,
5:31
Speaker 2: no matter where you might be, I'd love to rap
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Speaker 2: about it. Feel free to shoot me a dm an email,
5:36
Speaker 2: whether it's about running or whatever. I'm always here for you.
5:40
Speaker 2: It's Emily at hurdle dot us. And with that, let's
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Speaker 2: get to hurdling today. I'm so down with Miles Chamley Watson.
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Speaker 2: He is an Olympic fencer. How are you doing today?
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Speaker 1: I'm doing fantastic. No complaints here, just walk in and
6:10
Speaker 1: staying in shape.
6:11
Speaker 2: How about yourself, I'm pretty good. I am a little
6:15
Speaker 2: sad to know that you recently left good old New
6:18
Speaker 2: York in favor of the West Coast. How's it treating you.
6:22
Speaker 1: Well? Never in my life thought I would move to California,
6:27
Speaker 1: but you know, during these times, we all kind of
6:30
Speaker 1: never thought what would we be doing? So I was
6:33
Speaker 1: in New York City for six years, no, seven years.
6:37
Speaker 1: Loved it, still is my firite place wasith London obviously,
6:40
Speaker 1: and unfortunately I couldn't really train in New York, so
6:45
Speaker 1: I had to kind of relocate for a little bit
6:47
Speaker 1: since I California has got a lot more space also
6:50
Speaker 1: for like some peace of mind, which I think is
6:53
Speaker 1: key during this time.
6:54
Speaker 2: Yeah, for sure you mentioned London. People can hear it
6:57
Speaker 2: in your voice. Did you grow up there?
7:00
Speaker 1: Yeah, so I was born in London. I moved to
7:04
Speaker 1: New York City with my mom and my stepdad and
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Speaker 1: my sister when I was about ten years old. I
7:12
Speaker 1: was actually extremely not happy to be moving to New
7:15
Speaker 1: York because, you know, London boy and moved here and
7:20
Speaker 1: kind of fun love with it right away. Actually some
7:23
Speaker 1: similarities but also a lot of differences. But I'm grateful
7:27
Speaker 1: to be able to kind of grow up and both
7:28
Speaker 1: and see the world.
7:29
Speaker 2: Some similarity, some differences. What would you say was the
7:32
Speaker 2: biggest adjustment point for you when you were that young
7:35
Speaker 2: moving over to New York.
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Speaker 1: I think for me being that young, moving from London
7:40
Speaker 1: was a The way I spoke was sports. They didn't
7:44
Speaker 1: even know what football was, or to American soccer, that
7:47
Speaker 1: was my favorite sport growing up. Couldn't go to the
7:50
Speaker 1: corner shop couldn't have my fish and chips. Also, I
7:54
Speaker 1: just missed my friends, you know a lot, and I
7:56
Speaker 1: was kind of culturally were very different. But also like,
8:01
Speaker 1: but you know, soat there's great people in New York
8:04
Speaker 1: City as well, And I think both places like London
8:07
Speaker 1: and New York are kind of both melting pots in
8:10
Speaker 1: own different way. So I think that was easier to
8:14
Speaker 1: kind of get adjusted to as opposed if I was
8:16
Speaker 1: moved from London to la or something.
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Speaker 2: Yeah, were you poked fun out a bit for being
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Speaker 2: a little bit different when you came here?
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Speaker 1: Oh yeah, massive like I was. Every time a teacher
8:27
Speaker 1: would ask me to go you know, retaping out loud,
8:29
Speaker 1: I have to say four times because like my accent,
8:32
Speaker 1: they'd all ask me to say that the lou the lift.
8:35
Speaker 1: And then also like I was, you know, mixed race
8:38
Speaker 1: in London, like you know, half white, half black is
8:40
Speaker 1: a lot different than there wasn't that many of them
8:42
Speaker 1: in the public school that I went to, So that's
8:44
Speaker 1: kind of a big shock as well. And just you know,
8:48
Speaker 1: the food was very different. I had no friends, I
8:51
Speaker 1: was young. I was kind of paying the buck kids,
8:54
Speaker 1: so I had a lot to kind of learn quickly
8:56
Speaker 1: on my own.
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Speaker 2: What do you mean paying the buck kid?
9:00
Speaker 1: I was a bad kid. Let's just say that I
9:02
Speaker 1: was like mischievous, getting into trouble, so fights here and there,
9:07
Speaker 1: but it was more like protecting people. But yeah, I
9:10
Speaker 1: got made fun of a lot from my accent, which
9:13
Speaker 1: obviously ended up in me not letting them do that.
9:16
Speaker 1: So got kicked out of the public school quite quickly,
9:20
Speaker 1: which made my mom very angry since we came. I
9:23
Speaker 1: came midyear and that's actually how I started fencing.
9:28
Speaker 2: So tell me a little bit more about that. How
9:29
Speaker 2: did you really get into the swing of thanks?
9:31
Speaker 1: I would say I'm about eleven this point. I've been
9:34
Speaker 1: in public school PS. Eighty seven for like I don't
9:37
Speaker 1: even know, three months at the time, and my mother
9:41
Speaker 1: met this lady who was admissions director at the school
9:44
Speaker 1: called the Dwight School, and she's like, okay, I can
9:48
Speaker 1: give Miles an interview, but you know, he just got
9:50
Speaker 1: kicked out of the public school, so it might be
9:52
Speaker 1: hard to get into private school. But you know, quite
9:54
Speaker 1: charming and ended up getting in and as like a
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Speaker 1: not a p but as like a stipulation from three
10:02
Speaker 1: to four point thirty every day, I had to pick
10:05
Speaker 1: up either tennis, fencing, or badminton, and I was like,
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Speaker 1: oh my god, what are these sports? So I was like,
10:12
Speaker 1: you know what swords are? Fun? I like swords. So
10:14
Speaker 1: I picked up fencing and immediately just fell in love
10:20
Speaker 1: with how it made me feel. You know, I felt
10:23
Speaker 1: like a superhero and that kind of escaped into my
10:27
Speaker 1: own world when I put that mask on.
10:30
Speaker 2: It's so interesting because as opposed to something like as
10:35
Speaker 2: you would call it football or conventional football, or I
10:39
Speaker 2: mean basketball, so many other sports, I feel like it's
10:41
Speaker 2: really easy to pick up a ball and play, but
10:44
Speaker 2: with fencing, there's just it feels as though there are
10:47
Speaker 2: a lot of logistics. So was it easy for you
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Speaker 2: to grab onto it rather quickly at a young age
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Speaker 2: or did it feel complicated?
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Speaker 1: To be honest with you, You know, there are a
10:56
Speaker 1: lot of like wires and machines, but at that age
11:00
Speaker 1: everything's dry, which means it's non electric. So it's kind
11:03
Speaker 1: of just I've got a jacket, I've got a mosque,
11:06
Speaker 1: and you go to foil and let's just duele it out.
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Speaker 1: So if you're really thinking about it, like as a
11:12
Speaker 1: little kid, I mean I wanted to be like a
11:14
Speaker 1: sword fighter or a superhero. I'd pick up a stick,
11:16
Speaker 1: you know, in the park and just like kind of
11:18
Speaker 1: act like I was, I don't know, swinging your sword around.
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Speaker 1: So I kind of took my childhood dream and literally
11:25
Speaker 1: made it my my profession.
11:27
Speaker 2: I love that. I love that. Okay, So you started fencing,
11:30
Speaker 2: and through doing that, as some younger kids do when
11:35
Speaker 2: they're starting to play sports, did you start to make
11:37
Speaker 2: friends that way?
11:38
Speaker 1: Actually, when I got introduced to fencing, it was like
11:41
Speaker 1: six of us in the gym class, three of the
11:43
Speaker 1: lads in there through the boys, and we kind of
11:45
Speaker 1: started to go fencing once a week outside of school together.
11:49
Speaker 1: So we would like, you know, take the train together,
11:51
Speaker 1: whatever that might be, and one of the upperclassmen would
11:55
Speaker 1: actually take us on the subway down to fencing. So
12:00
Speaker 1: I honestly didn't really connect with the kids my age,
12:02
Speaker 1: but for some reason the older people, I would always
12:06
Speaker 1: kind of ask them questions or just like always want
12:09
Speaker 1: to be around them. So I did find friends in fencing,
12:12
Speaker 1: just not my age.
12:13
Speaker 2: When in your journey, then with this sport, do you
12:17
Speaker 2: start to really understand just how good you are at it?
12:21
Speaker 1: This lady named Ellen Grayson who changed my life. She
12:23
Speaker 1: was the first person to be like, Miles, You've got talent,
12:28
Speaker 1: like talent that we've never seen before. I think if
12:29
Speaker 1: you gave us a real shot, you could be something special.
12:32
Speaker 2: How did you meet her?
12:33
Speaker 1: So she was there's this program at the Dwight School
12:36
Speaker 1: called Quest, kind of like an after school program for
12:39
Speaker 1: like kids that either, you know, kind of getting in
12:40
Speaker 1: trouble and need a little bit extra time, whatever that
12:43
Speaker 1: might be. And she was a person who saw me
12:46
Speaker 1: fencing and saw that I was slowly getting into less trouble,
12:50
Speaker 1: and she was like, Okay, Myles, I'm going to kind
12:52
Speaker 1: of like be or mentor. It was even her job,
12:57
Speaker 1: and she just kind of took me under her wing
12:59
Speaker 1: and introduced me to my coach that I used to
13:03
Speaker 1: have for fifteen years. So she honestly is like an
13:07
Speaker 1: incredible person. So she kind of took me from just
13:10
Speaker 1: that little gym in school to a fencing club in
13:13
Speaker 1: New York.
13:14
Speaker 2: How was it when you walked in there?
13:15
Speaker 1: Let me take myself back to that moment. When I
13:17
Speaker 1: first walked in there, I think I was so surprised
13:20
Speaker 1: at the size of the gym, Like it was quite
13:23
Speaker 1: big and I was like, Wow, there's a full fencing community,
13:26
Speaker 1: because I never even knew what fencing was until I
13:29
Speaker 1: started doing it, obviously like Zoro, but like so walking
13:34
Speaker 1: into there was really like a new world for me.
13:37
Speaker 1: I kind of just gazed for a little bit and
13:39
Speaker 1: then got to work.
13:41
Speaker 2: I mean, I'm assuming that kind of work that you
13:43
Speaker 2: started to do in that gym was a lot different
13:46
Speaker 2: than what you had been doing before.
13:48
Speaker 1: Yeah, exactly. So what we were doing before was mainly
13:52
Speaker 1: just like target practice, like just you know, silly little drills.
13:56
Speaker 1: And then when I went to the fencing club, I
13:58
Speaker 1: was actually sparring. I was like hooking up electric for
14:03
Speaker 1: the first time. And then I saw some Olympians that
14:06
Speaker 1: were training there as well. I was like twelve at
14:09
Speaker 1: this point, and I was like, oh, this is cool,
14:12
Speaker 1: okay Olympics. Like I didn't know if fencing was in
14:15
Speaker 1: the Olympics. So that kind of opened my eyes to like,
14:19
Speaker 1: all right, there is more than just doing this for fun.
14:23
Speaker 2: I kind of and maybe this is me making an assumption,
14:26
Speaker 2: but I kind of feel as though, did anyone have
14:29
Speaker 2: an opinion about you getting into fencing from school? Like
14:33
Speaker 2: did you get kind of poked around how unintended? Did
14:36
Speaker 2: you get poked out a lot about it.
14:37
Speaker 1: All the time? And I think for me, I was like, oh,
14:40
Speaker 1: they call me all these names. You play with little sticks,
14:44
Speaker 1: you know, like all these names. And for me, it
14:47
Speaker 1: was just like I just didn't care, and I loved
14:52
Speaker 1: what fencing made me feel. And I got made fun
14:54
Speaker 1: of all the time, but obviously I would not let
14:56
Speaker 1: I would say something back every time, but like I
14:59
Speaker 1: got made fun all the time, get into fights at
15:01
Speaker 1: school because like they'd make fun of finting. They say, oh,
15:05
Speaker 1: girls do this, like you know, And I was like,
15:07
Speaker 1: all right, mate, I'm literally playing with a sword. What
15:10
Speaker 1: are you doing putting a ball into a hoop? You know?
15:14
Speaker 1: So I was like, you know what, Like from that age,
15:16
Speaker 1: I think I was like fourteen, I was like, I'm
15:18
Speaker 1: going to shut everybody up. And that's when I just
15:22
Speaker 1: turned into just like a different human being at that age.
15:25
Speaker 2: In reference to when you say you then tried electric,
15:28
Speaker 2: talk to me about how that kind of works in
15:30
Speaker 2: the scheme of things here.
15:32
Speaker 1: Yeah, So, for instance, fencing has wires, which essentially is
15:37
Speaker 1: what the scoring is placed. So there's a wire that
15:40
Speaker 1: goes from the ground into your foil which is the
15:43
Speaker 1: weapon that I choose, And somebody's green and somebody's red,
15:47
Speaker 1: and that's like how the Olympics are scored and World championships.
15:50
Speaker 1: But if you're young, like i'd say, when you're like
15:55
Speaker 1: there's some kids that are eight to say twelve, it's
15:59
Speaker 1: more dry, which means there's no wires. It's just like
16:05
Speaker 1: kind of practice per sae and then sorry, the real
16:08
Speaker 1: fun is when you get to like hook up and
16:11
Speaker 1: hear the machines and see the lights go up, and
16:14
Speaker 1: that's kind of when you really such to fall in
16:16
Speaker 1: love with it. It's a lot different than what most
16:18
Speaker 1: people think. It's not like the parent trap.
16:21
Speaker 2: Oh wow, great reference and also such a throwback. Talk
16:24
Speaker 2: to me about how this year has really impacted your
16:30
Speaker 2: training and kind of maybe your plans with the Olympics
16:33
Speaker 2: being pushed out a little bit.
16:34
Speaker 1: This is a the craziest year of my life, and
16:36
Speaker 1: I think probably most people on this planet, but for me,
16:40
Speaker 1: in most athletes at Olympians, you kind of train every
16:45
Speaker 1: four years for just that one moment of hopefully you
16:47
Speaker 1: get to hold that gold metal around your neck and
16:50
Speaker 1: hit the anthem. But everything stopped when you know this
16:55
Speaker 1: pandemic happened, and I kind of had to reset and
17:00
Speaker 1: figure out who I am as a person before I
17:03
Speaker 1: can really get back to fencing, because I never had
17:08
Speaker 1: any time to think about who I am or my
17:11
Speaker 1: feelings or my motions. I was always just fencing and
17:14
Speaker 1: going to shoots, going to sponsors, going to fashion and stuff.
17:16
Speaker 1: I kind of was flying through life without really thinking
17:20
Speaker 1: about who I am and what I need. And I've
17:25
Speaker 1: never been like an emotional person per se, like not
17:28
Speaker 1: like emotional, like in tune with my emotions like, and
17:33
Speaker 1: I think for the first time in my life, now
17:36
Speaker 1: I have. It's been beautiful, but also it's been a
17:38
Speaker 1: little bit just different for me because I've never had
17:40
Speaker 1: to do this before.
17:41
Speaker 2: I think it's kind of scary, isn't it.
17:43
Speaker 1: Yeah, I think I love being scared. It's weird, But
17:48
Speaker 1: I love going to something that you'd be unknown and
17:52
Speaker 1: like coming out of that situation with some type of
17:56
Speaker 1: clarity or just some type of direction or something. And
18:00
Speaker 1: that's what this time has allowed me to do, is
18:03
Speaker 1: focus on stuff outside of fencing, And I'm extremely grateful
18:07
Speaker 1: for it in the weirdest way because now I have
18:10
Speaker 1: more direction in my life and not just fencing and winning,
18:14
Speaker 1: but there's a lot more to life just that.
18:16
Speaker 2: What would you say in the scheme of things this
18:19
Speaker 2: year has been one of the biggest lessons that you've learned.
18:23
Speaker 1: There's two. One is every disappointment is a blessing. And
18:27
Speaker 1: I think not necessarily disappointment, but I think learning about
18:32
Speaker 1: what I want as miles instead of what like I
18:37
Speaker 1: have to do as Miles do that makes sense. My purpose,
18:40
Speaker 1: I felt like was inspiring children, Like the messages that
18:44
Speaker 1: I was getting from kids who were like, this is
18:47
Speaker 1: really hard for me, I don't know what to do.
18:49
Speaker 1: Fencing is my life. And then I realized that, like,
18:52
Speaker 1: my purpose is inspiring these kids that I think there's
18:56
Speaker 1: no hope in fencing, or like the life is over
18:59
Speaker 1: or they get bellie a little time for loving a sport,
19:02
Speaker 1: And that to me was the kind of silver lining,
19:07
Speaker 1: is that my purpose is not just meaning more, it's
19:10
Speaker 1: about these these children and how I'm influential to them.
19:16
Speaker 1: I didn't really realize how inventure I was until I
19:19
Speaker 1: sat down and kind of zoned in on everything. I
19:25
Speaker 1: don't done any sense.
19:26
Speaker 2: But no, it totally it makes sense because I think
19:29
Speaker 2: that you and I have a similar mission, and that
19:32
Speaker 2: when you were younger and you started fencing, you were
19:35
Speaker 2: made to feel a little bit alienated for doing the
19:39
Speaker 2: thing that you loved. And so now as an adult,
19:42
Speaker 2: now that you've found some you know, success in your
19:45
Speaker 2: sport and you've made a name for yourself, it's that
19:48
Speaker 2: you want to have the opportunity to make those kids
19:50
Speaker 2: who you can relate to feel a little bit less alone. Exactly,
19:55
Speaker 2: take me through kind of the evolution of what happens
19:58
Speaker 2: after you start training at the fencing club in New York.
20:03
Speaker 1: Okay, So at this point, I'm probably say twelve years old.
20:06
Speaker 1: I just got introduced to this lady. Her name is
20:11
Speaker 1: Sylvia gior Hungarian, and she was my first real coach
20:16
Speaker 1: that ever kind of saw my potential outside of Ellen Grayson.
20:21
Speaker 1: And she said, you know what, Myles, I think you
20:22
Speaker 1: can be world champion one day, Olympic champion one day.
20:25
Speaker 1: I was like, oh wow. And then that kind of
20:27
Speaker 1: turned on a light bulb in my head, like, Okay, Myles,
20:31
Speaker 1: let's let's let's chock the world. Let's there's something that's
20:35
Speaker 1: never done before. Because I never looked up to anybody
20:37
Speaker 1: in fencing or wanted to be like any fencer. I
20:41
Speaker 1: just knew that there was levels of a sport which
20:44
Speaker 1: nobody hit yet, and that's what I was on the
20:49
Speaker 1: mission to do. And she spent a lot of time
20:52
Speaker 1: with me, and I would be at the club too
20:53
Speaker 1: late and she'd take me home and that was kind
20:55
Speaker 1: of like my escape was I was twelve years old
20:58
Speaker 1: leaving the fencing club like seven pm. Who does that?
21:01
Speaker 1: Mum was like, what's going on? But I never complained.
21:04
Speaker 1: I loved it. I loved that made me feel and
21:07
Speaker 1: I knew that, like this was my calling.
21:10
Speaker 2: Where is that in the scheme of things? Like what
21:13
Speaker 2: year are we in?
21:13
Speaker 1: Now? Fourteen? So fifteen years ago, this.
21:16
Speaker 2: Is still pre twenty twelve Olympics, So take me into
21:21
Speaker 2: what happens between this point and when you actually gear
21:25
Speaker 2: up to go to your first and all that good stuff.
21:29
Speaker 1: So I would say from fourteen to eighteen, I'm trying
21:36
Speaker 1: to make the Junior Olympic team, which is like the
21:40
Speaker 1: under seventeen or under twenty team, which you get to
21:42
Speaker 1: represent your country in. It's like huge honor, right as
21:45
Speaker 1: like a kid. So I qualified for my first Junior
21:48
Speaker 1: Olympics at fourteen, just really young, and it was in Cleveland, Ohio,
21:56
Speaker 1: and I forget which medal I got it, maybe I
22:00
Speaker 1: made the final eight. Whatever. Everybody's like seventeen, I'm like
22:03
Speaker 1: a little kid at this point. I'm like tall and skinny, abnormal,
22:06
Speaker 1: So I'm just weird. Good. That was weird to say
22:08
Speaker 1: wording good. It's not a colkey, but I was just weird.
22:11
Speaker 1: And then the next year, I'm fifteen, come back and
22:15
Speaker 1: I said I'm winning this thing, and I won. And
22:19
Speaker 1: then that summer I got every single letter of intent
22:24
Speaker 1: to every college full ride offencing at sixteen. Wow. So
22:28
Speaker 1: then I was like, oh, do I even have to
22:30
Speaker 1: go to school? But like I knew college wasn't for me,
22:34
Speaker 1: but I wanted to get a college experience, like going
22:36
Speaker 1: from London and seeing all these massive universities like fifty
22:40
Speaker 1: thousand people. I was like, I want to get the
22:42
Speaker 1: most ridiculous experience of college I could ever get. So
22:48
Speaker 1: that's when I went. I got a full scholarship to
22:51
Speaker 1: Penn State University.
22:53
Speaker 2: I was wondering what college you were about to throw
22:55
Speaker 2: out after you said I want to get the most
22:57
Speaker 2: ridiculous college experience of my life.
23:00
Speaker 1: Yeah, it was for me. It was notre dame was
23:03
Speaker 1: Ohio State. Stanford and Penn State were the ones that
23:08
Speaker 1: like good friends to schools and gave me a full
23:11
Speaker 1: scholarship and eighteen, I was like all right, went to
23:16
Speaker 1: Penn State for a year. I was like, you know,
23:18
Speaker 1: I'm taking this year off. I'm going to try and
23:20
Speaker 1: qualify for the Olympics. So everyone thought it was crazy.
23:25
Speaker 1: Moved to New York City with one of my coaches,
23:28
Speaker 1: stayed with him, so I wanted to. I went to
23:30
Speaker 1: pennsy at nineteen and then I had my twentieth birthday
23:33
Speaker 1: that year and I qualified for my first Olympics, which
23:36
Speaker 1: happened to be in where else, London, my hometown.
23:40
Speaker 2: Very appropriate.
23:41
Speaker 1: Yeah, that was the crazy experience, was qualifying for an Olympics.
23:45
Speaker 1: That was so crazy.
23:46
Speaker 2: When you say that, no one believed that you could
23:48
Speaker 2: do it, Who are you talking about.
23:51
Speaker 1: Any fencer, any coach, family members, Because it seems like
23:55
Speaker 1: such a crazy dream or reach until you really get there, right.
24:01
Speaker 1: And I think self belief is when I tell kids
24:03
Speaker 1: I speak to and I'm like, oh, you need is
24:05
Speaker 1: self belief. Once you have that, you can do anything
24:08
Speaker 1: in this world. And I think that's what I've taken
24:11
Speaker 1: on no matter what people say, no, yes, and then
24:14
Speaker 1: you know when it's too late, I've already paused to you.
24:17
Speaker 1: So at that age, I kind of knew that I
24:19
Speaker 1: didn't need anybody's approval or anybody's anything. I was gonna
24:23
Speaker 1: do it on my own.
24:30
Speaker 2: Taking a break from today's episode to give some love
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Speaker 2: Harvest dot com. So you make your first Olympic team
27:14
Speaker 2: and as you said, what a surreal, surreal experience. Talk
27:18
Speaker 2: to me about your trip back to London.
27:19
Speaker 1: So my trip back to London. I remember us getting
27:22
Speaker 1: on the airplane. There's nobody on the airplane, but Olympians landed.
27:26
Speaker 1: It's incredible. Get to the village and I sit in
27:31
Speaker 1: the room and I'm like, wow, right, we made it.
27:35
Speaker 1: But I knew that then. I was My mindset wasn't
27:39
Speaker 1: in the right place, and I was just happy to
27:42
Speaker 1: be there instead of there for a reason. I was young,
27:46
Speaker 1: but does make an excuse. And who my whole family
27:49
Speaker 1: was there. My grandmother was there who's never even seen me. Fans,
27:55
Speaker 1: my uncles, my aunt, my mates. It was incredible, and
27:57
Speaker 1: then they're getting forth, which is basically the worst as
28:00
Speaker 1: you can ever get. And I noticed that I changed
28:08
Speaker 1: my mentality. I changed the way I was training just
28:12
Speaker 1: because it's the Olympics. But the Olympics is just like
28:16
Speaker 1: any other competition, just more pressure. So the next year
28:21
Speaker 1: I was twenty thirteen, and that's the World Championships and
28:25
Speaker 1: no American has ever got a medal in five hundred years,
28:28
Speaker 1: and I was just like, you know what, I'm going
28:30
Speaker 1: to win this thing. And I was the first American
28:33
Speaker 1: to ever become world champion in the sport of fencing.
28:35
Speaker 1: And I knew that if I had to say mentality,
28:39
Speaker 1: I would win the Olympics. And it was enjoying the
28:42
Speaker 1: process being you being crazy, not listening to anybody, and
28:48
Speaker 1: just working harder than anybody else. And if I didn't
28:51
Speaker 1: get fourth in the Olympics, I wouldn't be where I
28:53
Speaker 1: am to this day.
28:54
Speaker 2: I love that mentality. When it came to that World Championships,
28:58
Speaker 2: when talked to me about the motion that came with
29:01
Speaker 2: taking that first place spot.
29:04
Speaker 1: That's the most emotional I've ever been. I'm pretty sure
29:06
Speaker 1: I cried on the podium, which I've never done before.
29:08
Speaker 1: But like I remember, I was seventeenth in the world
29:11
Speaker 1: and top sixteen in the world get a free day
29:15
Speaker 1: to the next day. So I'm the only one in
29:17
Speaker 1: my teammates because twenty twelve I didn't do one in
29:19
Speaker 1: the book, so the ranking I dropped. I was on
29:23
Speaker 1: the world to seventeen, and I never forgets. I was
29:28
Speaker 1: sitting in my room with one of my mates and
29:32
Speaker 1: I was like, dude, you want have a beer. He's like, no,
29:35
Speaker 1: you're fencing. I was like, I want a beer at
29:37
Speaker 1: a Heineken in the lobby and I felt just different.
29:44
Speaker 1: And I was like, nobody's built like me. And I
29:47
Speaker 1: was like and I just pay for the check, went upstairs,
29:52
Speaker 1: went to bed, woke up, and I knew something magical
29:54
Speaker 1: was gonna happen that day. I just felt it.
29:57
Speaker 2: What an ad I know.
30:00
Speaker 1: I wish I could I know, And I was like,
30:03
Speaker 1: you know what, like mile, I was like you And
30:05
Speaker 1: then that's why I just and that's why I started
30:07
Speaker 1: to like realize that I'm not just a fencer. And
30:09
Speaker 1: then that's when I was like, boom, I'm not finishing school.
30:12
Speaker 1: I'm going to be the first fencer to ever make
30:14
Speaker 1: a million dollars. I told my mom, i' mom this
30:17
Speaker 1: and she's like, okay, son, you know, not like money
30:21
Speaker 1: was the issue. I was one of the craziest like
30:23
Speaker 1: goal you know, like who could think that's possible. And
30:26
Speaker 1: Nike was the first sponsors to ever signed me, first
30:30
Speaker 1: friends that they've ever signed, so and then I signed
30:32
Speaker 1: in Rebel and I sent the Samsung and then I
30:34
Speaker 1: was like, oh my god, like wow, and then things
30:37
Speaker 1: kind of took off for me.
30:39
Speaker 2: I feel like that's kind of a little bit of
30:42
Speaker 2: that power of manifestation that we talk about so often.
30:45
Speaker 2: It's putting something into the universe, and until you do,
30:49
Speaker 2: sometimes you just think that it's too scary to dream
30:52
Speaker 2: that big. But saying it and actually getting it out
30:55
Speaker 2: there can make such a huge difference.
30:59
Speaker 1: I have a huge for the power of manifestation because
31:02
Speaker 1: it's just shows you know, if you really believe in
31:05
Speaker 1: the vision, you'll get there no matter what. And that's
31:08
Speaker 1: something that I that's something that I've always been strict on,
31:11
Speaker 1: is like writing things down and manufacting them and not
31:14
Speaker 1: letting anything stop you from getting to where you want
31:16
Speaker 1: to go. Like nobody should be able to stop you. Nobody,
31:19
Speaker 1: not even your parents, nor even your mates. Nobody should
31:24
Speaker 1: be able to stop you if you have self belief.
31:26
Speaker 2: You mentioned all of these big sponsorship opportunities. Something that
31:30
Speaker 2: we haven't directly covered yet is the fact that you
31:33
Speaker 2: are six foot four, right, yeah, and you don't necessarily
31:38
Speaker 2: look like other people that you are competing up against.
31:43
Speaker 2: So how has that impacted both you as a fencer,
31:48
Speaker 2: And then I guess with these brand partnerships, like how
31:51
Speaker 2: has that kind of come into the fold.
31:53
Speaker 1: That's a great question. Nobody in my sport looks like me.
31:55
Speaker 1: I think that's what makes me different. I think that's
31:59
Speaker 1: also why I've been able to get all these new
32:02
Speaker 1: sponsors or get these new brands, because fencing has got
32:06
Speaker 1: such a rich history. It's one of older sports. It's
32:08
Speaker 1: considered elitist and predominantly white, which it is, and I
32:12
Speaker 1: come along. I'm a mixed race, tattooed guy whose styles crazy.
32:17
Speaker 1: I'm jumping in the areathing into my legs, and I've
32:22
Speaker 1: been able to kind of get a new audience into
32:24
Speaker 1: the sport who might have not knew fencing was cool
32:27
Speaker 1: or athletic or just different. And then seeing companies like
32:32
Speaker 1: Nike and Rebel and Samsung and so forth believe in
32:36
Speaker 1: me and see the potential mix. It so much more
32:40
Speaker 1: of a beautiful journey when we have somebody who believes
32:43
Speaker 1: in you as well. From the jump, it's like somebody's like, hey,
32:46
Speaker 1: let's sign Miles. Now. I'm like, Okay, that's easy because
32:48
Speaker 1: I've proven my way. But like they kind of believed
32:52
Speaker 1: in me when I was nobody, and I'll never forget that.
32:55
Speaker 1: And I think that's what I always take with me
32:57
Speaker 1: every day is you know, I think I love to
33:01
Speaker 1: be able to shock myself. I love to be like, WHOA,
33:05
Speaker 1: you did that? I love that, And that's I don't
33:08
Speaker 1: care about proving anybody else wrong. I care about knowing
33:11
Speaker 1: that what I said was possible, no matter how crazy
33:13
Speaker 1: it was, I made it possible.
33:14
Speaker 2: I have too walked into both nikes New York and
33:18
Speaker 2: Portland headquarters, as well as Red Bulls headquarters in California.
33:23
Speaker 2: Talk to me about what that experience was like for you.
33:28
Speaker 1: So still with Nike since they were the first one.
33:30
Speaker 1: I didn't actually get to visit campus until like a
33:32
Speaker 1: year after I signed. I met with my Nike rapper
33:34
Speaker 1: Laurie Roth, who's to this day like my second mom.
33:37
Speaker 1: She always chucked up on me. Make make sure I'm
33:40
Speaker 1: in check. And she's like, you know what, Miles like,
33:44
Speaker 1: Nike is a very you know, corporate brand, and we
33:47
Speaker 1: know your edgy. We love that about you. Be you
33:50
Speaker 1: and we'll support you. I was like, whoa really? And
33:53
Speaker 1: then you know, next year, I was shooting my first
33:56
Speaker 1: campaign with Serena Williams and Roger Federer and I'm like,
33:58
Speaker 1: what is going on? And then I started meeting them
34:01
Speaker 1: and the Nike was like, whoa, this this is Offenser.
34:05
Speaker 1: And then I started booking every campaign coming one of
34:07
Speaker 1: the most requests Nike athletes to shoot. I was like, wow,
34:10
Speaker 1: this is nuts. But I knew what I had to offer,
34:14
Speaker 1: and I knew that I was just myself and good
34:16
Speaker 1: person and and get everything to love that everything would
34:20
Speaker 1: walk out, and it did.
34:23
Speaker 2: We checked off Nike's headquarters, talk to me about talk
34:26
Speaker 2: to me about signing with Red Bull, and then checking
34:29
Speaker 2: out where what they're all about.
34:31
Speaker 1: My mate name was Jeremi Jose If he actually fenced
34:34
Speaker 1: with me. This is probably a year and a half later.
34:37
Speaker 1: I'm twenty one at this time twenty two and he goes, hey, Brow.
34:42
Speaker 1: He was like, I'm good in New York City. He's like, oh,
34:45
Speaker 1: do you drink Red Bull? I was like, yeah, I
34:47
Speaker 1: love it, but why, oh did you drink when you compete?
34:52
Speaker 1: I was like, yeah, I love it Ball and he's
34:54
Speaker 1: like okay, cool, and then he's like I have a
34:56
Speaker 1: good day and I was like what. And then he
34:58
Speaker 1: called me back like the next day eight with his
35:03
Speaker 1: friend named Justin Abrams, who signed me to Red Bull.
35:09
Speaker 1: He was like, listen, man, you know, we've been looking
35:11
Speaker 1: at you. We think you're really cool. But Red Bull's
35:14
Speaker 1: whole thing is you have to you have to be
35:16
Speaker 1: everything's organic. If they drink the product, you can't just
35:20
Speaker 1: you know, half auted. So it took me six months
35:23
Speaker 1: to sign with Red Bull because it's such a long
35:25
Speaker 1: onboarding And let me tell you, that's family forever. Like
35:30
Speaker 1: those people are incredible and they honestly helped change my life.
35:35
Speaker 1: I can't thank them enough. And then I was able
35:37
Speaker 1: to go to a future Austria and visit the headquarters
35:40
Speaker 1: and I meet the whole team and they want to
35:42
Speaker 1: build projects with me, and it's been an incredible ride
35:47
Speaker 1: and I'm so thankful to have them along the journey
35:49
Speaker 1: with me.
35:50
Speaker 2: You rack up these sponsorship opportunities, and now you're back
35:55
Speaker 2: in another for your training cycle, right exactly.
35:58
Speaker 1: Yeah, because I don't know if the Olympics going to
36:01
Speaker 1: happen or whatever, but I'm just staying in shape, like
36:05
Speaker 1: I'm training for Olympics now. But for me, like it wasn't
36:09
Speaker 1: necessarily about the Olympics, It's just about being relevant all
36:12
Speaker 1: the time. I just don't want to just be someone's
36:14
Speaker 1: relevant every four years, you know. I wanted to be
36:16
Speaker 1: somebody who changed lives and grew a sport and put
36:20
Speaker 1: on the map. And I'm still trying to take frinding
36:22
Speaker 1: from niche to mainstream on my own. So it's not easy,
36:27
Speaker 1: but it's what I signed up for, and I think
36:29
Speaker 1: that's my purpose in this world.
36:31
Speaker 2: We haven't even talked about the bronze from twenty sixteen,
36:35
Speaker 2: so talk to me about that experience for you.
36:38
Speaker 1: That experience was very interesting actually so in the individual uh,
36:48
Speaker 1: I can't remember actually, but when we got to Brazil Rio,
36:52
Speaker 1: which I love that country, it was a way to
36:55
Speaker 1: experience because I knew what to expect. My second one,
36:58
Speaker 1: I was kind of like a household dame in the
37:00
Speaker 1: sports world at this point. I had a lot more
37:05
Speaker 1: no confidence, but like I knew I was there to win,
37:07
Speaker 1: not not to like party or whatever that was. And
37:12
Speaker 1: when getting bronze medal, which is awesome, but I fenced
37:17
Speaker 1: the best I ever had in my life, and we
37:19
Speaker 1: got bronze as a team, which I fenced the best
37:24
Speaker 1: of my life. But we didn't get a gold medal.
37:26
Speaker 1: But it taught me a lot and it showed that
37:28
Speaker 1: like I have a new level to tap into that
37:30
Speaker 1: like I didn't even know as possible. Like for instance,
37:33
Speaker 1: team matches go to forty five points and I scored
37:37
Speaker 1: ninety percent of them by myself. It's a team obviously,
37:39
Speaker 1: but you're going individually one on one. I'm not gonna
37:41
Speaker 1: lie to you. I was not very happy with a
37:43
Speaker 1: bronze medal. This is also like a bit of sweet
37:45
Speaker 1: because if I won the Olympics, I won everything best
37:47
Speaker 1: for Olympics, World Championships. But I knew that wasn't the plan.
37:53
Speaker 1: So I knew that I wasn't supposed to be then
37:56
Speaker 1: and I unlocked and knew out of my brain. I
38:00
Speaker 1: switched coaches for the person time in my life, and
38:03
Speaker 1: I can't wait to continue this journey. So it was
38:06
Speaker 1: a hard experience for me. But it was beautiful, obviously,
38:08
Speaker 1: like getting a medal was Wilson. But on the podium,
38:12
Speaker 1: I was thinking about twenty twenty already.
38:14
Speaker 2: Talk to me about the change that happens once you
38:17
Speaker 2: do start to get some notoriety. I mean, you went
38:19
Speaker 2: from a kid growing up who was used to being
38:22
Speaker 2: made fun of for being a fencer at such a
38:25
Speaker 2: young age to sitting next to Madonna at the met ball.
38:29
Speaker 2: So talk to me about that.
38:31
Speaker 1: Like that, to me is something you can't even processed,
38:35
Speaker 1: Like how even post that. I'm like, this woman is
38:38
Speaker 1: like the most famous woman's planet and it's next to me,
38:41
Speaker 1: and it's interested in what I'm saying. What the hell
38:43
Speaker 1: is going on? But I and also at the Met THO,
38:48
Speaker 1: I met my best friend to this day, Lewis Hamilton, who,
38:51
Speaker 1: if you know him, is the F one driver.
38:52
Speaker 2: I don't know if you know this F one driver,
38:54
Speaker 2: but because a.
38:56
Speaker 1: Lot of people in America don't know him yet, that's
38:58
Speaker 1: what I meant.
38:58
Speaker 2: I know him.
38:59
Speaker 1: I know him, and I I never forget. I was
39:00
Speaker 1: sitting there and he was like, hey, man, your defence.
39:03
Speaker 1: I was like, oh, brother, the driver, and he was
39:05
Speaker 1: like yeah. I was like I know one person here,
39:07
Speaker 1: he's all right, man, then let's hang out. And then
39:09
Speaker 1: that was it. And it was Madonna on one side,
39:13
Speaker 1: me in the middle, and then Rihanna on the other side.
39:16
Speaker 1: I was like, oh my god. And I was just
39:18
Speaker 1: honestly just being me and didn't change my end no
39:20
Speaker 1: matter what setting I'm in. And I think that's why
39:22
Speaker 1: I've been able to kind of always just be mean
39:23
Speaker 1: no matter what setting I'm in.
39:25
Speaker 2: You've also dabbled in a little bit of fashion stuff.
39:27
Speaker 2: How has that been?
39:28
Speaker 1: Fashion has been incredible for me. They've also opened so
39:31
Speaker 1: many doors for me in that world. Fashion has given
39:34
Speaker 1: me another audience. And I think fencing and fashion, sports
39:39
Speaker 1: and fashion go hand in hand. It's like the most
39:40
Speaker 1: beautiful relationship together. And I've able to meet great people
39:44
Speaker 1: and dabble in that fashion world and really opened my
39:47
Speaker 1: eyes to what I want to do beyond dispensing and
39:51
Speaker 1: I love fashion. I'm getting that world right now and
39:53
Speaker 1: it's shown me that you can do whatever you want
39:57
Speaker 1: to do. And when I do like modeling stuff, I
40:00
Speaker 1: just wanted to kind of all the people in the
40:02
Speaker 1: fashion wall to know that I'm not just a model,
40:04
Speaker 1: that I'm an athlete, and that comes first, and then
40:07
Speaker 1: that's why I changed my Instagram to Fencer, so people
40:10
Speaker 1: knew that I'm a fencer first and then I'm a
40:14
Speaker 1: fashion model second.
40:15
Speaker 2: Was getting that hard.
40:16
Speaker 1: Yes, but we got people high places.
40:19
Speaker 2: Every time I see someone with like the most coveted
40:21
Speaker 2: Instagram name or that, it just pops up that way
40:24
Speaker 2: in my head. I'm like, who did you know?
40:31
Speaker 1: But that was funny. So I was shooting not to flex,
40:35
Speaker 1: but I was shooting Vogue like that day, and I
40:38
Speaker 1: was shooting with Scissa the singer, and she's like, hey,
40:42
Speaker 1: what's your Instagram? When I posted it, like I'll tag you.
40:45
Speaker 1: I was the same here and my Instagram changed from
40:49
Speaker 1: Miles Watson to Fencer as we shot it, and I
40:52
Speaker 1: was like, oh no, But then ended up being perfect
40:55
Speaker 1: because then Vogue was like Scissor and Fencer. I was like,
40:58
Speaker 1: I was like, okay, this is cool. That was like
41:00
Speaker 1: how I introduce the world to Fencer.
41:03
Speaker 2: Yeah, that's so crazy, though, Like do you even hear
41:05
Speaker 2: the words that are coming out of your mouth? It's like,
41:07
Speaker 2: when did you get to a point where like saying
41:10
Speaker 2: things like this became normal?
41:13
Speaker 1: Well, Pinter was like, you know, people always say a
41:14
Speaker 1: young age, You're going to be a star, right, Like
41:17
Speaker 1: you know, people will say it's like a little kid,
41:18
Speaker 1: and you're like, yeah, yeah, whatever, And then sometimes you
41:22
Speaker 1: sit back and you're like whoa, Like you're on the
41:25
Speaker 1: same level as like these people who you respect so
41:28
Speaker 1: much that like that is what makes it amazing for
41:31
Speaker 1: me and the people that I love, Like wearing my
41:35
Speaker 1: Nike hats, I'm like, this is wild, Like that's why
41:39
Speaker 1: I created the create a legacy, not a moment, my trademark,
41:43
Speaker 1: and like I gave Lebron I mean Russell Wilson hats
41:47
Speaker 1: and they posted them and war them. I was like,
41:49
Speaker 1: what is going on? Oh, we would love your saying
41:51
Speaker 1: if you're getting respect from these people, then you're doing
41:54
Speaker 1: the right thing.
41:55
Speaker 2: You're doing the right thing. You said that twenty twenty
41:58
Speaker 2: has been absolutely something crazy, So talk to me about
42:03
Speaker 2: why that is. Aside from obviously the fact that you've
42:05
Speaker 2: had to shift to your team. You mentioned getting a
42:09
Speaker 2: new coach eight months ago, but what other highlights can
42:11
Speaker 2: you show me?
42:12
Speaker 1: It was working on my video game, my foundation, We're
42:20
Speaker 1: kind of renecting with my family more, my friend, but
42:22
Speaker 1: also just and I think just I realizing I have
42:26
Speaker 1: so much to do still, but like it was a
42:31
Speaker 1: lot to process at first. All right, Mom, I was like,
42:33
Speaker 1: don't worry about what you can't control.
42:35
Speaker 2: When you when you think about your career thus far,
42:40
Speaker 2: what would you say. Some of the best advice that
42:43
Speaker 2: you have been given has been.
42:46
Speaker 1: No matter how crazy things get, no matter how life
42:49
Speaker 1: might change, is never forget the boy from London.
42:52
Speaker 2: When someone goes to your Instagram page, they see this
42:57
Speaker 2: handle the fencer. They see this guy who has an opinion,
43:02
Speaker 2: who feels excited about his sport. He wants to quote
43:07
Speaker 2: unquote create a legacy, not a moment. When you look
43:10
Speaker 2: in the mirror, what is it that you see staring
43:13
Speaker 2: back at you.
43:14
Speaker 1: That's a great bloody question. See myself, honestly, just see
43:21
Speaker 1: a guy who's walkin's also been figuring out life like
43:23
Speaker 1: everybody else, but has direction and this is excited.
43:29
Speaker 2: Yeah. I think that twenty twenty, in the scope of things,
43:33
Speaker 2: without you know, the craziness that has been this year,
43:37
Speaker 2: we wouldn't be as excited maybe for what's to come.
43:41
Speaker 1: Exactly. I'm just like, oh, we can, We'll get through this,
43:45
Speaker 1: we will be hopefully. Twenty twenty one is the best
43:47
Speaker 1: year for all of us.
43:50
Speaker 2: Amen. Okay, we're winding down here right now. You have
43:54
Speaker 2: an opportunity to offer the Miles who's going through some
43:58
Speaker 2: of those hurdle moments early on, dealing with the judgment
44:03
Speaker 2: and the sometimes bullying and embracing this sport that not
44:08
Speaker 2: many people only understand. You have an opportunity to offer
44:13
Speaker 2: that guy one piece of advice looking back on that
44:16
Speaker 2: hurdle moment right now, what do you tell him?
44:19
Speaker 1: I'll tell him every storm runs out of rain, so
44:23
Speaker 1: don't forget your umbrella.
44:25
Speaker 2: That's great, man, Thank you so much for your time today.
44:27
Speaker 2: It's been awesome to get to know your story and
44:30
Speaker 2: learn a little bit more about you.
44:32
Speaker 1: My posture that's actually my new tattoo in my hand.
44:35
Speaker 2: How many tattoos do you have?
44:38
Speaker 1: One hundred hours? I can even tell you how many loves?
44:42
Speaker 1: How many I have, but I've got too many.
44:44
Speaker 2: Too many. How do the hurdlers keep up with you? Miles?
44:48
Speaker 2: Give me the details on your socials and all that stuff.
44:51
Speaker 1: Oh, hurdlers. So my Instagram is Fenser, so's my Twitter now,
44:57
Speaker 1: you know, look out for what's coming next. And grateful
45:00
Speaker 1: to talk to you all. And I can't wait for
45:02
Speaker 1: you to be a part of this journey with me.
45:04
Speaker 2: Another hurdle conquered. Catch you guys next time.