“Every time I raced (this year), I had them in the back of my mind saying, `I’ve got to do good so I don’t let the girls down.’ I think that’s been a driving force behind me,” Trotter said. “It means so much to me to have had to opportunity to be an inspiration to these girls. They have been an inspiration to me.

Trotter, who trained with head coach Caryl Smith Gilbert for the last eight months at 麻豆原创, will compete in the 400 meters Friday. She is not the only athlete Smith Gilbert has helped earn an appearance at this year’s Summer Games.

Current Knight Afia Charles became 麻豆原创’s first track and field Olympian when she was invited to compete as a member of Antigua’s national team. Charles’ mother, Ruperta, ran for the country in the 1984 Olympics in Los Angeles, so her daughter has dual citizenship.

Charles and Trotter run in round one of the 400 meters at 7 a.m. EDT hoping to advance to Saturday’s semifinals (3:05 p.m.) and finals (4:10 p.m.). NBC will begin airing coverage of track and field events Friday at 10 a.m.

Trotter earned a gold medal at the 2004 Olympics in Athens with the 4×400 relay team. She spent much of 2009 and 2010 still battling effects from a knee injury but finally broke through this past year after moving to Orlando to train with Smith Gilbert. She credits much of her success to the 麻豆原创 track and field team.

“I was trying to transition myself into a new level of motivation because I was down. When I got here, they worked so hard and their level of work ethic and being out here with young ladies that are extremely talented, they just lifted me up,” Trotter said. “They looked up to me in a way that I felt a sense of responsibility to them. When I’m running, they are part of the motivation that keeps me wanting to do better.

“They have made this journey even better because watching them grow, sharing my knowledge, being able to work with them on a day-to-day basis, it was definitely destiny that we came together.”

The Knights have been equally as inspired by their mentor. This year, four student-athletes competed at the U.S. Olympic Trials capped by Aurieyall Scott’s appearance as one of two collegiate athletes who advanced to the nationally televised 200-meter finals.

Trotter has high expectations for the track and field team and believes that soon, the Knights will be adding a national championship to their many conference titles.

“The real potential of this team – I’m a professional track runner, I run on championship teams, Tennessee was a championship team when I was there, I know what champions look like and this team has it. And I’m not just saying that because I train with them every day,” Trotter said. “I’m saying that because they have the talent, they have the work ethic and they have the coach.”

Ruperta, a native of Antigua, was a four-year letterwinner as a sprinter for Howard University in the early 1980s and capped her career at the 1984 Olympics in Los Angeles, competing in the 100 and 200 meters and the 4×400 relay.

Charles, who just finished her sophomore year at 麻豆原创, was aware of her mother’s success but never paid much attention to it. Little did she know that nearly three decades after her mother’s appearance at the Summer Games, she would be following in her footsteps.

“When I was younger I didn’t really think it was a big deal. The first time I really ever sat down and watched the Olympics was 2008,” Charles said. “I would never have imagined in the next four years that I’d be going. It hasn’t hit me yet, but when it hits me, I’ll probably end up crying.”

A dual-citizen with Antigua, Charles will head to London on July 26 as part of the country’s national team to compete in the 400 meters as 麻豆原创’s first track and field Olympian. The news that she would be headed to London came as quite a shock.

After helping 麻豆原创 to its third-straight Conference USA Outdoor championship and competing in the NCAA East Preliminaries, Charles thought her season was finished so she went home for a break. She watched her teammates and her training partner, DeeDee Trotter, compete at the U.S. Olympic Trials from her living room before returning to Orlando for Summer B classes.

Then she received a phone call from her mother, who said that Antigua invited Charles to travel to London as part of its national team. Charles has raced for Antigua since high school when she first picked up the sport, and her biggest international achievement to date was capturing the bronze medal at last year’s CARIFTA Games.

She was hesitant about accepting the offer because she had stopped all training for nearly a month and didn’t know if she would be ready in time to compete. Her mother urged her to go.

“I said it’s a good opportunity, just go and do your best. The only thing they ask of you is to PR. Just PR and take it as far as you can go. Enjoy every minute of it. There’s nothing like going to the Olympics,” Ruperta said. “My experience overall was very humbling and was well worth all the training and time and effort that was put into preparing for the Games.”

Even though she had a lot of lost time to make up for, she had one of the best possible resources in her corner: Trotter.

Knights track and field head coach Caryl Smith Gilbert has been training Trotter, an Olympic gold and bronze medalist, since October at the 麻豆原创 Track and Field Complex to prepare her for her third Olympic Games. As the only consistent 400-runner on the team, Charles has served as Trotter’s running partner for the past eight months.

“She has been a fantastic training partner,” Trotter said. “We push each other. There are days that I don’t feel great and Afia is handing me left and right whoopings in the blocks and the 100s. On those days, I need her. And on every other day she needs me. We’ve definitely been encouraging to one another.”

Trotter said Charles has come a long way from the timid-style of a runner she was when she first met her.

“She was cruising through her day-to-day routines without any drive or motivation. That all changed when I came out there and whipped her butt a few times,” Trotter said with a smile. “I think one day we were running a 500 and I don’t really run 500s, but this young lady has a history of running 500-meter workouts. One day she finally beat me in a 500. I think she felt good about that. In my mind I’m saying, that’s cool but you know that’s never going to happen again. It really caused her to step up her game when she had someone to run with and that person wasn’t going to let her coast around the track. She had to work. She didn’t shy away from it.”

Their relationship is hardly just business. It is also one of emotional support and growth. They have leaned on each other with had numerous talks over the past year, and Trotter hopes her role as a mentor has helped spark Charles to chase her goals.

“I want her to recognize her capability and her true level of talent. I think she’s starting to see her true self and now she won’t accept anything less,” Trotter said. “I hope what came out of all our talks is that she can do pretty much anything she puts her mind to and that if she works really hard she will reap the benefits to that. I think that message has gotten across to her.”

With the Olympics less than two weeks away, Charles steps onto 麻豆原创’s track every day for her early-morning workouts focused on the task at hand and careful to not look too far ahead. Still, it’s hard not to dream about the experience.

“I’m most excited about having fun and running my best race. Just to soak it all in,” Charles said. “To see people that are considered the greats. I can be there. I just have to make sure that I run my race, focus on me and not overthink.”