Jake was very happy to know that he had won this award, even though he didn't know much about the world's athletics awards it was obvious that this award was very important to long-distance athletes like him.

He had never won any awards in the years he played basketball, prizes like Mr. Basketball or was selected for McDonald's All-American Game, he never thought his first prize in the sport would be by Run in the marathons.

The only thing that consoled Jake was that not even Michael Jordan who was his idol had won prizes while playing at the High School, so Jake could console himself that he was following a different path from the others.

"Thank you very much for the prize, How do I receive?"

"We will have only one reception in a hotel in New York and you must go to receive, in fact, this award took longer than expected that year, the winner among women has already received the prize."

"Why did it happen?"

"Because we planned to give this award to someone else, after you won the gold medal at the Olympics we decided to wait to make another assessment, but soon after you won the Chicago marathon and broke the world record and so won the prize."

The person on the phone ended up summarizing the situation, but Jake understood that the situation had been much more complicated than this person was talking about, the important thing was that he had won in the end and would receive the prize.

So the following night Jake traveled after making the proofs for New York to receive the prize, he hoped that this reception at the hotel would be very lively and that many people would be present.

But it turned out that only the people of the AIMS were present at dinner, Jake received the prize and was applauded and then took some photos and talked to a staff of the association, as already Had come to New York Jake stayed for quite a while and chatted with several members of the association before leaving.

Still, he was very happy to have won the prize and even asked for some copies of the photos at the dinner in which he received the prize after all this was the first international prize he won since he started running.

Some members of the press were also present in this award and so this award would also be published in the newspapers, Jake also asked them to send some copies of the paper to him when they published.

Everyone liked to talk to Jake who had a very good personality and was humble when he talked to everyone, all the members of the press knew that Jake was now a college basketball star beside a great athlete.

Reporters asked some questions about the games and the team, as well as asking about the marathons that Jake had won, Jake was very polite and answered all the questions, even the most personal.

Sports reporters were happy to have come to this award because they had the opportunity to ask several questions that Jake had not responded to anywhere before, so Jake decided to stay in New York and go away just the other day.

The next day while Jake thought of a good time to leave he received another invitation, it seemed that the news that Jake was in New York had spread to the middle of sporting News.

"Hello, I'd like to talk to Jake Smith."

"It's me, who's talking?"

"I am Joe, a representative of Sports Illustrated, we have learned that Mr. Smith is here in New York and we would like to invite you to take some photos and do an interview for our magazine for the month of January."

This was not an invitation to receive a prize, but it was also a great honor for an athlete, even though it was not for the cover of the magazine it was still very cool to be in a great magazine like This, not to mention that it would be another great Advertising for their sponsors.

Jake did not know this because he was too busy with the Games, but his fame climbed on another level after this sequel of 5 victories on the Tar Heels team, now he was widely recognized for being talented and succeeding in two different sports.

Before when he was younger he gained some fame by participating in competitions in two different sports, but he was still at the high school and had won only one marathon.

Now things were different, he was participating in a high level of two different sports, he won several marathons and managed to break a world record in athletics, and in basketball was on a college team that had a history of several Tournament won.

So his feat was much better and difficult to repeat, so Jake was having more visibility than ever, if he could beat this NCAA Tournament would be even more surprising, so of course, the great magazines would want to interview him.

"I accept yes, you can send me the address I go there."

After a few hours, Jake had arrived where Joe gave the address, Jake had said on the phone that he had to travel to the university, so the magazine staff quickly organized the photo section and the interview that would just be written.

The photos were with Jake holding a basketball and a replica of the gold medal he won at the Olympic game, of course, the real medal was in Miami and Jake would not have time to catch.

Jake took just a few pictures as he wouldn't be on the cover of the magazine, but the photographer found Jake very photogenic and the photos were all great, so the photographer spent almost 1-hour taking several photos.

The photographer just stopped when the reporter who would do the interview said it was already good, the photographer was unhappy with it, he thought that if Jake were on the cover of the magazine with his appearance the women would be the most who would buy these magazines for their Husbands.

Shortly afterward was the interview, Jake received a list of the questions that would be asked to prepare him, the only question that Jake refused to answer was about his sponsorship, after all, he had overcome this matter with his teammates and was not good Touch the subject again.

"Today, we will have a special interview with Jake Smith, the basketball player of the UNC team Tar Heels who has been playing a very important role in this impressive sequel for as long as 5 consecutive victories."

"Smith is also a great athlete who has been dazzling the world of athletics this past year, began to race by winning the Chicago Marathon with only 16 years and has since won a total of 5 marathons in 6 disputed."

"Being one of those marathon-won marathons in this year's Atlanta Olympics with the Olympic record and another of these victories in their second time running in Chicago where he broke the world record."

"Thank you for accepting our invitation, Mr. Smith."

"I appreciate the invitation, you can call me Jake, I feel more comfortable like this."

"All right then, Jake, How did your interest in sports come about?"

"When I was 10 years old I always liked to run, I ran just for fun often, so I kept running whenever I could."

"But I was too small yet and there was no one my age who could run with me, so I started and play basketball alone too."

"I had never learned basketball before the age of 10 and knew that at high school they didn't teach basketball to anyone who didn't know, so I decided to train alone for a while."

"In my neighborhood, I didn't have many open basketball courts, and the courts they had were occupied by the older boys."

"What I liked most about coaching when I was alone were the mid-range shots and the three-point shots beyond the free throws, after many months of training alone with my mother's support that even rode a block in the basement for me I attended a tournament of Street basketball and ended up winning the competitions with young people up to 15 years. "

"So I thought I was ready to play basketball on the team at my school, and that's how it all started."

It seemed that the reporter did not expect Jake to tell the whole story of how he became a basketball player, but he still wrote every word and saw that it might be interesting to put that story in the interview.

Jake told the truth about how he was interested in sports, but he mixed up what happened in his past life and what happened in that second chance, in his past life he really enjoyed running and never found anyone to run with him.

Jake also didn't have the guts to try to run a marathon because he was very young, so he started practicing other sports besides running, but he never had much enthusiasm for any.

What he least liked to play was basketball because he was as bad as Center and PF that were the only two positions that let him play, what he liked most about playing was American football.

"So what made you like basketball was actually athletics, this is unexpected, I thought you liked basketball more, but it looks like you just started playing basketball because there was no one to run with you."

"It's basically this, but I've always loved basketball so even if I started competing running I'd probably still play basketball."

"If you had to choose between basketball and athletics which would you pick?"

"I can't answer that, I love them both and I'll try my best not to abandon any of the two sports."

These questions could seem complicated to answer, but before the interview Jake already knew what questions would be asked and so could think long before in what answers would like to give, not to mention that when he didn't want to talk about something the interviewer didn't press.

"What was the most special moment for you in sports?"

"This is also hard to answer, I was very happy the first time I won a trophy when I was still a child, I was also happy when I won my first national championship in both Middle School and High School."