With the XXXI Olympic Games beginning Friday with Opening Ceremonies, we caught up with former Illini and two-time Olympian, Perdita Felicien. A recent inductee into the Canadian Track Hall of Fame, Felicien talks about her work as a broadcaster for the Canadian CBC Network, the book she's writing and what she misses about the University of Illinois.Â
Q: A 10-time national champion and two-time Olympian, you officially hung up the cleats back in October of 2013 after a very successful career. What made you decide the time was right?
Perdita Felicien: Athletes at the top will tell you there is a fire that motivates them to go after their goals every day. I lost that passion. Mentally I was tired of the pursuit and my body was not able to bounce back from injury as easily as it did when I was younger. Physically I knew I could race competitively through 2016, I still had my contract with Nike, but I would only be going through the motions. I was more curious about my next chapter than what I could do on the track.
Q: You announced your retirement at an elementary school. What was your purpose for announcing it in that manner?
Felicien: When I was in third grade I took part in a national standardized fitness test called "Canada Fitness." When the results came in my teacher Mrs. Arthurs gave the awards out one by one in gym class. Near the end she gave a speech about one special person in our class who was the only one to reach the "excellence," level, which was the highest. We were all on pins and needles ready to see this person, when she called out my name. I was stunned and my class erupted in claps and cheers. I remember she made me feel happy, proud and special that day. And the next year she made sure I signed up for the track team.
I wanted to go to a school to announce my retirement because it made sense to go back to where I got my start. I wanted the kids to know that education; physical activity and perseverance had played a big role in my life and be an example of what is possible.
Q: Earlier this year you were inducted into the Canadian Track and Field Hall of Fame. What was that experience like for you?Â
Felicien: It's one of the most special honors I have been given. Canadian track and field is my family, a community of people who know me and understand my journey. They believe my pursuit of excellence deserves the highest recognition they can bestow and that feels wonderful coming from people you admire.
Q: Back in 2008, you got your first taste of broadcasting. How did that come about?
Felicien: I had a fabulous 2007 season; I had won a silver medal at the World Championships in Osaka, Japan in the fastest 100m hurdle race in history at that time. Naturally, I went into 2008 fit and determined especially after falling in the 2004 Olympic final in Athens. However, I fractured my foot early in 2008 in a freak mishap. My lisfranc fracture was rare and so bad that my career was in jeopardy. The doctors advised that I rest and see how it healed, which meant no 2008 Beijing Olympics. When I announced I was not going to the games, CBC, Canada's national broadcaster called my agent and asked if I wanted to join their team as an analyst. I was grieving the loss of my season and unsure if I wanted to take on that kind of challenge. Eventually I said yes because it was better than crying on my couch for three weeks.
When I got to China I was stunned by how much I enjoyed being on camera, sharing insider details and telling athlete stories. I didn't expect to feel the thrill that I did. When I left Beijing I said to myself "This is what I am going to do the day after I retire." And while I would have wanted my 2008 season to go as I had originally planned the positive is it introduced me to my career now.
Q: This summer you broadcasted the Canadian Olympic Trials and will be on the Canadian broadcast team this month in Rio. What's the experience been like so far?Â
Felicien: I've not missed track or regretted my decision to retire at all. But broadcasting the trials this year for the first time (if for only a second) I thought "man I'd love to be on this team." Â I still get butterflies when I watch a sport event unfold that I am covering. I think I may be more emotionally invested than some broadcasters because I have experienced what the athletes feel in those high-pressure situations.
Q:Â With the Olympics only a couple days away, what's your schedule like leading up to and during the Olympics?Â
Felicien: I have my hands in a few projects and it seems I'll have no rest right up until I get on my flight to Rio in August. I'm meeting with my publisher to go over the details of the book I am writing. I'm finishing up my final project for my Creative Writing Certificate at the University of Chicago. I'm being sworn in as an American citizen in Chicago, and that's not even mentioning all my broadcast preparations for Rio. Â
In Rio it's going to be nonstop action as Ill be covering all sports and events not related to the field of play. I'll have the opportunity to pitch my own stories, which is a big responsibility. I've been a reporter at a multisport games before and know I am looking at 12-15 hour days on a light day.
Q: As a two-time Olympian, what were your initial impressions of the Olympics and everything that goes on over the course of the two and half weeks?
Felicien: Athlete or not, I encourage everyone to attend an Olympic Games at least once in their lifetime.  For a few weeks every four years the world sends their best in hopes that they win it all. The atmosphere is electrifying and you can feel a spectrum of extreme emotions all in one day. It's a space where I feel most connected to the world around me and realize no matter where we are from we are more alike than different. I count it an honor to have the moniker Olympian attached to my name.
Q:Â In addition to broadcasting, you're also writing a book about your experiences as a first generation Canadian. What was the inspiration behind that?Â
Felicien: There were many difficult experiences in my young life that influenced my drive as an athlete, which I've never talked about. The book deals with the relationship I have with my mother, who came to Canada in her late teens as a domestic worker. I was an unplanned pregnancy and she had to decide whether to keep me once my father abandoned her after she told him she was pregnant.
The trajectory of my life has always been close to being different from the way it turned it. Once I retired coming to terms with my early at risk existence bubbled to the surface. I'm thrilled to have found a major Canadian publisher who believes in my story. We'll announce it this fall and I can't wait to tell a part of my journey that will allow people to understand me more.
Q. Current Illini Pedrya Seymour is continuing the Illinois hurdles legacy you helped build with First Team All-American honors a spot on the Bahamian Olympic team. Have you had a chance to watch her this year and what she's been able to accomplish?
Felicien: I'm so impressed with her huge improvements since she got to Illinois. It's a testament to her drive and Coach Gillon's and the rest of the coaching staff's dedication. I met her at world indoors in Portland in March and I can tell she is hungry for more and having fun. Like the rest of the Illini nation I can't wait to watch what she does in Rio.Â
Q:Â It's now been 13 years since you graduated, is there anything specifically that you miss about Champaign-Urbana and the campus?Â
Felicien: Champaign will always be home to me no matter how far away I am. I had the pleasure of living in there beyond graduation until April 2010. I've gone back often and each time I'm still as excited as when I showed up freshman year in 2000. I miss running hills at Presidents lawn and smelling the south farms at the track, which is probably weird to admit. One of my favorite things to eat when I am back is the skillet cookie at Alexander's Steak House. Which I got to know very well when we'd take recruits to dinner. Â
Q: I-LL!
Felicien: I-N-I!
