Background

When Nick Willis was little, his sister Mieke would send him out to run around the block, again and again, pretending to time his efforts just to burn off his overabundance of energy. Those early laps paid off.  Following in the footsteps of his older brother, Steve (the 1998 Div. II national champ at 1500m for Western States College in Gunnison, Colo.), Nick is now seen as the heir apparent to New Zealand greats John Walker and Peter Snell.

In 2005, in only his second professional race, Nick ran 3:32.38 to break Walker’s 30-year-old national record for 1500m, and his Commonwealth Games gold medal – after being ill for a week with a virus, no less – was a fitting follow-up. (In July 2006, Willis lowered his own national mark to 3:32.17).

Last fall, Nick married Sierra Boucher. Over the winter, brother Steve began acting as an assistant coach, who along with his wife and baby have traveled with Nick for much of the year. Hence the birth of Team Willis, united in their quest for Olympic success.

A tough racer and a devout Christian, Nick's renewed faith in his early 20s helped him come to terms from the cancer death of his mother when he was 4. Nick also explains: “My faith has taught me that at the end of the day, whether I win or lose, I am still the same person.”