Team USA rower Justin Best didn't have to look far for an extra bit of motivation heading into the biggest race of his life Thursday at the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris in the men's rowing four finals.
A few days before the race, the Kennett Square, Pa., native cued up one of his favorite videos—Jason Kelce's speech at the Philadelphia Eagles' Super Bowl parade on Feb. 8, 2018.
"I'm just like, 'I'm excited!'" Best said Thursday, recalling how he felt being in attendance for Kelce's speech. "So all these years later, bringing that [underdog] mentality; I wish I had a dog mask because I'd put that on. Go Birds."
“I wish I had a dog mask cause I’d put that on. Go Birds.”
— Crossing Broad (@CrossingBroad) August 1, 2024
Team USA and @DrexelRowing’s Justin Best listened to Jason Kelce’s speech at the Super Bowl parade before winning gold in rowing.
(via @shropshire_fred, @rkuestnernbc10) pic.twitter.com/PJZL55pDi7
During the famous parade speech that lasted over five minutes, Kelce gave shoutouts to the Eagles' entire roster, starting with coach Doug Pederson, and highlighted how each player overcame adversity.
"We were a bunch of underdogs," Kelce said at the parade a few days after the Eagles took down the New England Patriots 41–33 in Super Bowl LII in Minneapolis. "And you know what underdogs is? A hungry dog. ... Hungry dogs run faster."
Best, along with his own cast of underdogs in Nick Mead, Michael Grady and Liam Corrigan, were hungry enough to post a time of 5:49.03, beating silver medalist New Zealand by less than a second and claiming the gold medal.
It was Team USA's first gold medal in the men's four since the 1960 Olympic Games in Rome.
This article was originally published on www.si.com as Team USA Rower Listened to Old Jason Kelce Speech As Inspiration Before Winning Gold.
