Olivia Baker

Olivia's Road to Atlanta Track Club Elite

A New Jersey superstar, Olivia was a 13-time state champion while competing for Columbia High School, with a time of 52.46 making her the fastest high school girl in the U.S. at 400 meters as a senior in 2014. After a Stanford career that saw her graduate in 2018 as an 11-time All-American, she began her professional career in Texas with Training Ground Elite, coached by Darryl Woodson, in Texas before moving to Atlanta Track Club Elite in 2021.

How She Knows She's Ready to Race

"I know that I'm ready to race by feel. When I can rip some 200s in 27-28 and feel like I'm not pressing too hard, I can be pretty sure that I'm ready. That being said, most of the time, I simply trust my coach to tell me when it appears in training like I'm ready to race. Usually, a coach can see it long before I can feel it."

Her Breakout Season in 2022

Early in 2022, Olivia took more than two seconds off her indoor 800-meter personal best before making her first senior national team, finishing second at the USATF Indoor Championships and earning a trip to the World Championships. Outdoors, she came into the season with a personal best of 2:00.08, then proceeded to run under 2:00 seven times, lowering her PB to 1:58.05.

A Sense of Community

As a member of Atlanta Track Club Elite, Olivia often works with the Club's free Kilometer Kids program. She started running when she was just 8 years old and says Kilometer Kids is reminiscent of her childhood experience at Jaguar Track Club. "I started this sport just like you are right now," she tells the kids. Community interaction "is an integral part of what makes Atlanta Track Club unique," she says. "It speaks to what the Club is all about." She also takes pride in the Club's work to raise funds for the Ahmaud Arbery Foundation with its Run With Maud 5K. "I'm happy to work with an organization that supports causes working to remedy violence against Black people, particularly Black men."

Med School Option

With a degree in human biology, Olivia took the Medical College Admissions Test (MCAT) in 2018 not long after graduation, hoping to become a neurosurgeon. Accepted into Howard University College of Medicine, her plan was to compete in the 2020 Olympics and then move on to her medical studies and career. After not making the U.S team, she decided to defer - and eventually decline - admittance to focus on making the 2024 team. But that doesn't mean that Olivia's desire to become a doctor has waned. Far from it.

The MCAT

Although she's still unsure of the timing, Olivia still plans to pursue a career in medicine - although more likely in urgent or emergency care. Whether she retires after the 2024 Olympic Games, continues to compete until 2028 or chooses something in between (2025 World Championships? Begin med school and take a sabbatical to train for 2028?), her MCAT scores were only good for five years, so she will have to retake the test. To most people, that would be a daunting proposition.

But Not to Olivia

"Honestly, I feel confident about my study strategies and being able to kind of click right back into the academic world. I have a whole plan. Last time I had a 75-day plan and I have an Excel sheet saved on my PC of all the study materials that I purchased, all the way down to each lesson that I did each day … an hour on this lesson, an hour on flash cards, an 8-hour practice test on that Saturday … I have every single day mapped out. So, I'm confident that, when the time comes, I'll be able to dredge up that plan. Maybe it becomes a 100-day plan because I'm not right out of school and I might be a little bit of a refresher. I'm confident that if it worked the first time, I can do it again. … The idea of becoming a doctor at 40 years old or however old I'll be isn't something that intimidates me at all. I feel like at that point it will be a new journey."

Love Never Dies

"I love the 4x4," Olivia says. "Every time we go to a meet where there's a 4x4 opportunity, I beg them, 'c'mon, we've got to enter a team.' There's just something about it. I feel like you can't be a good middle distance athlete and not be able to throw down a good leg on the 4x4."

Going Long. For a Long Time

But then there's the other end of the spectrum: Olivia has her eye on someday doing the Backyard Ultra, in which competitors must consecutively run laps of 6.706 kilometers in less than one hour. The race is over when only one runner remains to complete a lap. "I just love the idea of digging to the very depths, the deepest, deepest part of yourself and then keep going, pushing, scratching and clawing to see just how far you can go to win a race. I like the idea that there's no finish line. Even in a regular ultra, you know where the finish line is. If my body will permit me to do it - I know that my mind will - I would be really excited to give it a shot."

A Path of Faith

"The one thing that I really would want the world to know and see through this whole story is Jesus Christ. What I hope would come out in what people tend to highlight about me - the running, going to Stanford, wanting to become a doctor - would be that literally none of this would be possible for me without the enrichment of Jesus Christ, without constantly walking in His will, and that's really what I want people to see. In those moments when things are going well and when I've succeeded in a sense, I don't want people to see me and think that I've succeeded on my own talent and ability. I want them to look at me and see what God is doing through me."

Want to Know More?

• Thanks to a summer camp she attended for five years between grades 4 and 8, Olivia learned how to ride a unicycle and fly on a trapeze.
• When she started out, Olivia's goal was to break all of her mother's high school track and field records. Only Robin Baker's high jump record survived.
• While at Stanford, she served as a radio commentator for baseball, basketball and football, including a pre-game segment called "Baker's Burners" and eventually even some play-by-play.
• Olivia interned for Sen. Cory Booker (D-New Jersey) in the summer of 2017.
• Is a huge fan of Formula 1 racing. "I would love to get a hot chocolate with Lewis Hamilton. He strikes me as a deep-thinking guy."
• In October 2023, Olivia walked the red carpet at the BET Hip-Hop Awards.