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Tavis: Joanna Hayes won the gold medal in the 100-meter hurdles at this summer's Olympic Games in Athens. For that and other exploits this year, she has just received the prestigious Jesse Owens Award by U.S.A. Track and Field. Off the track, however, she is even making a bigger impact through her own charitable foundation called the R.G. Hayes Foundation. I am pleased to welcome the L.A. native and now gold medalist Joanna Hayes to the program. Joanna, nice to see you.

Joanna Hayes: Hi. Nice to see you.

Tavis: How are you?

Hayes: I'm doing really great.

Tavis: You are doing great. Congratulations.

Hayes: Thank you.

Tavis: On your performance this summer. I'm glad you're here, and I should let you know that one reason why you're here is that I saw your daddy the other day. I ran into your daddy somewhere the other day. He said, 'When you gonna have my dau--' I know where it was. At the Aretha Franklin concert. He says, 'When you gonna have my baby on your show?' And I said, 'Who's your baby?' He said, 'Joanna Hayes.' And I have known your father for so many years, and I had no idea that Ted Hayes was your father.

Now, for those of you who are watching are like, 'Well, who's her daddy? Who's Ted Hayes?' Ted Hayes is one of the most well-known homeless activists anywhere in the country, who's based here in Los Angeles, and I had a chance to work with him. When I worked for Tom Bradley, the late great mayor of this city, I got to know your dad. But I had no idea that that was your father. What was it like growing up as the daughter of--now he's the father of--but at the time, you were the daughter of this guy, Ted Hayes, who everybody in L.A. knows, advocating for homeless people?

Hayes: Well, it was, I think it was different at different times. You know, when he was up and things were going well and the city liked him, oh, it was great. But when he was doing his protests and his fighting and all of the, you know, crazy things that they say he's done, it was a little--you know, as a kid, it was a little embarrassing when, 'That's your dad?' You know, and he had the different look. He had the dreadlocks, and he wears all the crazy clothes, and he hangs out with homeless people, and he was, in fact, homeless, so with kids, it was kind of rough. With adults and people who actually really knew what was going on, it was a good thing. It was fun, and it was great. Like, 'Wow, that's my dad. He's doing something great.'

Tavis: Were you always proud of your father's work for the homeless?

Hayes: I was. You know, when I was younger, I was a little confused. Like, 'He lives there. We live here,' and, you know, my mom, she raised us, and she did a great job, and she also worked in a homeless shelter in Riverside, where we grew up, so looking at both my parents, I was like, well, they're good people. It's obvious that they really are trying to help the less fortunate, and, you know, so I had no choice but to be proud. And then I began to understand that he and she were doing it for the betterment of their family, so I'm really honored that, you know, my parents are so wonderful.

Tavis: Let me ask you a question that may be a little unfair, and if it's unfair then just slap me or something.

Hayes: Oh, great. Ha ha ha! My first fight on TV.

Tavis: All right! Now, this ain't that kind of reality television. Maybe I should rephrase that. Um, I wonder what it is on the positive side, on the good tip, that you most learned from watching your father engage in his advocacy? But to your point a moment ago that--you walked right up to this line of telling me that, you know, it was a little difficult around younger people. But what did you learn about your father's struggle that you wanted to emulate or that has helped you in your success, and what was the thing you wish that you didn't have to deal with?

Hayes: Right.

Tavis: That you've learned out of that experience.

Hayes: Well, what I think is so great and that I've learned that I admire and want to be like my father is that you do things because they're right, if you think they're right. Not because of what other people think are right or wrong. Like, 'Oh, he left his kids, and he was doing this.' He thought it was right, and he did it because he knew it would--we would have, you know, the benefits later. It would be hard early, you know, and get greater later.

And, you know, but the toughest thing was just not waking up every day, saying, 'Oh, daddy!' You know, that was probably the toughest thing, but as you grow older, everyone doesn't have a two-parent home. Everyone doesn't have these things. I knew my dad. I know him, and I'm almost 28 now, and we have a great relationship, so I don't regret anything. As a kid, I probably did regret, like, 'Why's he do it?' But as an adult, I don't regret any of it. I think that what he's done is great, and it's taught me that I needed to do things as well, and the rest of my family. And I think that so many things build character. Hardships build character, you know? And I've had a lot of hardships, and I think I got out of it. You know, I got a pretty good character.

Tavis: Yeah. You're, uh, you just mentioned, almost 28 now, so you're not old--a long way from it--but by track and field standards, you are aging.

Hayes: Exactly.

Tavis: So where are you on this journey? How--at this point, are you still capable of getting better, or, God forbid, have we seen the best of Joanna Hayes already at 28?

Hayes: Not even close to the best. You know, I have great plans. I'm the Olympic champion and the Olympic record holder, but I would like to be the world champion also, and world record holder. There's more goals out there. For me, because I had a bumpy road with taking time off, not running, running 400 hurdles, just had a crazy career. Finally getting the 100-meter hurdle gold medal, but I got that first, you know? Some people get worlds or this, and then you build up to the greatest honor.

Tavis: But you started with the Olympics.

Hayes: I'm, like, at the Olympics. I mean, I broke the record at my first Olympics. It's like, where do you go from here? So, for me, I had to just say, OK, settle down. Let's pretend you're not the Olympic champion. Let's pretend you still have to work hard, and you still have to get those things you still want-- the world record and, you know, unbeaten seasons and everything, and I want people to know, you know, she's a great hurdler, so the best is yet to come for me.

Tavis: I was following the hurdles, the 100-meter hurdles, and I've been dying to ask you whether or not at any point in the process you thought there was anything strange about this particular race because everything--all the drama surrounding your eventual winning. First of all--and I should not say, not necessarily first, but Gail Devers in the same race. Gail falls, I mean, falters in the trials. The story of the Russian--you tell the story, but it was just--I mean, it was just so much drama around the 100 hurdles.

Hayes: There was drama, and, you know, with Gail, she had an injury, I believe, coming in, so it was gonna be tough for her to make it through 4 rounds of the 100 and 3 more rounds of the hurdles, so I think that was-- you know, that was a surprise. I was, like, 'wow, Gail's here. You know she didn't--' but it's kind of like for her the 100 hurdles have been, the Olympics have been kind of crazy for her, but she's done so well in the 100 hurdles in everything else, you know? And then, yeah, with the Perdita Felicien, the world champion, falling over the first hurdle into the Russian girl, the Russian protesting. It was so much drama, and...

Tavis: I mean, for hours after the race because of that drama, they didn't--you weren't really declared the gold medalist for, like, a few hours.

Hayes: Right. They had to some debating and some deliberating and decide if they're gonna run it over or not, and of course, you know, it's the Olympics, and it's too big of an event, and things happen. And I'd broken the record. It wouldn't have been fair. And I--it wasn't-- you know, I didn't do anything. I was just running. You know, I didn't knock anyone over.

Tavis: You stayed in your lane, yeah.

Hayes: Right, I was in my lane. I didn't move over, hey. But the thing is that's so crazy is that through all the drama and through everything, I know it was set up for me. I was gonna win, whether people fell or didn't fall because I was ready. It was my turn. When I went in, I said, 'I will win this race.' And I e-mailed my friend Darvis Patton the day of, and I said-- he always would text me on the phone and say, you know, get ready and all that, and I said, '12.37.' And he said, 'Olympic champ.' And that was that, and I ran 12.37. And that was my excitement. When I saw the 12.37, I was like, 'I broke the record.' That's what I wanted, you know? And I just think that if Perdita had not fallen, you know, it probably would have been faster. You know, but I don't know what happened. I know that it was meant to be. Whatever happened, however it happened.

Tavis: I get this. I think I know the answer to this question. I want to ask anyway. Do you have any part of you that wishes that it hadn't gone down that way, so there would not be this speculation about the outcome, even though you did win and set world record? Do you wish it had been, for lack of a better word, certainly with track and field, a cleaner race?

Hayes: I do, honestly, yeah. I honestly do. You know, I wish that she'd have crossed that line with me. I wish that I would have beaten her, you know, how--in hurdles, if you fall, you lose because it's a hurdle race.

Tavis: That's pretty much how it goes. If you fall, you lose.

Hayes: They're like, 'If you didn't hit--' I hit, like, 4 hurdles. 'If you didn't hit 4 hurdles, you probably would have broken the American record.' But I hit 4 hurdles, so it wasn't my turn. I didn't do it right, you know, so I definitely wish she didn't fall, but she'll be back. And, you know, my thing is, I didn't run 12.50, I didn't run 12.60. I ran 12.37, an Olympic record. There should be no question there because I'd run faster than any Olympian has ever run in that race. So it was good that I ran that fast to really make it just straight up. 'Yeah, you won. You're the best.'

Tavis: I think the message is, 'I wish she hadn't fallen, but I ain't givin' back my gold.'

Hayes: Dang right. That's my gold. I won that fair and square.

Tavis: All right. Let me ask you about your foundation 'cause I mentioned earlier that you were doing, obviously, wonderfully well on the track, but what I'm really impressed about is the work that you're doing off the track. Tell me about the foundation work.

Hayes: Well, the foundation is very, very new. R.G. Hayes is--my nieces' names are Randi and Goldyn, and our last name's Hayes, so it's kind of a family-based thing. I'm thinking--I'm trying to go with family. I think things begin at home, and you learn from what's in your home, and we got to get parents to teach their kids what's right. And a lot of the parents don't know, so it's just this vicious circle that we're in.

But I'm trying to get the families to understand we got to begin at home, and my foundation's gonna really go with the families, with big on kids and homeless, you know, and each member of my family is gonna be kind of a head of a certain program. Like, we have sports. My mom's a teacher, so we've got education. My dad's a homeless activist. You know, the homeless, less fortunate. I'm an athlete. My sister was a young mother, 19, which is not really young anymore. Um, but she was a young mother, and she wants to help teen mothers. You know, and my brothers are sports and music, so we're doing all these things. I just want to kind of combine everything, but it's new, and I'm trying to go very slow 'cause you see people just jump into something and get all excited and everything's great, and then it's done. It's over.

So we're moving pretty slow, but, um, when I get a building, it'll be in Riverside where I grew up, and we're gonna-- You know, we'll do a lot here in L.A. There's so many places that have so much need, and I want to begin with kids because I've known so many children. I worked at Jackie Joyner-Kersee's center in East St. Louis, Illinois, for 2 years when I was off, and that's when I learned so much about foundations and clubs and what to do and what not to do. But I also learned that kids are just amazing, and from 6 to 18, I had these kids, and they were all different, and they all required different things, but the biggest thing they require and that they need is time, and that doesn't cost anything. So I just want to really find a way to give kids time and just--I mean, I'm just so--so many things I want to do, and I have to, like, get it all written down because I'll just start, like, going crazy.

Tavis: Well, the good news here is that anything that you can do to emulate what Jackie Joyner-Kersee did, and I mean anything...

Hayes: Anything. Right.

Tavis: Is all good. 'Cause Jackie's all that. So congratulations.

Hayes: Thank you very much.

Tavis: You can slap me for this, too, if you want to. Can I just touch your arm?

Hayes: Ha ha ha!

Tavis: This cut--I've been sittin' here for--I've been sittin' here for 15 minutes talking to her, just looking at these arms.

Hayes: But these--and you know what? I just started working out again, so hopefully, they really really get full. I just--I just got ready again.

Tavis: Golly. Nice to see you.

Hayes: Nice to see you.

Tavis: Up next on this program, musician Henry Rollins. Stay with us.