British long jumper JJ Jegede has just jumped over three Mini Coopers — that’s six metres, two metres less than he will need to jump to qualify for the Olympics. But Hackney’s hopping hope was so nervous he didn’t even tell his coach his plans.
“He would not have allowed me to do it,” JJ explains afterwards. “People thought the distance was easy, but if something went wrong I would have hit a car so it could have been game over for the Olympics.”
At 26 JJ is reaching his peak at the right time and since employing the former coach of legendary British triple jumper Jonathon Edwards, Peter Stanley, personal bests have been improving.
But it is JJ’s lack of lottery funding that pushes him into doing potentially career ending Evel Knievel style stunts. With both the cars and his body still intact, JJ’s money-spinner will go towards complementing his business, Olympic Heroes, which aims to inspire school children to make positive life choices through participation in sport.
JJ says his life experience makes him qualified for the job: “If Boris Johnson or Sebastian Coe came to speak it probably wouldn’t affect Hackney’s kids much, but I can relate to them.
“I’m not their teacher; I’m just a normal guy. But I can speak like them. Then I can teach them how to speak and act in the real world to get on in life. I don’t think the education system is great at doing that.”
JJ says mentoring was something he wishes he could have benefitted from earlier in life. His father walked out when he was only one. “My Mum was always working so I never had a role model. At school I used to get in a bit of trouble. I wouldn’t say I was in gang culture but I was hanging around while residents were getting terrorised by people I knew.”
JJ remembers exactly where he was when he heard the news that the greatest sporting event on Earth was coming to his home.“I was 19 and I was watching the decision on TV. I just thought: ‘Wow, I have got to be there.’”
But it could have been Wembley stadium rather than the Olympic stadium for the Hackney athlete this summer. JJ had football trials at Tottenham Hotspur and Norwich before a teacher pushed him into athletics.
“When I was 16 I was forced to participate in athletics by my PE teacher. I was going to have a go at the triple jump until this other guy said he wanted to swap with me for the long jump.”
Relying only on raw talent, JJ finished 2nd by 1cm in his first competition and, having leapt an impressive distance, was encouraged to pursue it further. Six years later he is English champion and posting new personal bests in the year that counts.
The 8.04 metres he jumped three weeks ago at the Indoor Aviva Grand Prix is the longest by a British athlete this year and the longer run up and helpful wind conditions the outdoor season provides can add as much as 30cm to a jump, making the 8.20 metre Olympic qualifying distance within reach for the hopeful athlete.
Once that hurdle is cleared, JJ will have just one shot at reaching his goal of competing at the stadium so close to his home at the British trials in June. The top two jumpers get automatic positions on the team while the rest must wait for the final wildcard place.
JJ is likely to be battling against Jamaican-born Julian Reid who benefits from lottery funding for the final wildcard place. Current British record holder Chris Tomlinson and Greg Rutherford are favourites to get the automatic qualification places.
But JJ says his Hackney routes place him in good stead.
“In athletics the trials are always going to be close to the event and it’s about who’s in form at that time. That suits me. Coming from Hackney you learn a thing or two about how to survive.”
