Tianna Bartoletta won her first DL of the season, at the Bislett Games. Here is Stuart Weir’s feature on Tianna Bartoletta’s long jump prowess, and what she is working on off the track.
Tianna Bartoletta won the Diamond League long jump at the Bislett Games with a leap of 6.79m, to come from behind to take first place with Darya Klishina second (6.75m). As reigning World Champion she is already qualified for London 2017 in long jump, but will try for the US 100 and 4 by 100 teams. The US trials will be a stroll in the park this year compared to 2016 when she qualified in third place in the long jump with 6.77m and jumped 7.02m for second place in the final. In the 100 metres she ran 11.03 and 10.79 to reach the final and 10.78 in the final to finish second behind English Gardner – all in a 3 day period.
I wondered how she would classify herself. She replied: “A jumper who sprints or a sprinter who jumps, if I’m really not sure. I think I will go with a slash – jumper/sprinter. I really could go either way. I am not sure what it would take to make one higher than the other. I have been jumping for a long time, since high school and my world titles have come in long jump but I did not make the Olympic team in long jump until 2016 but I have medalled in sprint. So it’s kind of murky! In training, I would say that I sprint a lot more than I work on the jumps. If you were to observe my training sessions you would only see a sprinter”.
She has won the world title in long jump twice – 10 years apart (2005 and 2015). She found the experience of winning as a 20 year-old quite different from winning as a 30 year old. For one thing, she feels that she did not really get the recognition that she deserved for winning in 2005. “A lot of people thought 2005 was an accident or a fluke. The weather wasn’t great and some people who were expected to jump well, didn’t. At the time it was the shortest jump ever to win the world championship. There was a lot of noise. But to me, I had a medal and I have proved something to myself. I was the best on the day and that was worth something. At 20 it was ‘oh my goodness what happens next? What are about school? What about going pro?’ It was quite scary and the sense of accomplishment didn’t last that long”
The feeling was quite different 10 years later: “Winning in 2015 was more of a dream realized. It wasn’t scary – like 2005 – but the sense of fulfilment and accomplishment was much greater. I turned 30 in 2015 – my 10th year as a pro.”
Away from the track, Tianna has a passion to help other women. She is working on a concept she calls Club 360, something she will develop more when her career is over. “Club 360 was an idea that I had to help young girls and young women to have higher self-esteem and to feel empowered. There are three parts that I want everyone to focus on the physical, the mental and spiritual because all of that together will make you a well rounded individual. Then there are six pillars of self esteem that I would like every girl to know and develop and to have zero tolerance of negativity towards yourself and others”.
Going back to Oslo, she pointed out that she took the lead with her fifth jump, saying “I really like round five. If you go back and look at my records round five is when I’m usually able to throw down the gauntlet. I’m just happy I was able to win today but I have a few things to work on”. I did check and her Olympic gold in Rio came in with 7.17 …in round 5.
So if she is behind in London after 4 rounds, don’t be surprised and don’t write her off.
