Jadel Gregorio of Brazil in the Triple Jump qualification round (© Getty Images)
Brazilian Jadel Gregorio is targeting the Long and Triple Jump double at the IAAF World Championships in Athletics, Osaka, Japan (25 August to 2 September 2007) after recovering from a knee problem.
The 2.03m tall athlete, who has won silver medals in the World Indoor Championships in 2004 and 2006 and jumped a best of 17.73m, has achieved all of his top international results in the Triple Jump.
Encouraged by windy Dakar jump
But after a good winter at his training base in the north-east of England the 26-year-old, a Triple Jump finalist in both the 2003 and 2005 World outdoor championships and 2004 Olympic Games encouraged by a impressive seasonal debut of 8.26m on the Long Jump (with the benefit of a 3.1m/s following wind) to take second place at the IAAF World Athletics Tour meeting in Dakar, Senegal last month, and believes he has the ability to thrive in both disciplines on the championship stage.
History has shown athletes can perform at a world-class level in both events. Russia’s Tatyana Lebedeva is the reigning World Indoor and European outdoor Triple Jump champion and the current Olympic gold medallist in the Long Jump. Meanwhile, on the men’s side, Mike Conley, the 1992 Olympic Triple Jump champion won a World bronze medal in the Long Jump in 1983.
Gregorio plans to qualify for both events in his homeland at the Pan American Games in Rio de Janiero in July before hoping to represent Brazil in both events at the World Championships in Osaka.
“Last year I won the silver medal (in the Triple Jump) at the World Indoor Championships but I had a little problem with my knee,” he said. “Now my knee is good I can go both events and I first hope to qualify for the Pan American Games. I think I can jump well in both.”
Gregorio has a legal personal best of 8.22m for the Long Jump stretching back to 2004 and although he was a little guarded on what he thought he could jump he added: “I try my best. But my dream is to break the Brazilian record of 8.41m.”
High Jump start
Gregario, who was born in Jandaia do Sul, first sampled athletics aged 13 where he began life as a hurdler and high jumper but coming from a poor family he was forced to quit the sport to work as a landscape gardener, selling ice cream and laying kerbs in the road to support his mother and brother.
In his determination to fulfil his potential the tall, muscular Brazilian later returned to the sport but it was only when trying to qualify for the 1999 Pan American Junior Games in the High Jump did he stumble across the Triple Jump.
“I jumped 2.10m, which was the qualification mark, but it was never ratified,” he explained. “For fun I decided to enter the Triple Jump and I surprised myself to jump 16.80m and qualify for that event.” He went on to win a bronze medal at the 1999 Pan American Juniors in Tampa (one place behind Bahamian Leevan Sands the 2003 World Triple Jump bronze medallist) and swiftly ditched the high in favour of the triple.
Coping with the cold and the wind
Under the astute coaching of Nelio Moura (who now coaches Irving Saladino, the 2006 World Long Jump No.1) he developed into a regular 17-metre jumper and made a big breakthrough in 2004 winning a silver medal at the World Indoor Championships in Budapest, jumping a big new personal best of 17.72m to win the National Championships and finished fifth at the Olympic Games.
But after a disappointing showing in the cold weather at the 2005 World Championships in Helsinki – where he finished down in sixth - he made the radical step of leaving the warm climate of Brazil for the cooler conditions experienced in the north-east of England to link up with Peter Stanley, the former coach to world triple jump record-holder Jonathan Edwards.
“I had a big problem with my legs after my third jump in Helsinki because of the cold weather,” explained Gregorio. “I talked to my manager and my sponsors and they decided the best thing to improve my marks in the cold is to train in the cold. I also moved because of Peter Stanley.”
There he trains alongside Olympic Long Jump fifth placer Chris Tomlinson and he praises the role the British record-holder played in helping him settle in to life in a new country in autumn 2005.
“He is a very good person, who when I didn’t know anyone really helped me,” said Gregorio of Tomlinson.
Gregorio, who claimed a second successive World Indoor silver medal last year in Moscow, has settled quickly into life in Gateshead near the city of Newcastle, where he lives with his wife Samara. The couple had their first child last year – a son, Jade - and are expecting their second child at the end of the month (May) But despite the cool English climate he is pleased he made the switch.
“I enjoy training, I like the people at Gateshead Stadium and they are very supportive, added Gregorio. “Although here is very cold when the wind comes off the North Sea I know to train in the cold makes me stronger.”
Triple Jump opener in Doha
Gregorio was delighted to start his season with a leap of 8.26m in Dakar and plans to open his Triple Jump campaign in Doha at the IAAF World Athletics Tour meeting this Friday (May 11) optimistic of a prominent showing this season after enjoying solid winter’s training.
“I’m not yet at 100 per cent because I’m still in heavy training but I feel very good,” he added. “The training here is a little bit more different because I do more core work and a bit more speed. The culture over here is a bit different in that everything has to be 100 per cent correct in athletics. But whereas it would sometimes take a few hours to travel across Sao Paulo to reach the training track now (in Gateshead) I’m much closer.”
Steve Landells for the IAAF
