JJ Jegede: Both Eyes On London 2012

Within an arm’s reach of the developing Olympic village in Stratford, another young athlete continues his daily routine designed to elevate him to the status of Olympian. JJ Jegede has established himself as one of the most exciting British athletes around, with the East London resident touted as a potential 2012 Olympian primed to reignite the long jump event.

The necessity to overcome adversity is rooted within Jegede’s DNA; injury has already played a pivotal role in his brief spell as an athlete. The inception of his long-jump career can in fact be traced to an injury - after establishing himself as a footballer of immense potential at just 13, his dreams were extinguished by persistent problems with his knees.

“I never wanted to do the long jump – I was a footballer,” Jegede laments. “I got to thirteen and developed Osgood-schlatters, so when the YTS forms were being given out I was nowhere to be seen because I couldn’t run.”

Devastated by the abrupt stifling of a future in football, Jegede proceeded to embody the notion that what doesn’t kill you only makes you stronger. Adapting to operate within his physical restrictions, Jegede translated his athletic abilities into a new discipline, and a new long-jump prospect was born.

“I didn’t really make a choice,” Jegede insists. “My teacher made me take part in the borough championships for Barking & Dagenham. The other guy didn’t want to do the long jump, so I told my teacher I would. I came second by a centimeter – I got 5.88 and he got 5.89.

“In my sport, the difference between winning and losing is so fine, you have to be on top of your game all the time. You can lose by a single centimeter, and that can be because of something little you did, or didn’t do, in your preparations.”

Losing by such a paper-thin margin could easily of been his trigger to abandon sport altogether, but Jegede’s defiance only served to illustrate the maturity and resilience required from a future star.

“That gave me the fire,” he ardently continues. “I went down to my local track, spoke to a coach and began training twice a week.

“If I had won that day, I probably wouldn’t have started. I still love football, but the long jump is one of the truest forms of athletic test there is. When you are out there on the runway by yourself, it is a pressure situation. It’s all about how you control it when people are watching you. I’m an adrenaline junkie like that.”

The initial injury he suffered became a pretext for a frustrating few years, with Jegede tearing his hamstring at the 2005 Senior Indoors AAA, spending much of the 2009 season sidelined with patellar tendinopathy and finally tearing the lateral collateral ligament in his left knee later in 2009.

The injuries are the price he has paid for the lifestyle of an athlete, and Jegede insists he would not have it any other way.

“My passport is stamped with loads of places now. I’ve been to Hungary, Poland, Germany, America – I hadn’t ever been on a plane before I was an athlete. So it’s taken me a lot of places.”

His journey has not been merely a geographic one; the sport has certainly taken him places mentally, psychologically and emotionally. Jegede now hopes to draw upon all of his experiences and enjoy a fresh start in 2011, with the inevitable intensification of training that accompanies an escalating career only deepening his desire to persevere.

“It’s intensified and really stepped up a notch. Everything is now about attention to detail, real finite things that can make a difference. It’s all become a bit of a pressure pot.

“We’re in the winter season now and it’s normally a hard slog. You need to put your body in places it’s not used to and break through barriers.

“Injuries and niggles always come on during training, but I’m riding them and moving on. Training is progressing nicely into 2011, so it should be a good year.”

Jegede still faces the same delicate balance between athletic and external commitments that any prospective Olympian encounters.

“I work at the Holiday Inn, I coach kids at schools, I just keep myself busy,” Jegede insists. “But being an athlete is really all I want to do for now.

“It’s tough because training is my main priority and sometimes you have to make sure that you are doing your training and not letting the other things change that main job.”

Jegede is experiencing the same process of refocus that every British athlete has enjoyed since the 2012 Olympics were awarded to London. As a resident of the city, Jegede’s understandable excitement may prove to be the impetus required for great achievements – so long as he can make the squad. His ambitions hold no such reservations.

“I’m looking at gold,” Jegede exclaims. “Sometimes people say they just want to make the team and that’s their choice. But for me, I don’t just want to make the team; I want to be there on the podium in front of 70,000 people. That is priceless. Not many people get that opportunity, and I want that opportunity in two years, so that is my aim.

“I’m an athlete, but before London 2012 I was an athlete. What inspired me to be an athlete was just about being the best that I could be. I never want to feel like I could of done better. I want to give my all, and that’s why I do the sport.

“Now all eyes are on 2012. Eyes, hands - everything is now on 2012. It’s right next to my house and I’ve seen East London change and regenerate, so for me it’s right on my doorstep. It makes it that little bit more real – everyday on my way to training I pass the stadium and I can’t believe it.

“It has kept me focused; on those days when it becomes so hard and you are on your last rep - I have to keep going because I know exactly where I want to get.”

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Holiday Inn, the Official Hotel Provider to the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games, is providing free room nights to British athletes to support their preparations over the next two years.

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For more information, visit; www.holidayinn.com.