Earlier than Sunday, an Italian man had by no means gained an Olympic medal within the 100-meter sprint within the Video games’ 125-year historical past. Now, Lamont Marcell Jacobs is the primary from Italy to carry the title of world’s quickest man.
Jacobs set a European report within the males’s 100-meter sprint on Sunday, ending in 9.80 seconds, to win the gold medal.
Jacobs, a 26-year-old sprinter and lengthy jumper, was born in El Paso to an Italian mom and an African American father. When his father, a soldier in the US Military, was transferred to South Korea, he and his mom moved to Italy.
His dad and mom separated when he was an toddler, however Jacobs reconnected together with his father for the primary time a 12 months in the past, in accordance with The Related Press. After his 100-meter-dash victory on Sunday, he mentioned that discovering his father was a part of his psychological preparation for the Video games.
“I by no means noticed my dad from that point,” Jacobs mentioned. “However I began to talk with him one 12 months in the past for the primary time. This helped me arrive right here with a great mentality.”
Jacobs, whose Instagram deal with is @crazylongjumper, a moniker he has inked on his physique, together with the names of his three youngsters and his accomplice, started competing in athletics at 9 years outdated, gravitating to sprinting and lengthy soar, in accordance with the Tokyo Olympics web site.
He made his first impression on the nationwide degree whereas competing in lengthy soar. In 2016, he gained the Italian Athletics Championships in lengthy soar with a distance of seven.89 meters.
In 2018, he claimed his first 100-meter-dash title and started closing in on the occasion’s troublesome 10-second barrier. And this 12 months, in Could, he set the Italian report within the 100-meters with a time of 9.95 seconds and have become the a hundred and fiftieth particular person in historical past to complete the race in beneath 10 seconds.
With the Italian report secured, Jacobs set his sights on the Olympics. From the primary time he stepped on the observe, he instructed Corriere Della Sera, he dreamed of changing into an Olympian.
“On my bed room wall I had the newspaper web page of the well-known Carl Lewis industrial with him carrying stiletto heels within the beginning blocks,” he mentioned. “However my idol as a baby was Andrew Howe who, like me, is blended race and half-American. I may establish with him.”
