Long jumping Down Under part one: Fabrice Lapierre
Australia boast two men in the top eight in the world for the men’s long jump, so spikesmag.com casts our eye at long jumping Down Under. In the first of our two-part series, we focus on 8.35m jumper Fabrice Lapierre.
Now, if the organisers of the London 2012 need confirmation of how hosting the Olympics can have a positive impact the population then Fabrice Lapierre’s story should warm their hearts.
Aged just 16 at the time the promising young athlete was asked if he would like to act as a Games volunteer in his home city of Sydney for the 2000 Olympics.
Lapierre leapt at the chance. He was given the role of ‘media runner’ – handing results to the world’s press in the Olympic Stadium.
He witnessed first-hand Cathy Freeman’s Olympic 400m victory, marvelled at Maurice Greene’s accomplisments in the 100m dash and saw his countryman Jai Taurima land the silver medal in a stunning long jump competition.
It was an experience to die for. And
it certainly acted as the best possible inspiration.
“I think it was two months later I won all the events at the Australian nationals – triple jump, long jump the 100m,” he explains to spikesmag.com in the lobby of the hotel ahead of the Golden League meeting in Rome.
Since those Games nine years ago Lapierre has gradually cemented his position among the elite of world long jumping.
In 2006 he won his first major senior medal – a bronze at the Commonwealth Games in Melbourne – while earlier this month he jumped a massive wind-aided 8.57m in Madrid (and an official PB of 8.35m to win).
Hang on a minute: while Lapierre’s progress is unquestionable, isn’t there something, well, very un-Australian about his surname? It sounds more St Etienne than Sydney.
So what’s the story?
“I was born in Mauritius,” says the softly-spoken Lapierre. “I moved to Australia when I was two. My parents speak fluent French. I don’t really speak French but I understand everything.”
Okay, so that explains it.
Lapierre began his sporting life as a passionate Man Utd supporting soccer player in New South Wales, but that quickly gave way to athletics when he discovered a raw ability to sprint and jump.
National schoolboy titles followed and on his first major international appearance he landed a silver medal at the 2002 World Junior Championships in Jamaica.
Lapierre headed to the United States to further his long jump career and wound up at College Station in Texas, where he studied business management and refined his jumping technique.
But how did the Aussie adapt to life in the US?
“It was a big move but life there is pretty similar,” says Lapierre of the two countries.
“When I first went there I was a little bit of a novelty and they wanted to talk to me because of my accent. People still ask where I’m from. Sometimes they say Australia but sometimes they guess at England, for some reason.”
In 2005 he jumped over eight metres for the first time in his career with a wind-aided 8.15m to land the prestigious NCAA title. Nine months later he again showed the ability to handle high-pressured occasions when he won the Commonwealth bronze in front of a passionate home crowd in Melbourne.
But injury and a loss of form meant he struggled to make an impact in 2007 and last year he failed to qualify for the final at the Beijing Olympic Games.
“After failing to qualify for the final I thought from then on I’ve got to do better and make the finals in Berlin,” he explains.
Under his coach Jim Vanhootegem he has made a great progression this winter and has been beyond eight metres in every competition so far this season. Besides the Australian national title he has posted impressive wins in Madrid and Brisbane and now moves on to the World Championships – as a genuine medal contender.
He will not be the only Aussie in Berlin, though. Mitchell Watt, just 21, has jumped 8.43m this season, which means Australia has two possible medal contenders.
Lapierre is at a loss to explain why Australia is thriving in the long jump but he was full of respect for Watt’s accomplishments. “He’s really fast, got a lot of speed so is always capable of jumping far,” he says of Watt.
Another aim for Lapierre is that Australian record of 8.49m set by Taurima at those 2000 Sydney Games when Lapierre, known as ‘Fab’ or ‘Fabulous’, acted as a media runner.
Now,
Taurima had an unusual approach to training which included smoking a pack of cigarettes a day and nightclubbing until the early hours. But
while Lapierre shuns that lifestyle for a more disciplined approach he does share one common trait – a fondness to go to bed late.
“I go to bed pretty late every night,” he explains. “I can’t get up early and if don’t get to bed before 2am I just can’t sleep.”
Lapierre will hope he is not caught napping in the race to be the new Australian long jump record holder –
a fascinating battle that’s set to heat up in Germany.
***Read part two of our series on Australian long jumping on spikesmag.com tomorrow
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