ROME: The man who received the largest race within the Olympics now lives in relative obscurity inside a gated neighborhood in Florida.
Hardly anyone acknowledges him.
Nobody bothers him.
And that fits Marcell Jacobs simply positive after coping with the chaos that surrounded his each transfer again house in Italy.
Because Jacobs, the unheralded sprinter who succeeded Usain Bolt because the 100-meter champion on the Olympics, nonetheless appears like he has one thing to show as he prepares to defend gold at this yr’s Paris Games. His new coaching base lets him maintain the concentrate on the duty at hand.
“Now in Paris (everyone) wants to beat me. (Everyone) wants to take my crown from my head and put it on his head … So I can’t wait to arrive in August and try to win again,” Jacobs instructed The Associated Press in a video interview from Jacksonville.
One of the few occasions he’s been acknowledged got here when he went to the native utility workplace to activate the electrical energy and water in his new house and the person who helped him realized he was speaking to a gold medalist.
“My life has completely changed,” Jacobs mentioned. “It’s another world.”
After two damage-plagued seasons, Jacobs made the choice to go away his longtime coach, Paolo Camossi, and be part of an elite coaching group in Jacksonville led by Rana Reider.
“I was losing motivation,” Jacobs mentioned. “I needed a training group where I could compare myself against others every day. … It seems like starting all over again and that gives me a lot of energy and permits me to train at 100%.”
Reider’s group, often called the Tumbleed Track Club, additionally contains: Andre De Grasse, the 200-meter Olympic champion and the bronze medalist within the 100 behind Jacobs in Tokyo; Trayvon Bromell, a two-time world championship bronze medalist within the 100; Jerome Blake, a member of Canada’s medal-successful 4×100 relay workforce with De Grasse; and Abdul Hakim Sani Brown, who received a relay bronze with Japan at worlds in 2019.
All 5 sprinters might qualify for the Olympic remaining on Aug. 4 on the Stade de France.
“I needed a coach,” Jacobs mentioned, “who wasn’t afraid to have the Olympic 100-meter champion in an Olympic year.”
Born in El Paso, Texas, to an American father and an Italian mom, Jacobs moved to Italy when he was 6 months previous after his dad and mom cut up. He didn’t see his dad once more till a gathering was organized when Jacobs was 13, and the connection remains to be strained.
But being in Florida together with his spouse and two youngsters has allowed Jacobs to reconnect with the remainder of his American household and enhance his English. His grandmother, aunt and uncle reside close to Jacksonville, one other uncle lives close to Miami and at Christmas there was a go to together with his brother-in-legislation in Texas.
“I’m at home without trying to be,” Jacobs mentioned. “I’m reviving a relationship with the American part of my family that I’ve never been able to experience.”
Being in Florida, Jacobs has additionally been in a position to feed his want for pace by attending the 24 Hours of Daytona.
“Motor sports and speed runs through my veins,” Jacobs mentioned. “I grew up living with my grandparents and they were big motorsport fans. Every weekend we would go see a race.”
With a golf course in his yard, Jacobs can be embracing a brand new sport.
“Golf isn’t easy because it requires a lot of patience and control, which is exactly the opposite of what we do,” Jacobs mentioned, “Because (sprinting) is all about producing power, strength and speed.”
Jacobs additionally discovered time to go to a capturing vary.
“I tried shooting both pistols and rifles,” he mentioned, “for the thrill of it.”
Jacobs had by no means damaged the ten-second barrier earlier than 2021 and there have been loads of insinuating questions on his 9.80-second victory in on the Tokyo Olympics.
Despite having additionally received titles at world and European championships, he nonetheless faces doubters calling him “a one-race wonder.”
“A lot of people in Italy, too, they know me from the Olympics, so they’ve never known my story behind the Olympics,” Jacobs mentioned. “They don’t follow track and field so they didn’t know me. They don’t follow me for real. So they a lot of times say, ‘Oh, you just won the Olympics and you’re finished.’ But it’s not true, it’s not (right).
“I focus just on myself and try to do my best, because every time you can find some people who have to tell you something and say to you, ’You do this and not this, or this and not this,’” Jacobs mentioned, gesticulating a lot that at one level he knocked over the telephone he was utilizing for the video interview. “This is the big lesson I’ve learned in these years.”
Noah Lyles, the American who swept gold within the 100, 200 and 4×100 finally yr’s worlds in Budapest, was already the massive favourite for Paris. A blistering 60-meter time of 6.44 seconds in Boston final weekend simply bolstered his standing.
“He showed that he’s in great form with a personal best,” Jacobs mentioned. “He’s gaining confidence. … He’s definitely going to enter (the Olympics) as the favorite. But I prefer it that way. … I prefer it when nobody thinks I can win and then going out and winning.”
Jacobs will probably return to competitors within the U.S. in April earlier than going to the World Relays within the Bahamas in early May with an Italian workforce that already backed up gold in Tokyo with silver on the worlds. Then he has large expectations for a house European Athletics Championships in Rome in June.
That’s when he’ll begin to perceive if his transfer to Florida paid off.
This isn’t the primary time that Jacobs has made a serious change in his profession. He started as an extended jumper earlier than transitioning into sprinting full time.
His Instagram deal with remains to be “crazylongjumper” and Jacobs has no plans to vary it.
“That’s where I started and so that will remain forever,” Jacobs mentioned. “Because you should never forget where you came from.”
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AP protection of the Paris Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/2024-paris-olympic-games
(This story has not been edited by News18 employees and is revealed from a syndicated information company feed – Associated Press)
