When Chinese long jumper Wang Jianan soared to 8.36 meters in the men’s long jump final at the World Athletics Championships in Eugene, Oregon, on July 16, 2022, he etched his name in history. Wang became the first Asian gold medalist in the discipline in the history of the World Championships.
“Winning the gold in Eugene was a dream come true,” Wang shared with China Media Group (CMG). “I began preparing for the 2024 Olympic Games as a world champion, knowing that people would have certain expectations for me.”
Despite the accolades, Wang remains grounded. “There is no ‘absolute’ in athletics, especially in the long jump,” he noted. “I kept telling myself not to stress about it, not to overthink it.”
At the World Championships in Budapest in 2023, Wang achieved a distance of 8.05 meters, finishing in fifth place. While it wasn’t the podium finish he hoped for, it secured his qualification for the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris—his third appearance at the Games. Previously, Wang finished fifth in Rio de Janeiro in 2016 and did not advance to the final at the Tokyo Olympics in 2021.
This time around, Wang is aiming higher. “Based on my experience, every time I’ve grown over the past years, it was after a failure or setback,” he reflected. “One may get lost if things go too well because they can’t foresee a crisis. When I look back at my failure in Tokyo, I could have blamed a lot of people, but I had to find my part in the failure and figure out what I did wrong.”
With Paris on the horizon, Wang is focused on improvement. “I definitely want to get a medal in Paris,” he declared. “I need to enhance my strength and improve my consistency so I can go through the preliminary round with minimal effort. I don’t want to think too much about the result or get too excited about it. Like I said, I can’t control it.”
Wang remains optimistic and determined. “If I can do my best on the field and enjoy the Olympic Games in good form, the result will be good,” he concluded.
Reference(s):
Chinese long jumper Wang Jianan aims for new breakthrough in Paris
cgtn.com
