Tajay Gayle (born 2 August 1996) is a Jamaican

long jump The long jump is a track and field event in which athletes combine speed, strength and agility in an attempt to leap as far as possible from a takeoff point. Along with the triple jump, the two events that measure jumping for distance as a gr ...

er and the 2019

World Champion A world championship is generally an international competition open to elite competitors from around the world, representing their nations, and winning such an event will be considered the highest or near highest achievement in the sport, game, ...

Biography

Gayle was born in

Kingston, Jamaica Kingston is the capital and largest city of Jamaica, located on the southeastern coast of the island. It faces a natural harbour protected by the Palisadoes, a long sand spit which connects the town of Port Royal and the Norman Manley Inter ...

. He is a graduate of Papine High School in Kingston and he is a member of the MVP track club. He is coached by Stephen Francis, who is the former coach of Olympic and World Champion

Elaine Thompson-Herah Elaine Sandra-Lee Thompson-Herah OD (née Thompson; born June 28, 1992) is a Jamaican sprinter who competes in the 60 metres, 100 metres and 200 metres. Regarded as one of the greatest sprinters of all time, she is a five-time Olympic champi ...

. On September 28, 2019, Gayle became the first Jamaican man to win a World Championship gold in the long jump.

Career

He became an 8-meter jumper in 2017, improving from the year before. Gayle finished fourth at the

2018 Commonwealth Games The 2018 Commonwealth Games, officially known as the XXI Commonwealth Games and also known as Gold Coast 2018, was an international multi-sport event for members of the Commonwealth that were held on the Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia, bet ...

, and took the silver medal at the

2018 NACAC Championships The 2018 North American, Central American and Caribbean Championships was a regional track and field competition held at Varsity Stadium in Toronto, Canada, from August 10–12, 2018. It was the third edition of a senior track and field championshi ...

, where he improved his personal best to . His current personal best is , achieved on September 28, 2019, in

Doha Doha ( ar, الدوحة, ad-Dawḥa or ''ad-Dōḥa'') is the capital city and main financial hub of Qatar. Located on the Persian Gulf coast in the east of the country, north of Al Wakrah and south of Al Khor, it is home to most of the coun ...

, where he became World Champion. He claimed the gold in an upset of the heavily favored Cuban long jumper

Juan Miguel Echevarría Juan Miguel Echevarría Laflé (born 11 August 1998) is a Cuban athlete specialising in the long jump. He represented his country at the 2017 World Championships, narrowly missing the final. He later won a gold medal at the 2018 World Indoor Ch ...

. He also beat the 2016 Olympic champion Jeff Henderson and the 2017 World Champion Luvo Manyonga. His jump put him at number 10 in the IAAF all-time list. At the

2020 Tokyo Olympics The , officially the and also known as , was an international multi-sport event held from 23 July to 8 August 2021 in Tokyo, Japan, with some preliminary events that began on 21 July. Tokyo was selected as the host city during the 1 ...

, he got an injury at his first jump at the qualifying round. He managed to do a jump at his third attempt, then did at the final round to rank 11th.

References

External links

* 1996 births Living people Jamaican male long jumpers Athletes (track and field) at the 2018 Commonwealth Games Commonwealth Games competitors for Jamaica Athletes (track and field) at the 2019 Pan American Games Pan American Games silver medalists for Jamaica Pan American Games medalists in athletics (track and field) World Athletics Championships athletes for Jamaica World Athletics Championships medalists Athletes from Kingston, Jamaica World Athletics Championships winners Medalists at the 2019 Pan American Games Athletes (track and field) at the 2020 Summer Olympics Olympic athletes for Jamaica 21st-century Jamaican people {{Jamaica-athletics-bio-stub