Tajay Gayle

Last updated

Tajay Gayle
Gayle 8m69.jpg
Gayle in 2019
Personal information
Born (1996-08-02) 2 August 1996 (age 28)
Kingston, Jamaica
Height1.85 m (6 ft 1 in) [1]
Sport
CountryJamaica
Sport Track and field
Event Long jump
Achievements and titles
Personal best(s)Long jump: 8.69 m
100 metres: 10.13 s
Medal record
Men's athletics
Representing Flag of Jamaica.svg  Jamaica
World Championships
Gold medal icon (G initial).svg 2019 Doha Long jump
Bronze medal icon (B initial).svg 2023 Budapest Long jump
Diamond League
Gold medal icon.svg 2024 Brussels Long jump
Pan American Games
Silver medal icon (S initial).svg 2019 Lima Long jump
NACAC Championships
Silver medal icon (S initial).svg 2018 Toronto Long jump
Silver medal icon (S initial).svg 2022 Freeport Long jump
Updated on 21 August 2022

Tajay Gayle (born 2 August 1996) is a Jamaican long jumper and the 2019 World Champion.

Contents

Biography

Gayle was born in Kingston, Jamaica. 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, [2] who is the former coach of Olympic and World Champion Elaine Thompson-Herah. On September 28, 2019, Gayle became the first Jamaican man to win a World Championship gold in the long jump. [3]

Career

He became an 8-meter jumper in 2017, improving from 7.54 m (24 ft 8+34 in) the year before. Gayle finished fourth at the 2018 Commonwealth Games, and took the silver medal at the 2018 NACAC Championships, where he improved his personal best to 8.24 m (27 ft 14 in). [4]

His current personal best is 8.69 m (28 ft 6 in), achieved on September 28, 2019, in Doha, where he became World Champion. He claimed the gold in an upset of the heavily favored Cuban long jumper Juan Miguel Echevarría. He also beat the 2016 Olympic champion Jeff Henderson and the 2017 World Champion Luvo Manyonga. His 8.69 m (28 ft 6 in) jump put him at number 10 in the IAAF all-time list. [5]

At the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, he got an injury at his first jump at the qualifying round. He managed to do a 8.14 m (26 ft 8+14 in) jump at his third attempt, then did 7.69 m (25 ft 2+34 in) at the final round to rank 11th.

References

  1. "GAYLE Tajay". Paris 2024 Olympics . Retrieved 3 August 2024.
  2. "Coach Francis surprised by Gayle's long jump national record". RJR News. Retrieved 30 September 2019.
  3. "Ten things to know about Tajay Gayle". Loop Jamaica. Loop sports. Archived from the original on 5 February 2020. Retrieved 30 September 2019.
  4. Tajay Gayle at World Athletics OOjs UI icon edit-ltr-progressive.svg
  5. "Report: men's long jump - IAAF World Athletics Championships Doha 2019". IAAF.org. Retrieved 29 September 2019.