Former Commonwealth High Jump Champion Dalton Grant Explains How Successful His Academy Has Been
European indoor champion in 1994, gold medalist at the 1998 Commonwealth Games in Kuala Lumpur, ironically sitting across from me, the 56-year-old didn’t make it to the podium 1991 Probably the best performance of the year. .
Incredibly, his impressive 2.36m leap in Tokyo only took fourth place that day at the World Championships, best known for the giant battle between Carl Lewis and Mike Powell. long jump.
greatest show on earth
Dalton Grant has competed in three Olympic Games in Seoul (1988), Barcelona (1992) and Atlanta (1996), with seventh place in Seoul being his best performance at “The Greatest Show on Earth”. did. He seems to feel that he has never justified himself on this stage, and spoke sharply to me about his work as Board Director at London 2012, but as he recalls he You can see the sadness of The London 07/07 bombs exploded a day or so later. ”
coaching credit
Grant has had the honor of working with many coaches over the course of his career, including Ron Wilde, Ian Grant, Richard Guycie, Daly Thompson, Elbieta Krzeszynska, Colin Jackson, Linford Christie, Keith Connor, and many others. and mentors. I had a year with Malcolm Arnold, Tudor Bidder, and self-coaching. It is also significant that from 1979 he was coached by Dick, Frank, who was his director of coaching for British Athletics until 1994. In addition, he also learned from the late Bruce Longden, who led Sally Ganelle to an Olympic 400 m hurdles gold medal (1992) in Barcelona.
Grant feels he has learned a lot in his journey as a world-class athlete. That’s what drives Dalton Grant to found his academy to give back his knowledge to the next generation. “I was fortunate to be surrounded by winners like Linford Christie, Colin Jackson and Lord Coe, who was my teammate at club and national team,” he says. “Together we did our part to bring the 2012 Olympic Games to London.
“I was added to the London 2012 team before Lord Coe by Barbara Cassani, the original leader of the London 2012 bid team. adopted something. ”
He died in 1991, closely linked to the golden years of the 1980s, when he finished 6th at the European Junior Championships in Germany in 1985 and qualified for the Commonwealth’s first major senior championship. We want to give credit to the iconic Ron Pickering. The game in Edinburgh 12 months later.
Dalton Grant (Mark Sherman)
team captain
Grant was captain of the GB team during the aforementioned “golden age” and I’d love to hear how he found this role. He candidly states:
Clearly, it gave him a transferable skill that was central to his academy ethos. He points out: We need to listen and give advice on how to produce goods under pressure. ”
Visualization
Grant is proud to have jumped over 2.30m over 50 times and started over 2.30m three times in his career. He still holds the world record for height of 2.32m at the opening of the 1997 World Championships. The reason he came out at this height was because he was injured and knew his jumps were limited.
This will give you an idea of the mindset of this great British jumper. He says it was all about focusing on the process rather than aiming for the goal.
Racism
Born in Hackney to Jamaican parents, Grant experienced racism in the climate of the 1970s and 1980s. “I come from an underprivileged part of London and was fully aware that ‘no blacks, no dogs, no Irish’.”
His first experience of watching black struggles was watching the TV series roots And when he was only 12 years old, he felt the feeling of being harassed by the police through the SUS Act, which predates the reform of the Police and Criminal Evidence Act (1984).
After his first Olympics to represent Great Britain, the 22-year-old, driving a Mercedes, was stopped and searched on his way to training with decathlete Gavin Sunshine.
In this context, his experience is therefore greatly leveraged as a force for social good, as a regular contributor to Black History Month, including a panel appearance on Sky TV. He has come a long way from his childhood dream of becoming a professional soccer player. I am naturally proud of what I have given to my children.
Thirty years into his prime, Grant is rightfully proud to claim that there are no barriers to accomplishing great things.
Check out daltongrantacademy.com. Matt Long coached his team in England at his Commonwealth Games development camp this year.
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