appConfigEntityId

bodyType

customContents

entityId

entityUuid

isVideo

articlePageQuery

article

articleSchemaContent

content

hooksArticlePageAdvertisementConfigArticle

hooksArticlePageFloatingButtonConfigArticle

appConfig

filter

json

liveArticle

Agence France-Presse

Rarely has an Olympic 100 metres champion been so belittled or so maligned as Italy’s Marcell Jacobs.
It is fair to say the Texas-born Italian stunned the field to snatch gold in the Covid-delayed Tokyo Games, in a European record of 9.80 seconds.
He made it double gold just days later by helping Italy to victory in the 4x100m relay, again a result that left pundits shocked and opened up a Pandora’s box of questions.
A former long jumper, Jacobs had vastly improved his 100m times that season under then-coach Paolo Camossi. Before 2020, Jacobs had never gone below the 10-second barrier and his sole title of note was European indoor 60m gold.
But after his stunning success in Tokyo, Jacobs went off the radar, pulling out of the high-profile Eugene, Brussels and Zurich Diamond League meets, citing fatigue and a knee problem.

His conspicuous absence raised eyebrows. Being the men’s Olympic 100m champion carries kudos, attracting meet organisers and sponsors alike, and to go AWOL did not chime well with traditionalists.
“I’m not even bothered by the gratuitous malice about doping,” the 29-year-old said in September 2021 of insinuations that his success was partly fuelled by performance-enhancing drugs.
Jacobs may have temporarily disappeared off the track scene, but he bounced back in style, claiming the world indoor 60m crown and a first European 100m gold in 2022.
A series of injuries saw him withdraw from the semi-finals of the 2022 world outdoor championships in Eugene while he did not qualify for the final at last year’s worlds in Budapest.
“People’s criticism really hit me hard,” he told the Guardian newspaper. “It came from everywhere – from Italy and abroad. As if I wasn’t competing because I was afraid.
“I’ve never been afraid of anything in my life. I wasn’t competing because I wasn’t able to. It was a difficult time because you train to get results and not getting them was hard. The two post-Olympic years were difficult years.
“I think there was a lot of shock and discomfort with an Italian winning 100m gold.”
Jacobs showed his resolve by upending his life, both professionally and personally, changing coach in Olympic year and moving, with his family, to the United States to work under Rana Reider.
It has seemingly paid off as Jacobs claimed a second European title on his home track in Rome in June.












View this post on Instagram























A post shared by LAMONT MARCELL JACOBS (@crazylongjumper)



“I had three goals: health, defending the European title and then the Olympic one,” Jacobs said after that victory.
Jacobs dipped under 10 seconds for the first time this season in Turku last month, clocking 9.92 seconds to take the 100m win at the Paavo Nurmen Games, having timed 9.99 seconds in the heats. His final winning time was his fastest in competition since his Tokyo gold.
“I was a bit worried that I hadn’t run under 10 seconds yet (this season), but it’s part of the game and now I have done it twice,” said Jacobs.
The Italian now seems on the right trajectory heading into the Paris Olympics.
“He’s definitely one of the top guys I really like,” US track and field legend Carl Lewis said of Jacobs.
The question now is whether Jacobs, born in Texas to a US military father and Italian mother and raised solely by his mother in Rome from an early age, can spring a second surprise by taking back-to-back Olympic golds.
“Winning a second gold wouldn’t make that much of a change to me and my image,” Jacobs insisted.
“Of course it would be positive, but coming from a country where no one before me had won an Olympic gold medal in the 100m, what I did was historic and it will always be historic.
“Over the years I’ve learned that I have to focus on what I want and what I believe I can do. Not to show others, but to show myself. A lot of things have happened in the two-and-a-half years since I won gold, so I need to show myself what I can do.”


Ex-China volleyballer Wang Yunlu says missing Paris Olympics made her feel like a ‘failure’

Hong Kong’s sports sector helped generate extra HK$46b in value in 2024

Chinese authorities investigating ‘malicious’ cyberbullying of diving star Quan Hongchan

Chinese Taipei boxer Lin Yu-ting takes bronze at Asian championships in competitive return

Paris 2024 Olympic Games

Paris Olympics: Marcell Jacobs, Italy’s much-maligned defending 100m champion, back in form

Marcell Jacobs of Italy celebrates after clocking his fastest time since the Tokyo Olympics to win the European 100 metre title in Rome in June. Photo: AP

Marcell Jacobs stunned the world to win in Tokyo with a European record of 9.80 seconds. Photo: Getty Images

Paris Olympics: Wilson, 16, could be US’ youngest male runner at Games after latest feat

Quincy Wilson runs in the 400 metres in June’s US Olympic trials in Eugene, Oregon. Photo: AFP

Christian Taylor is bowing out as a two-time Olympic champion in triple jump. Photo: AFP

Join SCMP’s sports quiz to win flights to Tokyo: July 26, 2024

 Starting from today, until August 9, new subscribers to the SCMP will be given a golden opportunity to win a range of premium prizes.

NBA superstar Steph Curry, Chinese auntie, preteen among Olympic debutants at Paris Games

Steph Curry (right) will be making his Olympic debut playing alongside LeBron James (left) for Team USA basketball in Paris. Photo: AP

Despite his incredibly storied NBA career, Steph Curry has never before competed at the Olympic Games. Photo: AP

At the age of 58, table tennis player Zhiying Zeng will be competing at an Olympics for the first time this year in Paris. Photo: AFP

Sha’Carri Richardson has been in inspiring form as she prepares for her first-ever Olympic Games in Paris. Photo: AP

Hezly Rivera (far right) with US gymnastics teammates (from left to right) Jade Carey, Suni Lee, Simone Biles and Jordan Chiles. Photo: TNS

Despite not yet being a teenager, Zheng Haohao will be skateboarding for China at the Paris Olympics. Photo: The Paper

Sport

Other Sport

Paris Olympics 2024

Athletics

Tokyo’s surprise winner has been dogged by suspicions and injury, but has won the European title and gone under 10 seconds twice this year


The surprise winner in Tokyo has been dogged by suspicions and injury, but has won the European title and gone under 10 seconds twice this year.


Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games

Paris Olympics: Marcell Jacobs, Italy’s much-maligned defending 100m champion, back in form

.css-1mniedq{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;}Tokyo’s surprise winner has been dogged by suspicions and injury, but has won the European title and gone under 10 seconds twice this year

Tokyo’s surprise winner has been dogged by suspicions and injury, but has won the European title and gone under 10 seconds twice this year