Paris 2024: Fleur Jong ready for double glory in Paris
Dutch Para athletics star takes confidence from long jump victory ahead of her bid for a second Paris 2024 title in the 100m 04 Sep 2024
When Paris 2024 Paralympic champion Fleur Jong tried long jump for the first time in 2019, she immediately knew it was a discipline that would take her to the top of the world. She was already a Paralympic sprinter back then, but she had never felt that way before.
“When I was only sprinting in the 100m and the 200m, between 2015 and 2018, I was good but never to a point that I thought I could reach a next-level good,” the Dutch athlete said.
“When I started long jump, I immediately felt like, ‘Oh my god. This is something I’m going to be really good at,’ because I just felt this rhythm in the long jump right away.”
“That’s when I thought I’m going to be the best at this and I’m going to conquer my spot on the track. I’ve brought that confidence from the long jump to the 100 metres,” she added.
Fast forward five years and she has already picked up two Paralympic gold medals and two world titles in the long jump.
At Paris 2024, she leapt 6.53 metres in the women’s long jump T64 at the Stade de France to win gold, breaking her own Paralympic record in the process.
Switching it up
Ahead of her final event, the women’s 100m T64, the 28-year-old says that taking up long jump was probably one of the best decisions she made when it comes to Para sport. It gave her confidence and a better sense of the track.
The women’s 100m T64 heats take place on 5 September with the final on the following day.
“I’m not nervous yet, but I’m sure I’ll be full of nerves once it’s Thursday and then Friday, it’s the finals. But I’m just hoping I can take this joy and excitement and confidence from the long jump to the 100 metres, it should help me."
At the Tokyo 2020 Paralympics, she missed the podium in the women’s 100m T64 by just 0.3 seconds to bronze medallist Marissa Papaconstantinou of Canada. But Jong has won the event at the World Championships at Paris 2023 and Kobe 2024, and she feels ready.
In the past three years, she has grown both on and off the track.
“I feel like I’ve become more mature as an athlete. I know my place on the track, whereas when I was young, I was still looking, like ‘What is my place on the track?’ ‘Where do I fit on the track?’ ‘Where do I feel most comfortable?’”
“I’ve grown as an athlete. I’m more experienced now, so that really helps me feel confident.”
From Rio to Tokyo to Paris
Jong got her running blades in 2014, a year after she was introduced to Para sport during a talent day in the Netherlands. She was a competitive dancer and a tennis player before she underwent amputation of her legs and some of her fingers due to a bacterial infection.
She made her Paralympic debut at Rio 2016 – and she admits she felt overwhelmed.
“In Rio, I was like 20, I didn’t know anything. I was two years into professional track and field, so I was still figuring out my way. I was mostly struggling with what I should do during the Games than actually just worrying about the Games itself,” she said.
She did not advance from the heats in both the 100m and 200m. Then it was Tokyo, where she set a Paralympic record in the long jump but finished fourth in the 100m.
“Tokyo was much more different because I was five years older, more experienced. I had one European title and I came there with a chance of a finals,” she said.
“I went out in the heats and all of a sudden I was a favourite for gold. It was for me, more exciting to go to Tokyo knowing you would be able to maybe win a medal.”
This time around, she will go into the 100m as a clear favourite, and she hopes to celebrate in front of a huge crowd at the Stade de France.
“This is our time to enjoy it together,” she said.
