ROME ā Marcell Jacobs already won another gold medal at the world indoors. He'll likely get a huge reception at Romeās upcoming Diamond League meet. Then a reunion with his once-estranged father at the world championships. Followed by more potential medals at the European championships.
And, to top it all off, a wedding in September.
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If last year ā when Jacobs sprinted from virtual unknown to Olympic 100-meter champion and then added another surprising gold at the Tokyo Games with Italyās 4x100-meter relay team ā proved remarkable for the Texas-born runner, 2022 could be even more memorable.
For all those who thought Jacobs was just a one-hit wonder ā and there were plenty of naysayers ā the Italian has other plans.
āWinning these next two big events would mean winning everything there is to win in athletics,ā Jacobs told The Associated Press in an interview at his Rome training base this week. āBut Iāve got a huge target on my back wherever I go now ā everyone wants to beat me. So itās all very complicated.ā
Whatās perhaps even more complicated is Jacobsā relationship with his dad, Lamont.
Born in El Paso to an American father and an Italian mother, Jacobs moved to Italy when he was 6 months old after his parents split. He didnāt see his dad again until a meeting was arranged in Orlando, Florida, when Jacobs was 13.
In his newly published autobiography, āFlash: La mia storia (My story)ā Jacobs looks back fondly on that 2008 meeting.
āEverything was great, idyllic, but unfortunately it ended there,ā Jacobs wrote. āI never heard from him anymore and I didnāt see him again.
āWhen I got back to Italy, at the most he would send me messages. Thatās when I put up a wall between us. ā¦ I asked myself why I didnāt have a dad like everyone else. Even now, if you ask me what my father is like, I donāt really know how to answer.ā
Two years ago, on the advice of his mental coach, Jacobs renewed his relationship with his father ā who was stationed with the U.S. military in Italy when he met Jacobsā mother ā and they exchanged messages before the 100-meter final in Tokyo.
āHe told me, āRemember what matters is all that youāve done to reach this point, so donāt be afraid of anybody and run as fast as you can,āā Jacobs said.
In July at the world championships in Eugene, Oregon ā which will mark the first time that the biggest event in track and field outside of the Olympics will be held in the United States ā Jacobsā father is planning to watch his son compete in person for the first time.
āIt will be really emotional and will be give me extra energy,ā Jacobs said.
Not that Jacobs has been lacking energy lately.
In March, the muscular Italian beat American standout Christian Coleman in a photo finish to become the first reigning Olympic 100-meter champion to claim the world indoor 60-meter title. The victory was all the more impressive considering that the 60 isnāt really suited to Jacobsā strengths ā heās a slow starter and tends to accelerate gradually.
Coleman would have been a favorite for gold at the Olympics had he not been banned from the Tokyo Games for missing three anti-doping tests in a year.
Colemanās absence, the retirement of Usain Bolt, and the fact that the world leader in 2021, Trayvon Bromell, didnāt make it out of the semifinals, made Jacobsā Olympic title seem underwhelming to many.
Add in that Jacobs had never broken the 10-second barrier before last year and there were also plenty of insinuating questions about his 9.80-second victory.
Jacobs, however, has never failed a doping test.
āI always put down 6 a.m. for my availability because that way I know Iāll be in bed and Iāll want to go pee as soon as I get up,ā he said. āSo it can be all done in 10 minutes. When I was in Tokyo I was tested eight times over two weeks. Then since Tokyo they come every two weeks. I was tested at every indoor race this season. Iāve never missed a test and Iāve always tried to handle it the best way possible.ā
At 27, Jacobs attributes his rapid development on the track to his late switch from long jumping and frequent knee injuries that curtailed him earlier in his career.
āThe (questions) had more of negative impact on the people close to Marcell than they did on him,ā said Paolo Camossi, Jacobsā coach and himself a former jumper who is also still learning about elite sprinting. āWe know the history. We know how many times he scraped his knees because of all the falls we had, how many tears we had to dry.ā
Some of the most pointed criticism of Jacobsā Olympic golds came from Londonās tabloids, which then had to report how Britainās 4x100 team was stripped of the silver medal it won behind Jacobsā Italy because of a doping violation involving C.J. Ujah.
āWhen you want to hurt someone it comes back to bite you,ā Jacobs said.
Jacobs received another major snub in October when he wasnāt even named among the 10 nominees for male athlete of the year by World Athletics ā even though he was the only man to win two golds on the Tokyo track.
āIāll work even harder so that (this) year theyāll have to nominate me,ā Jacobs said.
However, Jacobs is having a slow start to his outdoor season, having had to sit out a meet in Kenya because of a stomach issue and then withdrawing from this weekendās Diamond League meet in Eugene because of a strained muscle.
In his only 100-meter race since the Olympics at a meet in Savona last week, Jacobs won his semifinal heat in 9.99 seconds but didnāt seem his usual, powerful self in the final, despite finishing first in 10.04.
Jacobs lost 2 kilograms (4Ā½ pounds) of weight from the virus he had in Kenya. Add that to the weight he had already shed under a new training regime, and Jacobsā body is still adapting to it its new lightness.
āMy idea is that a sprinter should be like a gazelle or a jaguar rather than a rhinoceros,ā Camossi said. āBut losing 2 kilos when he was already thin wasnāt ideal.ā
Camossi is thinking long-term with the next Olympics in Paris only two years away, plus the 2024 European Championships in Rome.
āThe goal (for 2024) is to run the 100 and 200,ā Camossi said.
First, though, Jacobs is aiming to recover in time to compete at the Golden Gala meet in Rome on June 9 ā his first major international outdoor competition since Tokyo.
āMarcell is a national hero,ā Camossi said. āItās really going to be something to see him run at the Stadio Olimpico with a tattoo of the colosseum on his arm.ā
Once the season ends, Jacobs will marry his longtime partner, Nicole Daza, with whom he has had two of his three children.
āThere are 18 relatives from the U.S. coming for the wedding,ā Jacobs said, adding that it will mark his fatherās first time in Italy since before he was born. āIām really happy to have reconnected with that part of the family.ā
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Andrew Dampf is at https://twitter.com/AndrewDampf