Jasmine Moore, the first American woman to qualify for the triple jump and long jump, is ready for her Olympic moment

SAINT-DENIS, France (AP) — Jasmine Moore has all the time loved jumping. For a time when she was a child, she thought all those jumps, with a couple of spins, could make her a part of Team America — as a Dallas Cowboys cheerleader.

How about this backup plan: She’s on Team America in Paris.

The 23-year-old, seven-time NCAA champion utilized all of his jumping skills, creating not one, but two scoring possibilities. Olympic gold medal. Moore is the first American woman to make games each in the triple jump and the long jump.

Moore, who grew up in the Dallas-Forth Worth area of ​​Texas and was accustomed to high-flying as a baby in gymnastics and cheerleading, eventually gave all of it up to pursue life in AthleticsShe first tried the triple jump, then switched to the long jump since it wasn’t anything special.

“For me, the goal was always ‘free college,’ to get a scholarship,” she said.

That’s exactly what she did — first in Georgia, then in Florida — and now she’s in Paris, with a packed schedule and perhaps a little bit extra room in her suitcase for souvenirs and anything she might bring back from these Olympics — whether or not they’re gold, silver or bronze medals.

“I think the long jump was kind of a personal goal, and the triple jump was kind of expected,” Moore said. “But it was like proving to myself that I can do anything I put my mind to. If I have a goal, I can set it. If you want to do something, it’s achievable.”

Moore’s personal bests — 15.12 meters in the triple jump, 7.03 meters in the long jump — are inches above the “magic numbers” of 15 and 7 for each events. That makes her a contender in each events on a very good day.

Her next goal is to compete in the long jump final on Aug. 8, the same night as the gold-medal race in the men’s 200 meters, a race her boyfriend, reigning African and three-time NCAA champion Joseph Fahnbulleh — a Minnesota native who competes for Liberia — hopes to compete in.

They met three years ago at the Tokyo Games and have been together ever since. They each ran for Florida and now live and train in Gainesville.

“What inspires me about her?” Fahnbulleh said. “Everything. How meticulous she is about how she trains. What she eats. Her attention to detail in everything she does.”

Moore makes it look like it’s no big deal to jump from one event back to the next, and the truth is, such a jump is not unusual in highschool and college. One of the people he admires is Keturah Orji, did each during her studies before turning her attention this 12 months to the triple jump, which she is going to compete on this week at her third Olympics.

Moore, meanwhile, is spending all of her time training for the more technical triple jump, where timing between the “phases” of the jump, the overhand and the take-off is key. Qualifying begins Saturday.

“I feel like the triple jump is the apple of my eye,” she said. “I feel like I actually have plenty of potential in that event. When things are going well, it’s a little bit more fun. But the long jump is plenty of fun. You can just fly through the air. You haven’t got to worry about ‘this phase, that phase.’

Featured Stories

No matter where she finally ends up, the Olympics might be a celebration for Moore and her entire family. Her mom and dad, each track and field athletes in college, might be in Paris. So will her older sister, Jayla, together with “grandparents, aunts, cousins, my sister’s boyfriend and his family.”

They can have something to watch.

If there is an event at the Stade de France in the next week or so, there is a robust possibility Moore will participate.

“It was a goal to do both, but not a goal to be the first,” said Moore, who admits she had no idea she was making history. “It feels really good. It’s hard to do a double, but I’ve done it at every level, so I just want to continue to do both whenever I can.”

What is the most vital lesson to take away from all these jumps?

“It proved to me, ‘Oh, I can do this, so I don’t have to choose,’” she said. “That’s the most exciting part.”