Gulfport native Brittney Reese heading to fourth Olympic Games
Over the weekend, Gulfport native Brittney Reese became just the fourth United States long jumper to ever qualify for the Olympics four times and she’s saving her best for last.
“Four times is a remarkable number, like not many athletes even get this opportunity to even get one, so I’m blessed with four and I take full advantage of my opportunities.”
Brittney Reese is one of the chosen few reliving a once in a lifetime moment for a fourth time as a qualifier for the 2020 Tokyo Games in the calendar year 2021. “It was good to get one finally legal and on the books to where it shows that I’m in fitness and I’m in shape so the world will know that I’m still here and they can’t count me out yet.”
During Saturday’s Olympic Trials in Eugene, Oregon, Brittney threw down a 7.13-meter leap on her fifth attempt, the third longest of the international season and her personal best since 2017, good for her 13th career U.S. Championship. “Yeah, so this year me and my coach approach a lot of things differently. We train smarter, not harder. It’s just a great opportunity to go out there and still be able to jump seven meters at my age.”
Now 34-years-young, Brittney is only getting stronger as she goes. Her 7.13 is only two centimeters shorter than her silver medal jump at the 2016 Rio Games and actually a centimeter longer than her gold medal jump at the 2012 London Games. And then a heck of a lot longer than it was during her days as an Admiral. “I finished high school with 20’8″ and I’m at 23’11” so a huge difference.”
As a graduate of Gulfport High School, Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College, and Ole Miss, Brittney takes an immense amount of pride in being a hometown hero three times over. “Being around all those people and knowing that they’re supporting me just makes me go harder and I love the community. I love Gulfport with all my heart, and love Mississippi with all my heart and I just love how they support their athletes and as long as they’re supporting me, I’m going to be able to give back. I’m going to be able to be there and show up when I need to.”
As Brittney counts down the days to her July 24th departure for Tokyo, she continues to work herself into what she refers to as peak phase at her home in San Diego, California, more than 5,500 miles away from Tokyo where she’s determined to send her Olympic career out on top and in the middle of the podium. “These last six jumps are going to mean something, so I will be taking full advantage of that and trying to break a world record, an American record, trying to break something to leave a legacy. I mean I’m already leaving a legacy, but I want to leave a bigger legacy. So last one – like we say at practice – last one, best one. So, I’m going all out.”
As a seven-time world champion, Brittney says she’s often too focused on winning her event to truly take in all the sights and sounds of the countries she visits, but says she always gets a souvenir coffee mug everywhere she goes. Her events start in early August.
