In any other country hurdler Tony Jarrett would be a star, but in England he has always played second fiddle to champion Colin Jackson
ATHLETICS: Julian Drew
WHEN Britain’s Tony Jarrett settled into the blocks for the final of the 110m hurdles at last year’s world championships in Gothenburg many people fancied his chances. Having finished second at the previous world champ ionships in Stuttgart behind Colin Jackson’s 12,91 world record to become the fourth- fastest man in history with his mark of 13,00, the punters had good reason to wager a few bob on him.
Jackson, in whose shadow Jarrett had spent most of his career, was not at the championships due to an injury. Missing too was the world leader coming in to Gothenburg, American Mark Crear, and another of the favourites, Germany’s Florian Schwarthoff, who took a tumble in the semi-finals.
After false starting, Jarrett got away quickly the next time and was leading at halfway. Normally Jarrett is a slow starter who makes up ground in the second half of the race and the title seemed to be in his grasp. But instead of pulling away he went backwards as America’s Allen Johnson pulled level and then slowly eased ahead towards the last hurdle. Johnson matched Jarrett’s Stuttgart time with the “nearly man” so close again in the silver medal spot with a time of 13,04.
“It wasn’t the pressure,” says Jarrett, who has been in South Africa for three weeks doing warm-weather training and will race on Friday night in the Engen Prestige meeting at Roodepoort, as well as next Saturday’s test match in Pretoria. “I’ve been to many championships and I’ve grown in confidence at every one. I knew what I had to do. My mind and body was there but when the race came it just didn’t go the way I expected it to,” reveals Jarrett.
“I didn’t go there under-rating anybody but I knew if I put my race together I could win. I just messed up and didn’t grab the opportunity when I had it.”
There is no bitterness in his voice, just a matter-of-factness that one could mistake for that of somebody who has accepted his role as eternal runner-up. But Jarrett knows that anybody with his talent is always in with a chance of winning the big ones. “In a final like that it’s the person who controls the pressure and is stable on the day that goes out and does the business. He’s the one who’s going to win.”
Jarrett, who is now 27, came on to the scene in Britain when his event was starting to enjoy a purple patch, just as the 800m and 1 500m had a few years earlier with Sebastian Coe, Steve Ovett and Steve Cram. Britain had two extremely talented youngsters who were a year older than Jarrett. Jon Ridgeon and Jackson took the first two places at the 1985 European junior championships and 1986 world junior championships before winning silver and bronze at the 1987 world championships in Rome.
That was the same year that Jarrett made his mark by winning the European junior title. “It was just a fluke that we all came along at around the same time. I just latched on to them. I wanted to be as good as them and every time we raced I got a bit closer until I beat one of them and then they beat me and now here I am.
“Britain was just a middle-distance place when I started out but now the pendulum’s swung and we’ve got Linford Christie, John Regis, Colin Jackson and lots of other good sprinters. There’s more speed now and the distance events have dropped off.”
Ridgeon never managed to fulfil his potential as world silver medallist and a series of injuries saw him retire a few years ago, but Jackson went from strength to strength with Jarrett never far behind.
But has Jackson’s domination proved to be a motivating factor or a soul destroyer? “It’s been a bit of both really but for me Colin is great and I’m glad he’s there. Every time I’m on the line with him I want to get past him and I must admit if it wasn’t for him I wouldn’t be running the times I am now. If I didn’t have him in Britain I’d be running about 13,2 or 13,3,” he admits.
“The only bad thing is that I’m doing really well but I don’t get the recognition. In any other country if I was winning silver medals and running 13 dead I would be like a pop star. It’s just unfortunate that we have the world’s best hurdler and myself in the same country. Nobody wants to know the one who came second if they’ve got the one who came first.
“It’s just one of those things but I know one of these days I’m going to get into that winning mould instead of coming second.”
There is perhaps a positive side to the fact that he doesn’t get enough respect. “I’m basically a shy person and although I’d like to be a great athlete like Linford I also like to have my own life and walk the streets without being hassled.”
Jackson and Jarrett race each other regularly and are on friendly terms. “We sit down and talk to each other and before Stuttgart we were at the same training camp together in Nice. We trained together and Colin helped me but obviously once we take our tracksuits off and go to the blocks we are enemies. Then it’s down to business,” Jarrett declares.
Normally he winters in Los Angeles with top American coach John Smith, but this year he has used South Africa as a base to prepare for the European indoor championships in March before heading to America to prepare for the Olympics. So what can athletics fans expect from Jarrett on Friday night? “To tell the truth this is just an opportunity to see where I am at the moment because I don’t usually race over 110m at this time of the year. I’m just trying to gauge how well my training has gone. My speed now is very good because I’m training with Darren (Braithwaite) and John (Regis) and I’m quite close to them so I know I’m fast.
“But what I need to do is work on my hurdling because I think right now I’m too fast and the hurdles will come at me too quickly. So I’m just going to go out and run and whatever happens, happens. If I can put everything together technically then I’ll try and give it more stick in the next race,” says Jarrett.
But with the benefit of altitude and an athlete of Jarrett’s class there is every chance that the South African all-comers record of 13,55, set by American Milan Stewart on the rebel tour in 1988, could be consigned to the history books, if not on Friday night then next weekend.