‘I was in a bad place’
KJT on conquering her fears to finally become world’s best
‘Maybe I need to start looking after myself a bit more,” jokes Katarina Johnsonthompson after ordering a peppermint tea to soothe her throat. It has been a busy fortnight since she was crowned world heptathlon champion and it is starting to take its toll.
Instead of the usual sun-baked beach break to wallow in the glory of her gold medal success, she spent the immediate aftermath on a Red Cross charity trip to Japan, where Typhoon Hagibis ruined her plans to watch England’s cancelled Rugby World Cup match against France and prompted a hasty departure.
It was also where the source of her current ailments began, with karaoke sessions either side of an 11-hour plane journey; one singing session in Tokyo and one in London. For the record, her songs of choice are Bonnie Tyler’s Total Eclipse of the Heart and the polar opposite Look At
Me Now, by Chris Brown, Lil Wayne and Busta Rhymes.
There has also been time to squeeze in a trip back to her home city of Liverpool to see her family and beloved sausage dogs Bronx and Chorizo – “one of them nearly had a heart attack when they saw me” – before we meet in Manchester for her first newspaper interview since becoming world champion.
The gold medal has already had quite an impact on her life, with people stopping her on the streets of Liverpool to congratulate her and she interjects at one point – “Ha, I’m on the TV” – as a clip of her winning moment in Doha rolls across a nearby screen. Victory was something few people had deemed a realistic prospect. Not only was defending champion and Olympic gold medallist Nafi Thiam expected to prove far too good for any of her rivals, but Johnsonthompson had flattered to deceive many times in the past, missing out on global medals in 2015, 2016 and 2017, and earning her a tag as someone seemingly destined to fall short on the biggest stage.
The mass outpouring of universal joy when she did then win gold this month, surpassing Jessica Ennis-hill’s British record in the process, was a reflection of just how much she had overcome. Johnson-thompson has never shied away from her troubles, laughing when admitting “everyone loves talking about them, so maybe I should as well”. But it is her honesty that has long marked her out as different from her peers. For most elite sportspeople, public shows of weakness are strictly avoided. But whether talking about flashbacks to past failures or suffering from impostor syndrome, Johnsonthompson has always been admirably upfront in offering a glimpse of fragility that is rarely seen in our sporting heroes.
Sure, becoming world champion nine months out from the Olympics is a huge confidence boost, with an admission that: “I’ve proven to myself I can do it.” But even world champions have doubts.
“Being labelled world champion has an authority to it,” she says. “But it’s weird because I feel like the same person, with the same emotions, doubts and fears. Now I look at other [previous world champions] and think they must have been scared at certain points too. Everyone is human, everyone has fears and anxieties and makes mistakes. I was just lucky in that competition I had learnt to use them in certain ways and block them out in certain ways. I am able to control them now, but I do have the same fears. Nothing has changed, except that I have a different title.”
It is such brutal honesty that makes Johnson-thompson so endearing. The morning after winning gold in Doha, she reduced herself to tears recalling how she thought about quitting the sport following her failure to win a medal at the Rio 2016 Olympics.
In the wake of that disappointment she made the bold decision to leave behind everything she knew in Liverpool – her childhood coach, family and dogs – and relocate to Montpellier in France. Without Olympic heptathlon champion Denise Lewis, it would probably never have happened.
“I got stuck in a rut where
I didn’t know where to go,” says
Johnson-thompson. “I was in a bad place. Denise went to France with me and went to Holland with me where I got help from [former British Athletics head coach] Charles van Commenee as well. They were a proper support team that helped me land on the decision to go to France.
“Denise came to visit and made sure I was asking the right questions because I was very vulnerable at that stage.”
So obvious was the anguish she seemed to carry on her shoulders in those early days in France that her new coach Bertrand Valcin nicknamed her “Droopy”. She laughs while revealing that nickname has been replaced by “Katastrophe” (said in a French accent), because of her accidentprone nature: “You wouldn’t think I was a professional athlete with co-ordination.”
Interestingly, she has not had any contact with Mike Holmes, her previous coach of almost a decade, since winning the world title. The last time they bumped into each other 18 months ago “everything was fine”, but she reveals they have not spoken since then. “He developed me as an athlete, I’ve got a lot to thank him for,” she says.
So too, fellow British athlete Andrew Pozzi, her boyfriend of almost two years. Mirroring his girlfriend’s relocation to France, Pozzi made a similar move a year later when he opted to base himself on the west coast of Italy following struggles with injury. Their dual sacrifice has meant a source of constant support from someone who understands exactly what the other is trying to achieve.
“He’s been through a lot as well and he’s been such a huge help for me,” says Johnson-thompson. “We can relate to each other.
“We hardly spend any time together throughout the season, but it’s just part of what we have to do to leave no stone unturned to achieve our dreams and goals.”
Of greater frustration is the fact Pozzi has managed to pick up both Italian and Spanish since leaving Britain, while Johnson-thompson’s grasp of French is rudimentary.
With the season belatedly over, the couple are currently enjoying some time together in Britain and will be at Ascot on Saturday, where Johnson-thompson is an ambassador for Qipco British Champions Day.
“It will be great fun, if I get my voice back,” she says. “It’s always great to go to such a good sporting event at the end of each season.”
Then, all too quickly it will be time to return to winter training at the start of November, although Johnson-thompson’s year could yet get that bit sweeter. Earlier this week she was named as one of 11 nominees in a Female World Athlete of the Year shortlist that surprisingly omitted world 200metres champion and triple world medallist Dina Asher-smith.
“It was a bit strange,” says Johnson-thompson of her British team-mate’s absence, before revealing she would likely vote for Germany’s Malaika Mihambo, who won the world long jump title with a massive leap of 7.30m and went unbeaten through the entire outdoor season.
When Johnson-thompson heads back to Montpellier, her gold medal will not be going with her. She describes the Olympic title as “my ultimate goal in life” and she is adamant the world champion label will have no impact on her quest to triumph in Tokyo next summer.
Thiam, she predicts, will return stronger after the unexpected defeat in Doha, meaning Johnsonthompson must “train harder and compete better”. Part of that is learning from the past, and she insists she never wants to “brush failures under the carpet” because the memory of them makes her stronger. They are a part of her and they are what propelled her to gold last month.
“I hope people won’t still refer back to me as that sort of athlete,” she says. The same woman she has ever been, with the same old doubts – but now a proven winner.
Katarina Johnson-thompson is an ambassador for Qipco British Champions Series at Ascot on Saturday. For tickets visit britishchampionsseries.com