British long jump prodigy Olasan on fast track to Sevens stardom
GIANT Jermaine Olasan has always stood out. Growing up, he made a name for himself as one of Britain’s rising stars and, aged 20, was the No.1 junior British long jumper, competing all over the world and training alongside Olympic champion Greg Rutherford.
Now, 25, and with a 100 metre time of 10.6 seconds, the 6ft 7in Olasan has turned his attention to rugby after a series of injuries at key times left him frustrated and disillusioned with athletics.
A fifth place finish at the 2015 British trials proved to be a turning point.
“Long jump can be a lonely sport,” said Olasan, in action at the UK Championships, below.
“I kept getting niggles just before key competitions. I was seeing amazing results in training but injuries stopped me reaching my ambitions.”
Reluctant to give up on sport entirely but in need of a new direction, Olasan accepted the offer of his speed coach Jonas Dodoo who encouraged him to give rugby a try.
After joining Richmond last September, Olasan has spent the past year getting up to speed with a sport he gave up years ago.
“I’d played rugby at my secondary school, Emmanuel, as well as for London Irish up until I was 16 but I gave it up to focus on long jump so starting again was a bit of a shock.” Playing on the wing, Olasan spent the first few months getting to grips with the skills of the sport as well as its physicality. “My jumping weight was about 85kg which is very light for someone of my height so I needed to put on weight to compete at Richmond. I’m now up to 98kg and am actually faster than I was.” After a season of playing for Richmond, Olasan turned his attention to Sevens, where speed is everything. He joined Seventy7s this summer, a team made up of school friends, who went onto win the national final at Allianz Park in July. Scoring in every match, he was named Player of the Tournament by England Sevens players Ruaridh McConnochie and Cameron Cowell. “The space in Sevens was perfect for me,” says Olasan. “I haven’t played against someone quicker than me yet and I got better as the summer went on. It was a massive learning curve. “I want to play at the highest level that I can. I’m going to work as hard as possible at Richmond to continue improving and the dream is to represent England at an international level.”