Blake draws inspiration from ‘Lazarus’
YOHAN BLAKE, the 2011 World 100 metres champion, is adamant that his best days are not long gone and there’s still gas left in the tank.
Speaking on his YouTube platform, ‘Yohan Blake TV’, he revealed that a change in the moniker ‘beast’ to ‘blessed’ was a wrong choice as he gave too much credence to the outside noise.
“I take on different personas on myself. I did a transition where I moved from the beast, which I shouldn’t have, and that messed with me a little because that was my image which was carrying me. Persons thought it was the mark of the beast and I listened to too many persons. I’m bringing it back and this is what will attack the Olympics,” he stated.
The now 34-year-old Blake still holds the second-fastest times over the 100 and 200m having clocked 9.69 and 19.26, respectively. This season Blake has featured in only two 100m races and has a season’s best time of 10.43 en route to finishing ninth at the Xiamen Diamond League in China along with a 10.52 clocking to finish eighth at the Miramir Invitational. Despite those sluggish times Blake believes he is in good stead to produce superb performances for the remainder of the season. He added that he had also drawn inspiration from the biblical story of Lazarus raising from the dead.
“This is the 2011, 2012 version that created problems for the world. I’ve changed a lot of things that I used to do to get back to where I’m at right now. Thank God, because training has been going amazing and everything is going according to plan and I’ve been thinking about calling myself Lazarus, the man that came back from the dead,” he explained.
Experienced sports psychologist Dr Jason Hamilton who was a member of the Jamaican delegation the 2020 Tokyo Olympics is also of the opinion that changing a person’s moniker can, i n fact, change their mindset which could affect performance.
“I was part of the medical team in Tokyo while Yohan was there. He’s a phenomenal warrior athlete for Jamaica and I can speak to the fact that when one changes their mindset it can affect their performances,” Dr Hamilton stated.
While he’ll first have to navigate his way through the senior trials Blake has his eyes set on clearing that hurdle and then spring something ‘magical’ later this year in France at the Olympic Games.
“I’m going to be in the mix and surprise a lot of persons including myself. I know what I can do and I’ve being working towards that and to be honest I just want to keep myself grounded and keep myself on the same path because I know it’s going to be magical,” he said.