Jaysuma Saidy Ndure on the eve of his 200m race in Oslo (© Hasse Sjögren)
Sitting at a press conference in the Oslo City Hall on the day before he was due to race Usain Bolt in the 200m at the ExxonMobil Bislett Games, the fifth stop in this year's Samsung Diamond League series, Norway’s naturalised sprinter Jaysuma Saidy Ndure was asked if, like Bolt, he saw himself as something of a showman.
His response was emphatic, although delivered with a grin. “No,” he said. “I’m not a showman. I’m a businessman. I stay calm.”
The business of becoming one of the world’s leading sprinters has been an uncertain and at times tortuous one for this 25-year-old who was born in Bakau, western Gambia, and raised by his mother before emigrating to join his father in Norway, where – after a lengthy and at times acrimonious process, he managed to gain clearance to compete for his adopted country rather than the country for whom he carried the flag in the opening ceremony of the 2004 Athens Games.
And however the business of running goes this year, 2011 will be remembered by him principally as the year in which he lost his mother.
“I was progressing really well this year, but then my mother died and I was really down, I couldn’t concentrate on running,” he said. “It has been a very hard time for me.”
This year has marked another step change in Ndure’s life as he has joined the training group run by former Olympic 400m runner John Smith in San Diego, California.
He has found the shift beneficial, and that has been reflected in the times he has already posted – a 6.69sec clocking over 60m in Tampere, and a 10.06 timing – just 0.06 off his personal best – in Walnut on 16 April.
“I moved to John’s group in March this year, and I was running straight away – much earlier in the year than I usually do,” he said.
His training partners include Tyrone Edgar, the British sprinter, and Leroy Dixon. “We have a big group, with athletes who do a range of events,” he said. “We’ve got some high hurdlers in there as well as five sprinters who have all done between 10.00sec and 10.08. We all help each other out.”
After getting back from Eugene – where he finished second to Walter Dix in the Samsung Diamond League 200m in 20.26 – Ndure has been training every day in readiness for what would only be his second 200m run in the Bislett Stadium. His first, in 2007, saw him finish third in 20.53. He is hopeful of surpassing that against the World record holder, albeit the rainy conditions promised could make life difficult for sprinters.
“I’m looking forward to racing against Usain Bolt,” he said. “The main aim this season is to stay fit, to get faster, and to look ahead to the World Championships.
After Oslo, Ndure will be turning his attention to the European Team Championships, where he plans to do the 100-200 double for Norway.
And there is plenty of racing planned beyond that, with future dates in his diary include the Samsung Diamond League meetings in Lausanne, Birmingham, Stockholm and London.
“I need a lot of competitions to get in shape for Daegu,” he said. “That is my main focus.”
As well as encouraging Ndure to run more often than he is used to, Smith also likes to make him run further.
“We do a lot of longer distance running,” Ndure said. “A lot of 400s, or 450 metres in practice. As a former 400 metres runner, John knows the distance really well.
That has really helped my speed endurance and made me very strong towards the end of my races.”
While the showman may hate the single lap event, this businessman embraces it.
“No, I don’t look at the event like Usain,” he said with a smile.
“I am definitely looking at the 400 metres as an event to take part in in the future.”
Before he does that, however, he wants to improve his national records at 100 and 200m and make a serious impact at the Worlds.
Mike Rowbottom for the IAAF
