Spider-Man Ready to Clear New Heights

By Scott Bush

At the 2015 USATF Indoor Track and Field Championships, Jeremy Taiwo ran away from the competition, winning his first national title. After struggling with injury at the 2013 IAAF World Outdoor Track and Field Championships, Taiwo moved to southern California, got healthy and spent much of the 2014 season getting into competition shape. 

With a national title under his belt and now ranked U.S. top-five all-time in the indoor heptathlon (ranking only behind four World and Olympic gold medalists), Taiwo is ready for a big outdoor season and to prove once again that he's a star on the rise. 

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Scott Bush (SB): Congratulations on a terrific performance in Boston. Heading into the weekend, were your workouts showing you could score over 6200 points? Did the competition unfold as you hoped?

Jeremy Taiwo (JT): Thank you very much! My workouts leading up to this competition have been consistent with the high volume and long workload that we started with for fall base training. The weight room got lighter and quicker but my coach was viewing the indoor heptathlon as markers for how I was responding to practice. That being known, I felt that over 6200 was again definitely within reach of my abilities. I'm glad I was relatively consistent throughout the hep, so it was pretty much how I hoped to be competing this early in the year.

SB: I know we briefly discussed it in Boston after your win, but you now rank US#5 all-time in the indoor heptathlon and the four guys ahead of you all won Olympic and World Championship gold. You have to be feeling pretty darn good about your fitness heading into outdoors, right?

JT: Yes I feel quite good. I honestly feel very thankful to be healthy and strong right now. We now know the direction of our training going into outdoors, but my coach has set us up with a great base for outdoors. I'm very excited.

SB: We all saw it, you wore a Spider-Man jersey on Saturday and a similar one during Friday's competition. What's the story there?

JT: Well in high school track when I was a freshman and on the 4x1 briefly, my friend Travis Yerian (a senior on the relay) nicknamed me Spider-Man because of how I looked with my long limbs getting into the blocks. It kinda stuck with me and my mom decided to send me a jersey to compete in. The Friday jersey was actually a Venom jersey. That was one of my favorite anti-Heroes growing up. I had a few comic books of him. (I think my mom still thought it was Spider-Man).

SB: Now that the indoor season is over, how does your training shift to handle all ten events outdoors?

JT: The training outdoors will focus on endurance and skill work. The times where we do speed endurance will shift to longer distances, and we will do more skill work in the javelin and discus. We also will also start doing speed work, along with more explosive drills.

SB: You had a very quiet 2014 season. Why the lack of competition?

JT: At the World Championships I was injured at the meet warming up for the high jump. I had to return to Washington to get meniscus surgery. I was invited to train at the Olympic training center and my coach at the time really wanted to make sure that I took the time to heal and recover from the long collegiate and world championship season. 2014 was a down year so it was a good time to get healthy, train and I started a part time job as well.

SB: Your dad was a two-time Olympian for Nigeria in the triple jump. As you got into track and field, how much of an influence was your dad and what's it been like being able to lean on his past successes to help you grow as an athlete?

JT: Because of what he had done and who he is, the longest goal I've ever had was to go win the Olympics. I always want to compete and be the best. I've always been a perfectionist. Knowing that he was a great competitor makes me want to reinforce the bloodline by accomplishing the same feats.

SB: The Olympic Training Center in Chula Vista is your current training base. Who are you training with there (coaches and athletes) and what type of resources does the center provide you?

JT: At the OTC (Olympic Training Center) I'm training with Coach Kris Mack, my heptathlete teammates Kiani Profit, Shana Woods, Jessica Flax and pole vaulter Angela Rummans. Gunnar Nixon trained with us in the fall last year.

The center provides housing, food, equipment, and chiro/massage/athletic trainers. The staff that works there is fantastic and I am so thankful to have them as friends and for their support. Everyone who works and trains there is so talented.

SB: Okay, enough with the training and competition questions...away from track and field, what are your biggest interests and hobbies?

JT: I really like film. You'll see that I get to the $5 movie theatre pretty regularly in Chula Vista. I also have worked part time at the Apple Store down town. That is fun because I get to keep up with my Spanish and Portuguese with the customers that go there. I'm a huge foodie, but I have to be careful of what I eat because I'm allergic to wheat, corn and soy, so finding good restaurants that have some of those preferences is awesome.

I also am a huge nerd so I read fantasy, keep on top of my Harry Potter world, and I also practice French on Rosetta Stone through the USATF partnership. Thank you Rosetta Stone and USATF!

I like taking photos whenever I'm sitting down to eat a great meal or when I'm at picturesque settings, so I'm pretty active on Instagram (@jeremytaiwo).

SB: Quick...what is your biggest goal for the 2015 outdoor season? 

JT: Biggest goal for this 2015 season is to stay healthy for it and to win a gold medal at worlds.