A Decade in the Making

Published by SPIKES on October 19, 2015

A decade stands between Tianna Bartoletta's twin world long jump crowns. From teenage upstart to experienced pro, the American talks us through what has changed between then and now.

1. Happy traveller

The year was 2005. London was selected as host of the 2012 Olympics, the Harry Potter movie franchise was flying high with the Goblet of Fire, Benedict XVI (remember him?) replaced John Paul II as Pope and Tianna Bartoletta (née Madison) made her debut as a member of the US senior team at the Helsinki world champs.

The University of Tennessee athlete had landed the NCAA title and leapt 6.70m to finish second on countback at the US Championships behind Grace Upshaw to qualify for the world champs. Before that summer, Bartoletta had only travelled overseas once before for the Pan American Junior Championships in Bridgetown, Barbados. She had competed in her first ever European competition in Stockholm just two weeks out from Helsinki.