Tajay Gayle

{{Infobox sportsperson

| name = Tajay Gayle

| image = Gayle 8m69.jpg

| caption = Gayle in 2019

| birth_date = {{Birth date and age|1996|8|2|df=y}}

| birth_place = Kingston, Jamaica

| height = 1.85 m{{cite web |url=https://olympics.com/en/paris-2024/athlete/tajay-gayle_1566472 |title=GAYLE Tajay |work=Paris 2024 Olympics |access-date=3 August 2024}}

| country = Jamaica

| sport = Track and field

| event = Long jump

| club =

| pb = Long jump: 8.69 m
100 metres: 10.13 s

| medaltemplates =

{{Medal|Country|{{JAM}}}}

| updated = 21 August 2022

}}

Tajay Gayle (born 2 August 1996) is a Jamaican long jumper and the 2019 World Champion.

Biography

Gayle was born in Kingston, Jamaica. He is a graduate of Papine High School in Kingston and he is a member of the MVP track club. He is coached by Stephen Francis,{{cite web |title=Coach Francis surprised by Gayle's long jump national record |url=http://rjrnewsonline.com/sports/coach-francis-surprised-by-gayles-long-jump-national-record |website=RJR News |accessdate=30 September 2019}} who is the former coach of Olympic and World Champion Elaine Thompson-Herah. On September 28, 2019, Gayle became the first Jamaican man to win a World Championship gold in the long jump.{{cite web |title=Ten things to know about Tajay Gayle |url=http://www.loopjamaica.com/content/ten-things-know-about-tajay-gayle |website=Loop Jamaica |publisher=Loop sports |accessdate=30 September 2019}}

Career

He became an 8-meter jumper in 2017, improving from {{T&Fcalc|7.54}} the year before. Gayle finished fourth at the 2018 Commonwealth Games, and took the silver medal at the 2018 NACAC Championships, where he improved his personal best to {{T&Fcalc|8.24}}.{{World Athletics}}

His current personal best is {{T&Fcalc|8.69}}, achieved on September 28, 2019, in Doha, where he became World Champion. He claimed the gold in an upset of the heavily favored Cuban long jumper Juan Miguel Echevarría. He also beat the 2016 Olympic champion Jeff Henderson and the 2017 World Champion Luvo Manyonga. His {{T&Fcalc|8.69}} jump put him at number 10 in the IAAF all-time list.{{Cite web |url=https://www.iaaf.org/news/report/men-long-jump-iaaf-world-athletics-championsh |title=Report: men's long jump - IAAF World Athletics Championships Doha 2019 |website=IAAF.org |language=en |access-date=2019-09-29}}

At the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, he got an injury at his first jump at the qualifying round. He managed to do a {{T&Fcalc|8.14}} jump at his third attempt, then did {{T&Fcalc|7.69}} at the final round to rank 11th.