His hair is shaved, his curls close to his skull, and when he takes off his cap, to the horror of the image-keepers of the brand that sponsors him — “our outfit “He demands that he always wear a cap,” they warn, “he makes sure he doesn’t mess his hair up.” Heavy gold chain around the neck. Gold bracelet on his wrist, diamonds in his ears and two gold-lined canines that when he laughs, and he laughs a lot, happy boy, they shine. Jordan Díaz (Havana, 23 years old, 1.92m, 73 kilos) is champion of Spain and one of the best triple jumpers in the world. His best mark, 17.87m, a Spanish record since the summer of 2022, is the 13th best in history. Since 2021 he has lived in Guadalajara, where Iván Pedroso trains him and he has been Spanish since February 2022, but, because the rules of World Athletics (international athletics federation) say so, he will only be able to compete with the Spanish team from June 28 Next, and as a Spaniard, no one doubts it, he will be one of the great favorites in the triple jump at the Paris Olympic Games.
Ask. When he jumped 17.87m, there was no one who did not predict that he would quickly jump 18m, the mark of super-excellence in his specialty, which only seven athletes have jumped in history. Is there an obsession 18 meters in his head?
Answer. Noooo, noooo. I would like to do it? Yes. It is a secondary goal that I would like to do, but I don’t want to get obsessed either. I want to jump 18 where it should be, in the Olympic Games. If it comes out there, it would be spectacular.
Q. That calm sounds like the teaching of Iván Pedroso…
R. No!, on the contrary. He tells me that I have to do it before the Games and I am telling him, no, it has to be done at the moment. Well, we have that uncertainty there.
Q. Have you seen yourself, or thought about what he was like two years ago, a newcomer, a kid walking to the court carefree, whistling and wearing a Barça shirt, and what he is now?
R. Let’s see, I’m still the same person, the same boy I was at the beginning, I just have a little more experience now, and my mentality has changed a lot, but yes, I’m still the same person and it’s good that I maintain myself.
Q. Yes, yes, but Red Bull, Omega… few athletes in Spain, I think none, have that level of sponsorship…
R. And I am very happy with all the sponsorships. My manager has done spectacularly. They are a plus for the preparation of any competition, for the mental level. They also give me peace of mind that I am in a good position.
Q. But also being one of the few, the only one in Spain, doesn’t it make you feel special?
R. No, no, I just can’t feel more special than anyone else. I’m pretty happy with how life is going for me at the moment. And I’m not going to feel better than anyone else for having a few more sponsorships. The truth is, I am very, very happy.
Q. Athletically, have you gotten where you wanted to? In the last 19 months she has only jumped in four competitions, all indoors. I don’t know if that bothers you or worries you…
R. I wish it had had more continuity, yes. But like all athletes they have that concern, that you are fine, but you have that maybe and if you get injured, what could it be? You always go with that uncertainty and more so in an event like the triple which is very damaging. Last year was very difficult on a mental level, but I have stayed strong. And I was able to cope pretty well.
Q. With your coach, Iván Pedroso, what have you worked on the most?
R. Technique and speed. The speed has improved a lot for me. I look like a sprinter… I don’t know exactly what speed I enter the table at, I think that in Nerja, two years ago, when I broke the record, they measured me at 10.40 meters per second. Or was it 10.50?
Q. But that’s almost 38 kilometers per hour… That’s a lot.
R. Yes, yes, pretty fast. Iván has greatly improved that and my ability to maintain speed in the third. The faster you go, the more difficult it is to have the mental strength to take off with that speed you are going. There are people who can’t do it. They jerk or brake because they think the blow is going to be very strong… and no, no, you have to try to combine speed with the jump.
Q. For the 18 meters to come out, what has to happen?
R. By simply improving the last jump, the third, which is what we are working on now, you can get a cool jump.
Q. But when it comes out, is it all automatic? Don’t lose speed in the second, don’t bounce too much…
R. Sure, but I already have that figured out. I got it.
Q. You were almost born with it, right?
R. Literal.
Q. Doesn’t being Spanish and at the same time not being selectable make you feel like a weirdo?
R. No, I am excited, and even more so knowing that my debut in the Spanish team will be in the Olympic Games. I am very happy with all the support they have given me, they have given me a lot. And the tranquility that they have transmitted to me.
Q. And perhaps not being selectable has been good for him to continue growing without pressure…
R. Clear. I am a young athlete and I know that I am going to improve a lot, and I know that I am going to have competitions with the Spanish team starting with the Olympic Games. If I’m physically well, of course. But I’m going to have plenty of eggs, of course, so I don’t want to go crazy either.
Q. How important would it be to be an Olympic champion?
R. It would change my life completely.
Q. And do you want it to change your life?
R. Man, who doesn’t? Hehehehe. Yes… I’m fine the way I am, but I always want more. This would prove to me that the sacrifice I made by staying here was not in vain. It would be like banging your fist on the table and saying, what I have done, I have done well. I was not wrong.
Q. Don’t you also seek that egomaniacal pleasure of someone who gets up in the morning, looks in the mirror and says, I’m the best, I’m the Olympic champion?
R. Nooooo… nooooo… that’s not my thing. Nothing, not at all. My life is not like that. I could possibly be a three-time Olympic champion and I’ll be the same fool as always. No. No. I wouldn’t change anything. Let’s see, yes, there will come a time when people make you believe it so much that, let’s see, it will be very complicated to manage, but I don’t think that will change. I don’t know, when the time comes we will talk, but I say no, I’m sure not.
Q. And wouldn’t not getting it depressed you?
R. On the one hand, yes. Everyone is preparing to compete in the Games and anything can happen. Would it depress me a little? Yes, but I know that I would have something in my chest and say, well now the competitions that I have left, that is, before the next Olympic Games, I have to grind. Although if I were an Olympic champion or medalist I would do the same, but it already feels like something in your chest. And there are athletes who are supertop and they don’t have Olympic medals. Olympic Games are something special.
Q. In the long final in Tokyo, the favorite, the Cuban Echevarría, was injured, and ended up crying on his knees in front of the board. Do you have nightmares that something like this could happen to you?
R. Phew. That would be a very hard moment. You know that you can respond or you can attack and take the gold medal, or at least try, but when you get injured you already know that you can’t even try, and that’s what kills you inside. This is what happened to me in the Diamond League, in the final in 2022. In the fourth jump I injured my quadriceps and I can’t finish and I was 10 centimeters away from winning. And you think, and maybe and if I tried and such, but it doesn’t give you room to try, because you’re injured, you literally can’t even walk. Like Haybert, the Jamaican who broke in the triple at the World Cup in Budapest while being the favorite. These are things that can happen. You can’t go around saying, I’m the favorite. What if you break yourself competing or if something happens to you and that day you didn’t wake up well or you woke up with the flu? What do I know, many things can happen. Echevarría did not compete again… It’s complicated, it’s complicated (the interview took place before his training partner Yulimar Rojas tore her Achilles tendon, a random event that gives even more weight to Jordan Díaz’s reasoning).
Q. She wears diamonds in her ears, gold chains, bracelets, piercings…Is any of that an amulet?
R. No, no… I’ve always been like that, a kid, a kid who has to go to the moooda. And also the gold caps on the teeth… It’s glitter. The shine cannot be lost.
Q. More gold than tattoos?
R. No, not a tattoo, I would never get one. Well, I say I would never get one, but what do I know, maybe I’ll go crazy at the Olympic Games and get my earrings tattooed when I come back, but not right away.
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