It’s late night in Tokyo. “Mondo” is sitting on a sofa in the part of a large office complex that during the Olympics is called Sweden Arena.
The gold medal around the neck looks new and heavy. The victory is just over two days old and it is starting to sink in that that medal is his.
It was not a new world record. Given the demand his status in athletics gives, he is after the gold instead an attempt at a highly unofficial Swedish record in the number of interviews after an Olympic medal.
In these games have athletics was very much about sensational results in new so-called super shoes.
“Mondo” won the gold in a shoe model he was used to.
– It was not the model that the sprinter runners have now. They’re too failing for me. It was too much. It felt strange in the jump, he says about the super shoes that the athletics world talks about.
– I liked to run in them but not to jump. I did not have time to get used to them so then it was best to use my regular shoes. I know I can jump high in them.
Will you use so-called super shoes in the future?
– I do not know. If I see that I can jump higher in them and others use such, then maybe. But I can jump quite high in the ones I have, says Armand Duplantis.
He has jumped 6.18. In the Olympic final, he tried at 6.19 and first thought he had succeeded.
“Mondo” does not know how high he can jump, but he knows what he wants to achieve.
– I want to jump 6.20 and higher. That sounds really cool. It would be a cool border to cross. 6.18 and 6.19 are of course cool too. But to be above 6.20… It sounds so much higher than Renaud’s and Bubkas, says “Mondo” about the legends’ personal record.
Renaud Lavillenie has jumped 6.16. Sergei Bubka 6.15.
Now a 21-year-old is sitting with an Olympic gold medal and talks about historically high altitudes, but the world record holder hardly gets dizzy from his own development.
Before the final, he told in an interview about how he lay on the couch at home in Louisiana and watched the Olympic finals in pole vault in 2012 and 2016 and thought that he himself would jump in an Olympic final.
Was it already in Tokyo you thought of?
– Yes, of course. I thought Tokyo was possible. It is important to see yourself doing things. If you do not believe that you can do something, it is difficult to achieve it.
– In 2012, I thought I would be able to participate in the Olympics 2016. It did not work, I was a little too young (he was 16 years old then). But when I saw the 2016 Olympics, I thought: That’s the last Olympics I want to miss.
– In my head I thought that in four years I have matured and then I will be better than those guys. And here I am now.
Before the final, I talked to your oldest brother Andreas. He said that what was special about you early on was that you always wanted to win in everything. Where did it come from?
– From them, from my brothers. They were tough opponents when I grew up in whatever we did. They never made it easy for me when we competed and that made me appreciate winning, says “Mondo” about the older brothers Andreas and Antoine.
This is the last night in the Olympic city. He goes home with a gold and many memories. Not least from meetings with other stars in the Olympic village.
– I have seen Yao Ming a couple of times, says “Mondo”.
The meetings with the basketball profile that after many years in the NBA now governs the Chinese Basketball Association made an impression.
– He was about a meter taller than my dad (Greg). He’s the greatest person I’ve ever seen in my life. Superior.
This interview is done mostly in English but otherwise “Mondo’s” Swedish has developed a lot in the last six months.
In the mixed zone for gold, I heard you use the word “right”. There is no corresponding word in English, is there?
– No, there is no direct term. You can use different sentences to describe something as appropriate.
It feels like the word just right will never fit on “Mondo”.
– No, I’m not trying, he says with a laugh.
Read more:
Armand Duplantis hovers on clouds: “I can breathe now”
Duplantis after the gold medal: “More of a relief”
Mother Helena: “Armand thinks he is in the 2036 Olympics”
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