Teddy Tamgho, retired for nearly four years, is putting on his toes and is aiming for the gold medal at the Paris Olympics. An announcement at the end of the afternoon on March 31, a few hours from April 1. A media specializing in athletics will even admit having set it up with the former champion, it’s a good old April Fool’s joke. Yes but… it’s not so sure. Tamgho would seriously consider his comeback. And the small world of French athletes agrees on one thing: he is crazy enough for that.
The last bib worn by Teddy Tamgho in official competition has already taken the dust. It was May 19, 2019, during the French championships in Angoulême. The 2013 triple jump world champion landed at 14.82 meters, a very sad mark for the then world record holder in the indoor triple jump (17.92m). Weakened by injuries and in particular a broken tibia in 2016, depriving him of the Rio Games, Tamgho formalized his retirement in August 2019 and became a full-time coach at just 29 years old.
At the head of “Team T”, he successfully coaches Rouguy Diallo (junior triple jump world champion in 2014), Cyrena Samba-Mayela on hurdles (indoor world champion 2022) and of course his successor as world record holder in the triple room, the Burkinabe Hughes Fabrice Zango. A successful conversion for Teddy Tamgho, who does not hide finally enjoying the life, the food, the drink, the freedom that he did not have during his years as a high-level athlete. Until March 31 and the announcement of his comeback on Instagram.
“He would have calmed the web” if it was an April Fool’s joke, according to Hughes Fabrice Zango
“I think it’s time, high time to put the spikes back on, […] to prepare Paris 2024. I understood that the legs were still ready, ready to jump far, ready to win THE medal”. No one is fooled, April 1 is coming. The media Stadio-Actu even assures that it’s an April Fool’s joke. But no denial, no confession will come from Teddy Tamgho.
His brightest athlete Hughes Fabrice Zango laughs: “I wouldn’t go too far to say it’s an April Fool’s joke because if it was, it would have calmed the web. I imagine it will confirm his real intentions to us in the coming days. As long as he has not denied it, we can think that he will try to come back”. Renaud Longuèvre, former coach of Ladji Doucouré and great connoisseur of tricolor athletics believes in it. “He’s someone crazy enough to throw himself into this! (laughter) When you have taken full advantage of your freedom after retirement, there can be weariness, a lack of sport. But after 30 years, you can lose a lot of speed. And how will his nervous system react after four years off? It might be complicated.”
At 33, Teddy Tamgho is still sharp
Renaud Longuevre is not worried about Tamgho’s past injuries: “The body always ends up healing, the shears and bones are not a problem”. But no top athlete has stopped for so long in recent history. Mélina Robert-Michon interrupted her career twice for several months for her pregnancies: “Each time, I had three or four months of total stoppage, and almost a year without intensive training”. The key, according to the Olympic discus vice-champion, is above all mental: “You have to agree to start again from below, accept your feelings and your current level. It’s hard at the start”.
Except that Teddy Tamgho has not completely eased off. His student, and therefore probably future opponent Zango, sees him every day in training: “When you’re a coach and young like Teddy, you don’t completely leave the track. He gives us demonstrations, he jumps, he runs and even he sprints against Cyrena. He has a good general physical condition. I believe he can come back and come back well”.
Is the gold medal at the Paris Olympics credible?
Teddy Tamgho is one of the legends of his sport. He weighs 18.04m outdoors, achieved during his world championship title in Moscow in 2013 and 17.92m indoors, a world record from 2011 to 2021. “Since 2010, there hasn’t really been a renewal in the world triple jump. Apart from the Portuguese Pedro Pichardo, no one exploded. The Americans Will Clay and Christian Taylor are still there, but it’s difficult for them, analyzes Renaud Longuèvre. There is no guy at 18m. Even Zango, indoors it’s strong but outdoors, it’s 17.50m”.
An absence of density at the very high level which could allow Tamgho to fit in. And even if a medal in Paris, moreover in gold, is highly improbable, seeing “TT” with the blue white red jersey at the Stade de France is less so.
Tamgho younger than the reigning French champion
This winter, it was the 35-year-old “veteran” Benjamin Compaoré who was still French champion with 16.95m. The minima for the Paris Olympics being 17.22m, Teddy Tamgho clearly has his card to play to qualify. The Burkinabe Zango is waiting for him with a firm footing: “If he ever decides to come back, I wish him the silver medal, because we already know that the gold belongs to me. He will still have a lot to do to to make a place on the podium but for the qualification, it is very possible”.
For the moment, the French Athletics Federation is not at all aware of a return of Teddy Tamgho, and first promises him intense fitness by October 2023. See him at world championships in Budapest this summer is therefore, a priori, totally excluded.
