GAINESVILLE, Fla. — During the Thanksgiving holiday of 2019, Will Claye was with some family and friends at his home and San Diego when he decided to play some pickup basketball. Claye was mere months removed from finishing second in the triple jump at the World Championships. This was wind-down time as he looked to the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo.
Claye walked off the basketball court that day with a ruptured Achilles tendon, one of the worst possible injuries a jumper can sustain.
The recovery road was a long one, with — ironically — the biggest break coming via COVID-19 postponing the Games for a year. The turn of events made Claye's dream of finally staring down his former Florida teammate, close friend and, face it, rival, Christian Taylor, and winning that elusive gold medal.
Taylor and Claye were jumping partners for the Gators. Both won individual NCAA titles and led Florida to the 2011 NCAA Indoors crown. But in their post-UF careers, it has been Taylor who standing atop the podium. Always. Taylor won gold medal at the 2012 Summer Games in London and again at the 2016 Games in Rio de Janeiro, as well as titles at the '15 and '19 World Championships.
Claye, each time, settled for the silver.
Armed with a resume that boasts the second- and third-longest triple jumps in history, and after winning the triple jump at the Olympic Trials last month, Claye knows the competition at Tokyo will be different. He knows, for certain, he won't finish second to Taylor. Not this time. Why is he so sure?
Taylor, in a cruel twist of irony, tore his Achilles tendon on May 20, leaving Claye as the one to beat in Japan.
AT A GLANCE
SPORT: Men's triple jump
HOW HE QUALIFIED: Finished first at the Trials on June 21 with a mark of 56 feet, 5 3/4 inches, which was four inches better than the runner-up. The US team takes the top three finishers in each event.
TOKYO SCHEDULE: Aug. 2 — Qualifying. Aug. 4 — Final.
UF CAREER: Claye transferred to UF from Oklahoma after his 2010 sophomore season and alongside Gators teammate, close friend and reigning NCAA outdoor triple jump Christian Taylor the duo helped lay the base for a remarkable run of championships under Coach Mike "Mouse" Holloway. Claye won the NCAA indoor crown in the triple and finished second in the long jump. Two months later, at the outdoor meet, Taylor and Claye finished 1-2 in the triple, then repeated the order at the USA Championships that summer. Claye turned pro after that season, exiting UF with eight All America honors, two national titles in the triple (2009 at OU, 2011 at UF), as well as triple and long jump SEC titles in 2011.
NEED TO KNOW: Claye was inducted into Tucson Mountain Pointe High's Hall of Fame in 2016 in a class that included mixed martial arts fighter Clifford Starks and comedian T.J. Chambers.
QUOTE OF NOTE: "This is an injury they say is really the end of people's careers. So I'm just grateful to be able to get back out there and compete, get a win and really just show myself that I still got it." — Claye before the US Trials.
Previously: "Gators in the Olympics" Series
June 26: Cory McGee
June 27: Michelle Moultrie
June 28: Natalie Hinds
June 29: Adriana Leon
June 30: Enzo Martinez-Scarpe
July 1: Kieran Smith
July 2: Genevieve LaCaze Gregson
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