GAINESVILLE, Fla. — The Olympics are about great competitors and great stories.
Former Gators horizontal jumper is both. David grew up in Guadeloupe, a group of French islands in the Caribbean. She is competing for France in the Tokyo Summer Games later this month.
When David was 15, Gators assistant coach Nic Petersen spotted her at the CARIFTA Games in Bermuda and wanted to know more about her.
"She was jumping so far and she was so raw,'' Petersen said at the conclusion of David's collegiate career two years ago. "I had to have her."
A few years later, David arrived at UF and endured the struggles that often come with moving to a different country. She stayed on course and by the time she was done, David was the most accomplished women's horizontal jumper (long jump and triple jump) in school history.
David became the first UF woman to win the NCAA outdoor long-jump national title and claimed multiple national and Southeastern Conference titles in her decorated career.
Her shining moment came in her final event when she won the long jump and finished runner-up in the triple jump at the 2019 NCAA Outdoor Championships, setting her up for a run at the Tokyo Games.
"I knew that my future depended on this day,'' Kansas State's Shardia Lawrence, who edged David in the triple jump that day, told reporters afterward.
That future is here for David, too, as she prepares for her first Olympic Games.
AT A GLANCE
SPORT: Track & Field
EVENT: Women's long jump and triple jump
HOW SHE QUALIFIED: David earned a spot in the long jump last month at the French Athletics Championships and posted an Olympic qualifying distance in the triple jump in 2019.
TOKYO SCHEDULE: The first round of the women's triple jump starts July 30 and the final is Aug. 1. The long jump qualifying round starts Aug. 1 and the final is Aug. 3.
UF CAREER: David rewrote the Gators record books in the women's horizontal jumps. She won a pair of NCAA championships as a senior (2019 indoor triple jump, 2019 outdoor long jump) and became only the second woman to sweep the SEC long jump and triple jump titles at both the indoor and outdoor meets, joining Shara Proctor (2010).
NEED TO KNOW: In her final season with the Gators in 2019, David was part of an All-SEC trio of finalists for The Bowerman, the top individual award in college track and field. The others: Janeek Brown of Arkansas and LSU sprinter Sha'Carri Richardson, who has been in the headlines of late for not being part of the U.S. Olympic Team due to a failed drug test. David scored 18 of UF's 32 points at the 2019 NCAA Outdoor Championships, second to Richardson's 20.
QUOTE OF NOTE: "I told myself that I was going to have fun. I had a little trouble throughout the year, the last months of preparation were a little complicated." -- David after her long jump at the French Athletics Championships last month in Angers, France.
Previously: "Gators In Olympic Games" 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
July 3: Will Claye
July 4: Mark Kolozsvary
July 5: Marife Torres
July 6: Aubree Munro
July 7: Leanne Wong
July 8: Hakim Sani Brown
July 9: Deanne Rose
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July 10, 2021 at 08:04PM
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