While she was a kid, Jasmine Moore always loved jumping. She was hoping to one day be a cheerleader for her hometown team, the Dallas Cowboys.
Now?
The 23-year-old is the first U.S. woman to make the Olympic Games in both the triple jump and the long jump.
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Moore grew up in the Dallas-Forth Worth area and, as a kid, took up gymnastics and competitive cheerleading. She gave that up to pursue a life in track and field.
She first started with the triple jump and then took up long jumping because it was similar.
“For me, the goal was always ‘free college,’ getting a scholarship,” she said.
Georgia offered a scholarship, and she took it. Then, after two years, she transferred to Florida.
Moore parlayed that scholarship into becoming a seven-time NCAA champion.
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She went to the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games and finished 12th in the qualifying round of the triple jump.
This time around, Moore will be competing in the long jump too. While she is making history by being the first athlete to compete in the triple jump and long jump, she makes it seem like it’s no big deal.
Switching between events is not uncommon at the high school and college levels, but it’s not something that has been done before on the Olympic stage.
Moore didn’t even know she was making history. Her goal was to just to make both.
As for which event she prefers?
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“I feel like triple jump is my baby,” she said. “I feel like I have a lot of potential in that event. When it’s going well, I enjoy it a little more. But long jump is a lot of fun. You just get to fly in the air. You don’t have to worry about ‘this phase, that phase.’”
Moore, whose mom and dad were both track athletes in their college days, will have her entire family with her for support, but she will be doing some cheering of her own.
Her boyfriend, Joseph Fahnbulleh, whom she met at the Tokyo Games and has been with ever since, is competing for gold in the men’s 200 meters.
Fahnbulleh, a Minnesota native representing Liberia, attends Florida with Moore and is a three-time NCAA champion.
The long jump final is scheduled for Aug. 8, the same evening as the gold medal race for the men’s 200 meters, and Moore and Fahnbulleh hope they are both competing for the gold.
What has Moore learned throughout the process?
“Doing this has proved to myself, ‘Oh, I can do this, so I don’t have to choose,” she said. “That’s the most exciting part of it.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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