Interview with USA's Top High Jumper Jesse Williams

1. what is your age, height, and hometown?

Age 12-27-1983 25
Height 1.85 6-0.5
Hometown Raleigh, NC

3. Who are your favorite High jumpers and why?

Nicola and Gulio Ciotti (Italian) They are hilarious and always fun to jump with!

4. What do you do before a high jump session/meet to get ready? (listen to music, stretch, etc..)

Listen to music and get a good sweat going.

6. When was the first time you realized you could jump high?

I could always jump high ever since I remember.

7. What made you want to get better at jumping?

I am competitive in everything i do and I always try and be the best.

8. What are some of your favorite high jump accomplishments?

Winning the Olympic trials 2008 and winning 4 NCAA HJ titles for USC.

9. Who are the top five High Jumpers right now?

The best high jumpers in the world are in my opinion...
Yaroslav Rybokov, Andrey Silnov, Ivan Ukhov, Andra Manson and of course myself!

11. What is the next big HJ meet you will be competing in?

I compete in the World Athletics Final on Sept. 12th

13. How did you get your hops?

Naturally have them for the most part and hard training.

14. what are some tips you could give to people trying to improve their jumping ability?

Get strong and run fast!

15. Where did you get your style of jumping from?

Naturally have my own style.

16. Where is your favorite place to HJ?

Baska Bystrica, Slovakia (High Jump Europa) an indoor high jump only meeting. Videos are on youtube.

17. What are your plans for the future?

I will for sure training till the 2012 Olympics where I will try to win a gold medal in London.

18. Do you ever play basketball and dunk? (if so, do you have any footage(dunking or getting your head over the rim??? that would be awesome to see!!!)

I do play basketball but not too much because its easy to roll an ankle! I have no videos of me dunking but thats a good idea I should.

19. Have you ever measured your running vertical or do you have a rough estimate of what it is?

I do not know my running vertical. This is something I should do as well.