Just jump Jesse: High jumper gears up for Olympic trials

By Bill Swartz
97.3 KIRO FM Sports


Jesse Williams believes he was born to jump. Right now he's the best high jumper in the world and a threat to win the U.S. a gold medal from the 2012 Summer Olympics in London.

Williams, 27, was in Seattle to promote next summer's United States Olympic Track and Field Trials. The event will be held at the University of Oregon.

"As a kid in North Carolina, I always had a knack for jumping," Williams explained. "When I played soccer, on the corner kicks, I could just get up higher than everyone else. Everyone was saying, you should go out for high jump. I started doing it when I was 12, and just continued getting better and better."

Williams competed at the University of Southern California, and made it on the 2008 U.S. Olympic team. He failed to reach the finals in Beijing, but kept working hard in the weight room, and his mental focus, required to clear the bar.