Graphic Links - Dalton Grant

Dalton Grant Q&A

Name- Dalton Grant

Date and place of birth- April 8th 1966, London

Star sign? Aries

What’s your sport? Athletics, high jump

Where’s the best country you’ve visited? That’s a tough one- I’ve been to so many it’d be hard to narrow it down to just one, but I did like Australia. And America was good as well, but so was Ethiopia. I don’t really know, actually!

What’s your favourite food? Rice and peas and jerk chicken!

And drink? Water

What football team do you support? I actually support two teams- Spurs and whoever’s playing Arsenal!!!!!

What’s in your pocket/purse right now? £3.56 in loose change, my mobile, a biro pen, a half eaten Snickers bar and a pack of cards!

If you had one super power, what would it be? I’d love to be able to fly. But I’d like to be invulnerable as well, so it would be one out of those two. Oh yeah- I’d like to have superhuman strength because that way I could be the first man to high jump 3 metres!

What’s your favourite TV programme? I don’t really have time for TV as I’m either training my group or training myself, but I do like The Shield. And 24 is fantastic as well. I used to be a big Star Trek fan too, but that was when I was younger.

Do you have any superstitions or rituals you perform? No, none.

What’s your best achievement? I’d have to say my children are

What was your biggest embarrassment? Going up to a girl on a packed underground train, giving her my number and falling down as I walked off. And she never rang me!!

What one item would you never leave home without? My wallet AND my phone! But if I had to choose, I suppose it would be my wallet because I can always buy a phone with my cards, but I can’t get a wallet with a phone! Wallet, definitely.

Do you prefer red or blue? Blue- it’s a tranquil colour

Can you speak any other languages? I can just about manage English!

Happiest athletics memories? I’ve got so many to choose from- going to my first Olympics in Seoul in 1988, getting my first international vest, some of the parties we had and winning my first major medal and my first national title. In fact, I’ve had a great time in athletics, which is why I want to give something back to the sport.

What did you not enjoy about athletics? Losing, and being injured an!

What would you like to be doing in 10 years? I’d like to have the Academy running properly for several years and it being a conveyor belt of athletic talent! And coaching coaches- that’s what I want to set up as well. Also, to be happy in my personal life is important too, I believe.

What was the last book you read/ are reading? Anthony Robbins

What advice would you give to any young, aspiring athletes who wants to make it? Get yourself down to the Dalton Grant Academy and get me and my team behind you!!

DALTON GRANT by Solomon Wariso

I’ve known Dalton for a quarter of a century now, since we were juniors together, and I’ve watched and admired him as one of the world’s greatest talents in the sport of athletics. If he were an actor, I can imagine him as something like Errol Flynn, a modern-day swashbuckler who would go in against overwhelming odds and still fancy his chances to come out on top.

Several times I’d be sitting in the stands of stadia around the world, having finished competing myself, and I’d watch with my hands over my eyes as Dalton would come into the High Jump competition when everyone else had been either eliminated or there were only two or three left in it. That’s how he’s always been, someone who lives life right at the edge of existence, and by mentoring a new generation of athletes from a variety of sports his single-mindedness and total focus will keep them all in good stead.

Part of the London 2012 team that brought the games to this country, Dalton is putting his vast experience into practice as he attempts to give something back to sport, not just the sport of athletics, but sport in total. He’s doing this by coaching the likes of Elizabeth Cann, Luke Thomas and Ben Challenger- some of the most exciting athletes in their sports- and he is now going that step further and is about to open an Academy in the East End of London with one of the top footballers in the country who is a regular England international who has recently won the Premiership twice in a row with his club. The two of them are set to revolutionise sports training in this country with their methods, and great things are expected from the forthcoming training complex.

‘I’m looking forward to the whole thing,’ he continues. ‘This has been an idea I’ve had for the past 7 or 8 years, and now it’s finally about to happen. Yes, there have been setbacks and letdowns along the way but that’s what life is, and it’s up to you how you deal with the pitfalls. ‘

Aside from his entrepreneurial side, Dalton is also attempting to qualify for his fourth Olympics. Having recently equalled the world vets record for the high jump, he feels he has a fighting chance of making the plane to Beijing later this year.

‘I feel good and I feel confident, so that’s always a lethal combination,’ he adds. ‘People can say I won’t make it, but that’s entirely up to them because you can’t control what people say about you at all- it’s a free country and that’s their opinion.’

Even though things are now moving along at a steady pace for him, his priority is to the people he is coaching and helping them to achieve their potential.

‘I train them hard because I want them to be winners. Sure, I can go easy on them but if they want to reach the top then this is what they need to go through. At the Academy I’ll be training kids from just about every sport out there- cricket, rugby, swimming, athletics, tennis- you name it, I’ll be coaching them with athletics as a foundation before handing them on to their relevant sports. The footballers will be trained in the football academy by the player who is going into partnership with me and I believe we have a winning combination.

Dalton returned last week from business in America with one of his business partners, and is eager to meet up with his squad to see where they are at in their training regimes. This includes Elizabeth, who he hasn’t seen for quite a while now.

‘I’m looking forward to catching up with her and seeing how things have been going with her, seeing how she’s doing and what she’s up to,’ he says of his star pupil. ‘It’s going to be a big year for her, in fact for all of us, and even though we speak regularly on the phone it’s good to meet up and have a face to face talk with her.’

Dalton Grant

Dalton Grant gets sole masters world record jump at 2.15m at Albertville (France)

On 5th February High Jump Challenge at Banska Bystrica, Slovakia, Dalton Grant equaled a world master’s indoor record with 2.10, and came extremely close on his third attempt at 2.15. The veteran jumper recently returned from a training sojourn in Ethiopia and is set to continue competing in following meets throughout the season.

On the 11th July he obtained sole possession of the world record at 2:15m in Albertville (France) - but having hurt his tendons he failed to make the UK team for Beijing.

Ajay Nehra comments, "It was a great achievement so soon after encouraging Dalton to come out of retirement. I'm certain Dalton will break and extend the master's indoor record as well as compete outdoors on the harder type of surface. This is a great inspiration to both current students within Dalton's Academy as well as newcomers willing to learn and partipate in athletics, in particular the High Jump."

Dalton Grant

Great Britain

DATE OF BIRTH
Friday, 8th April 1966

PLACE OF BIRTH
London

EVENT(S):
High Jump

OWN HEIGHT
187cm (6 ft 1½ inches)

CHAMPIONSHIP PERFORMANCES:
European: 1998 silver High Jump. Commonwealth: 1990 silver High Jump, 1998 Gold High Jump; 2008 joint World Record holder - 2.1m (veteran), July 2008 sole World Record holder - 2.15m (veteran)

CAREER HIGHLIGHTS: High Jump Commonwealth silver in 1990

Dalton Grant was an exciting figure at major championships during the late 1980's and 1990's, augmenting his considerable high jumping ability with high opening heights and audacious passing manoeuvres. During the early part of his career, Grant was a consistent finalist at major international championships, finishing 7th at the 1986 Commonwealth Games, and equal 7th at the 1988 Olympics.

In 1989, he finished second in the European Indoor Championships at the Hague in February, and then on March 4, he finished fourth at the World Indoor Championships in Budapest, with a new personal best, either indoors or out, of 2.35m. Later that year, on 28 August, in the Kodak Classic at Gateshead, Dalton improved his outdoor personal best to 2.34m (see photo above), equalling the Commonwealth record of Nick Saunders (Bermuda).

In a fascinating duel with Saunders at the following year's Commonwealth Games in Auckland on 1 February, Grant took the lead when he cleared 2.32m on his first attempt. Saunders passed after one unsuccessful attempt at 2.34m, at which height Grant consolidated his lead by clearing on his second attempt to equal their jointly held Commonwealth record. Saunders then broke the record when he cleared 2.36m to win the gold medal, leaving Dalton with the silver, although he also came close to clearing 2.36m, having already landed safely in the pit, before the bar was finally dislodged.

At that year's European Championships at Split, on 1 September, Grant had cleared 2.31 on his first attempt, but after one failure at 2.34m, he elected to take his remaining jumps at 2.36m, a height that he had never before cleared in competition. A clearance at his second attempt at 2.34m would have secured him a medal, but instead, after failing at 2.36m, he finished in equal fourth position. (Ron Casey)