Number 2: What do you think. seems like her arms are comming down on the final steps, allowing her shoulder to roll forward again before takeoff.
Her left leg isn’t delivering the power. There was a rumour that she had a slight ham strain a couple of weeks ago, just before Millrose. Seems likely.
This is exactly what is happening. Her arms drop in anticipation (premature) of the board. The arms have to keep cycling at optimal range-of-motion right up to the board (with a slight change during the penultimate step). Marion has had a bad habit of dropping the hands, and then (as you see from my 1999 Seville clip of her in this thread), she throws both hands forward at takeoff. This drops the hips at take-off and doesn’t allow her to achieve proper rotation in order to execute an optimal landing.
I suspect many of these arm problems in her LJ originate from her habits in basketball, where in a layup, the athlete’s arms would drop in order to handle the ball and bring it up for the execution of the layup. Also in a layup or dunk, the same arm as the driving leg comes up and forward (opposite to what happens in long jump). The only way to rid herself of this bad habit is through consistent drilling of proper mechanics in take-off drills and short-approach runs. Then, in competition, I would limit her to shorter approach runs for practice-sake. Rather than letting her do a full 18 stride approach, I would limit her to 12 strides. I’ve heard of her former coach slowing her approach to permit more control. This is preposterous. Give her less speed by shortening the approach - it won’t mess with her head like the former approach. As she perfects the skill, then speed up the approach (i.e. add more steps).
I’ve attached a link to one of Jackie Joyner’s good jumps from 1987 WC’s in Rome. If I remember correctly, she went about 7.40m or more. Look at her arm mechanics from approach run to take off. Also note her extension on landing.
She was jumping in 2000 also. It could be problematic if high impact work is re-introduced early, before the hips re-align and the ligaments tighten after childbirth, but I still suspect she’s had a hamstring strain of some sort. She’s sure getting out of there in that 2000 semi!
JJK’s long jump is a thing of beauty! Note how similar JJK’s arm carriage is to the style seen with Flo-Jo. Shows the technical work of Bobby Kersee.
on average, how long after birth does this take to happen?
great clips guys, i could look at Marion all day!
The main concern is the first 3 months, with reduced demand over the subsequent 3 months.
Thanks for the JJK attachment, that was exactly the jump i searched and watch in my archives right after Birmingham meet in order to compare with Jones’ new technique.
Number2, about reducing speed approach, she was able to run 6.90 or better at 60m in 1998-2000, now this winter she’s at 7.16. The slower is the approach, the easiest is to master take-off. Now she’s a 7.16 runner, i think her technique is better. The leg cycle right after take-off is similar to Ralph Botson, but too much exagerating. I really don’t know if that’s a good idea to have add this cycle. The pros is that gives rythm during the flight phase and force her to land later. The cons is that that’s an other technical point to master, while her simple extension she had in 98 worked fine, the emphasis should be made on the landing phase which is horrible, the incidence angle is close to 90° ! Look at JJK, that’s her 7.36m winning jump in 1987, her run-up speed (6m to 1m to the board) was measured at 9.82m/s, that’s about what Jones can do right now, and JJK was then probably able to run 7.16 for 60m too in 1987. They have more or less the same speed, same height, equivalent strength i presume, so they can be compared easely. In Birmingham, had Jones had the same landing as JJK, she could have jumped 7m. The problem is for me psychological, Jones is probably afraid to stay in the same position and touch the sand with such a small angle.
Our analysis of Marion’s take-off speed showed it to be the LOWEST of any jumper (low 8s in MPS!) Also, her landing problems were from a combination of a forward position of her shoulders while sprinting (a limiting factor for her top speed also!) and throwing BOTH arms forward at takeoff- a-la- basketball, forcing the legs down early. Number 2 can comment in much greater detail on this.
Pierrejean: Can you contact me at info@charliefrancis.com as soon as possible? I have someone who’d be interested in speaking with you.
PJ, I agree with your comments on the flight phase. Probably not a great idea to change from her original hang technique. JJK’s hitchkick is far superior and flows much better. I still believe the landing could be resolved through improvements at take-off, patience in the flight phase and improved posterior-chain flexibility (low back, hams, glutes).
With regard to run-up speed, I would agree if she WAS a 6.90 sprinter running 7.16 down the runway. But she is a 7.16 runner probably running slower than 7.16 now to gain more control (her speed reserve is much less these days). Looking at Marion’s velocity at the board, however, is the key - not her average or top speed on the runway. The results from the 1997 Athens WC showed that Marion was one of the faster athletes on the runway, but lost that advantage at the board. She slowed down to the speed of the other athletes at take-off (or below their speed) to prepare for takeoff (leading back to the arm mechanics Charlie alluded to). Adding that she had/has relatively poor mechanics in the flight phase and landing relative to the other jumpers, her results were always going to be surpassed by a better jumper (even though inferior sprinter) such as Fiona May and in her later years Dreschler (although a great sprinter in her earlier days).
Marion could very well win Athens in the LJ by posting a 7.00m jump with bad technique. I’m not sure what competition she will have by August. But Marion SHOULD be beating everyone with 7.50m jumps consistently.
I would say (and I know Number 2 agrees) 7.50 is an incredibly conservative estimate of what she could jump! Someone who runs 10.65- with more than a tenth worth of technical errors and can slam dunk a basketball - well…
As for the earlier comment about being able to watch Marion all day. I’ll second that!!!
Charlie, i have e-mailed you.
I agree that 7.50 is (was?) a conservative estimation.
For example, Heïke Drechsler in her 7.45 WR in Dresden’86, done with “only” a 9.92m/s speed from 6 to 1m from the board, had a (around) 10cm toe-to-board, and probably 10cm loss in her incorrect landing position. That was a 7.65 jump, and assuming that she did some run-ups over 10.20m/s, i let you imagine what Drechsler was able to jump.
Jones is faster and stronger than Drechsler, so…
Re-speed: She’s now a 7.16 at 60m, but her body and reflex remembers how it feels to run 6.85 and hit top speed at 10.87m/s like in 98-00 years. So, in my opinion, her speed reserve is even bigger when her run-up is so slow with her so small strides.