Jeremy Campbell looks composed as yet another discus is milliseconds from leaving his hand.
THE WORD ‘disability’ doesn’t really exist to Jeremy Campbell. Having had his leg amputated at the age one he has never considered himself less able than others and has never put less than 100 per cent into any challenge he takes on. Through his brute strength and sheer determination Jeremy has become the man to beat in the sport of discus and continues to set his sporting ambitions higher and higher.
Jeremy epitomises the kind of athlete Limitless Pursuits is all about and we were thrilled when he agreed to talk to us about his career on the athletics field. Read on to find out about his Paralympic and Olympic aims for 2020 and be prepared to be inspired by this truly compelling individual.
Find out more about Jeremy, follow his blog or hire him as a speaker by visiting www.jeremycampbellusa.com.
Who introduced you to the Paralympics and what had been some of your sporting achievements before that?
I was introduced to the Paralympics through my prosthetist Chad Simpson in 2003. There was a local competition (Endeavor Games in Edmond, Oklahoma) about four hours away from where I grew up that he told me about. I had no clue what to expect but ended up doing well.
Opportunities to take part in some national Paralympic team training camps arose, and that’s how it all began! Before that, I was clueless about the Paralympic movement, and was just playing sports through school. I was a two-year starter in basketball, football, and track and field.
Was a Gold on the most famous of world stages always your ambition and if so at what stage was it you knew one day you’d make it a reality?
Winning a Paralympic medal was at the top of my list. I remember when I first started training for my first games, I just wanted to be the best in the world at what I did. My international debut instilled a lot of hope in me. It was the 2006 World
Championships in Assen, Netherlands. I finished third in the Pentathlon.
With minimum specific training at the time, I knew with a couple years of hard training, and good coaching, I’d be going for the Gold in Beijing.
Jeremy holds numerous world records and continues to win gold medals for Team USA.
Three Golds in the Paralympics and a shattering of a long-held world record at your first attempt are quite some feats. Tell us what it meant when you reached the upper house of Paralympians and a little about your experience of the Games as a whole?
Up to this point, to have won three Paralympic Gold medals along with thre World Championships, and to hold multiple world records, is more than I could have ever imagined. It’s hard to believe that I have been to three already. Each one I get to I learn a little bit more about how to hopefully approach the next one.
The stage is unlike anything else. I was extremely nervous and a bit intimidated at my first one in Beijing. My nerves carried me through that one. Surrounded by so many talented athletes can be a bit unnerving. Each time I return, I am a
little bit more comfortable, and can enjoy it for all that it is.
When I started out, I was trying to make a name for myself in the sport, and before I knew it, I was standing in the middle of the podium on the largest stage in my sport.
Out of some of the other records you’ve broken and awards you’ve received which have meant the most to you?
I think my favorite record is my discus record. I became the first Paralympic athlete to throw over 60 meters, and currently the only amputee to do so. Discus is the only thing I compete in now. It is definitely my favorite.
My favorite award is probably when I won the ESPY Award for “Best Male Athlete with a Disability” To be at the ESPYS with some of the world’s greatest athletes is a career highlight, and it was just fun to be involved in the whole thing.
Tell us about your work as a speaker and what a crowd could expect from the message you’d try to instill on them?
I love speaking. I gravitate towards speaking about how to overcome obstacles. I like to think that I was born into physical adversity, and have become well acquainted with certain components that help make us successful regardless of our circumstances. I believe, most of our obstacles stem from a wrong perception, rather than wrong circumstances. If we can change out mentality, we can change our reality.
How hard you are currently training, do you have any events lined up for the near future and what other exciting projects do you have in the pipeline?
I am currently training very hard! I am in the back end of my 2018 season. I have two more competitions on the horizon. One in Phoenix and a Grand Prix meet in Berlin, Germany, while ultimately preparing for World Championships next year in Peru as well as the 2020 Paralympics in Tokyo. I recently just broke the discus world record with a throw or 65.47, and plan on going a lot further soon. My ultimate goal is to be at the Olympic Trials in 2020 with the best able bodied athletes in the nation.
Jeremy Campbell has lots more he wants to achieve in the months and years ahead.
