Jacobs' mental coach tells how he made peace with troubled childhood to strike Olympic gold

Record ID: 1630234

  • Title: Jacobs' mental coach tells how he made peace with troubled childhood to strike Olympic gold
  • Date: 2nd August 2021
  • Summary: PHOTO OF JACOBS AS A CHILD IN FRAME
  • Embargoed: 16th August 2021 16:08
  • Keywords: Lamont Marcell Jacobs Nicoletta Romanazzi Usain Bolt athletics mental coach mental health mind
  • Location: TOKYO, JAPAN / CAPALBIO AND MANERBA DEL GARDA, ITALY
  • City: TOKYO, JAPAN / CAPALBIO AND MANERBA DEL GARDA, ITALY
  • Country: Italy
  • Topics: Athletics,Europe,Sport,Editors' Choice
  • Reuters ID: LVA003EOL5HDZ
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: Interviewed after his shock Olympic sprint triumph, Italy's Lamont Marcell Jacobs thanked his mental coach Nicoletta Romanazzi, and it was not the first time he had indicated that overcoming mind blocks was crucial in his path towards victory.
    Romanazzi was proudly listening on the other side of the world in central Italy after watching him conquer all his self doubt and cross the finish line a winner.
    For the past year, she had helped him work through his inner turmoil that had been holding him back, connected with growing up without a father as a mixed-race boy in Italy.
    "He would get there (to the race) and his legs would become stiff, he became tense, he suffered external pressure a lot, etc," Romanazzi told Reuters during a Zoom interview.
    "Working with him I realised that the first thing we had to get our hands on was his relationship with his dad, which didn't actually exist because I knew that to remove this block was very, very important," Romanazzi said.
    "I was not interested in whether he decided to contact or not contact his father, that was a choice I left completely up to him. My interest was in him making peace with that internally."
    Jacobs, 26, who won the men's 100 metres final in Tokyo on Sunday to become the first Italian to take the most coveted title in athletics, was almost unknown in Italy before his gold medal, having made dramatic but little-noticed progress over recent months.
    He was born in the United States to an Italian mother and a U.S. serviceman father and brought up by his mother in northern Italy after his parents separated when he was a baby.
    In his childhood, Jacobs built up the figure of his father to explain his absence to himself and others.
    This upbringing generated insecurities that made him seek excuses for his failings rather than throw himself fully into seeking success. He became known as "the one that something strange always happened to before the starting gun" - words he wrote in an online article opening up about his mental health after winning the European indoor 60 metres title in Poland in March.
    All this began to change around the time of the COVID-19 lockdown 18-months ago.
    The lockdown, and all the vulnerabilities it created everywhere, pushed him to make peace with his past - and that's when he met coach 'Nico' Romanazzi.
    And the most important way to help him to remove his 'block' was addressing his relationship with his dad.
    "This was what was important for me: finding the father figure once again, and understanding the importance of this to empower him to go out into the world and get results," Romanazzi said.
    Jacobs has since reconnected with his father - they haven't met in person but they write to eachother and speak. After winning the race in Toyko, he said it was the reconciliation with his estranged dad that helped push him to win.
    It was this change in mentality that helped Jacobs, who himself is father of three children, make his dreams come true.
    Jacobs knew when he lined up for the race at the indoor championships in Torun, Poland in March, he was a different person.
    Smashing the European 60 metres title brought on additional pressures to do well - but this time he knew how to manage the stress, thanks to tips from his mental coach.
    "From that moment on, people expected more from him at every race. He managed to grow race after race so we have worked a lot on remaining focussed and not letting yourself be dragged down by what is going on around you, by expectations of others, by external pressures, etc," she said.
    "We use a metaphor which is the metaphor of a rucksack. I always tell him when you're in the call room, leave that rucksack carrying all the expectations on the floor. This stuff belongs to them, you don't have to take it with you to the race."
    Romanazzi said she understood how "in the zone" Jacobs was in Sunday's final from they way he barely moved in response to a false start by Britain's Zharnel Hughes.
    "I said to him, the whole world must have thought 'Oh God, this guy wouldn't even have started!'. But actually you were the most in the zone of all of them. So you realised immediately it was a false start. And he told me, yes Nico (Nicoletta), when I saw the video, I noticed that I smiled a little bit, and I thought, but where are all these guys going!?"
    (Production: Antonio Denti, Emily Roe)
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
  • Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2021. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
  • Usage Terms/Restrictions: Footage contains photographs or artwork. User is responsible for obtaining additional clearances before publishing this clip.
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