Seventh Day: Long Jump Competition Part 2 - A Dad's Diary - August 28th, 2021

This blog post originated from Clayton’s Frech’s personal Facebook page. He is chronicling his journey as a dad with his son that is headed to Tokyo.

So the long jump competition day went by like a blur for me. I was up and moving fairly early and wanted to be at the village in case ezra needed me for anything. I got there late morning and Ezra was busy packing and getting ready. He came down around 2:30pm and we grabbed a quick bite to eat at the Casual Dining (Japanese food) cafeteria. On the way over there we got a message that we would leave at 4:30pm instead of 3:30pm. We were worried that 3:30pm gave us too much time in the sun and the heat. Apparently, there were some transportation issues the day prior. 4:30pm turned out to be perfect.

We met the coaches and a couple athletes at 4:30pm and walked over to the transportation area to grab the bus. The Olympic Stadium venue is not very far, maybe a 20 minute bus ride. Sam joined to get some training time in. It felt totally surreal to be in the bus heading the Paralympics…. We arrived near the warm-up track and could see the big stadium just a block away or so. LaTi hopped a cab from her hotel and met us there as well.

The US had a tent in a GREAT spot with some excellent shade. It was not too hot actually where we were in the shade. Ezra just relaxed. With this kind of heat, he doesn’t need as much of a warm-up. Eventually he put the blade on and warmed-up a little bit with LaTi. He said he wasn’t nervous at all, pretty much all day he was saying that. So amazing. I was nervous for him but tried not to reveal my nerves.

Coach Mack walked me around to show me where we would drop Ezra off at the Call Tent and where our seating section was. It reminded me of being in Rio so much. I only spent two nights at the Track venue in Rio, to watch Sam Grewe jump and win a silver medal, and to watch my dear friend Angela Madsen. I knew this was likely to be Angela’s last Paralympic Games (she passed away in the summer of 2020 rowing from LA to Hawaii solo unassisted).

Mack and I went back and got Ezra and we took him over to the Call Tent. I took some photos and video and then watched him walk off into the deep recesses of the Call Tent area set up for athletes. We didn’t see him for another 40-45 minutes until he came out to the track to warm-up.

We then walked over to the stadium and grabbed our seats literally right in front of the long jump pit. It was amazing. It’s such a beautiful stadium, I really wish we could have filled it with fans. There were a couple sections of VERY limited number of people – probably not fans but fellow athletes/coaches and maybe a few sponsors sprinkled in there.

The whole time, I really felt a sense of gratitude. For the moment, for the access, for the ability to be there and bear witness to his first Games, his first event… They all walked out and grabbed chairs in the staging area. They started to get some warm-up jumps and confirm their marks along the runway. And then they all walked back to get ready for the introductions. I have to say, watching Ezra walk out on that stage was powerful. Hearing the announcers mis-pronounce our name irked me a little bit. Often the swiss/german announcers know how to pronounce it, but this guy didn’t know how to pronounce our name. Oh well!

And then the competition started…. Ezra jumped well – his PR is just under 6m. In the meet you can see him building his distance. He jumped 5.63, then 5.78, foot faults and makes the finals. Basically, the top 8 guys move onto the finals. IN the finals he had a 5.85 and then he foot faulted the last two jumps. He looked great, looked fast, and definitely had a 6m plus jump in there… but for another day.

If you haven’t watched this event, I encourage you to find the replay. The top three guys jumped over 7m and Wagner was in the lead heading into the final jump. And then two guys jumped farther and dropped him down to 3rd. It was a riveting finale! Ezra got a front row seat to an epic showdown. He got to experience the Paralympics in a less stressful environment, where he was a low probability to medal. He got to get comfortable in the stadium.

And of course, if you read my prior blog post, you know how I feel about how he approached the evening, with joy, light, love, gratitude, and such a high-level of sportsmanship, it’s hard to describe. It can only be seen on TV I think. I was so proud of how much fun he had, and how much love he gave to his competitors. It was a highlight of my life for sure. A night I will never forget.

We know he can break 6m. He has done it in practice many times. But hasn’t done it in a meet. We actually know when he loads the blade right, he is probably able to jump 6.5m or even farther. But the blade thing is VERY tricky. The sport is not as much about athleticism – he’s SUPER athletic and probably one of the faster guys on the run-way. But it’s more about the technical aspect of loading the blade correctly. This is VERY hard. We are learning, but trust me, we will get there…

After the meet, we gathered our things and I waited for him outside of the stadium in the pitch black. He came out smiling… We enjoyed a light moment… and as we were walking out of the stadium I heard my name being called. Strange, I know very few people in Tokyo! It was our friend Risa – she bought Ezra a basketball because there is a running bet between Ezra and Coach Fischer about whether Ezra can make a particular shot… So I asked her to shop for me for a basketball! So nice! My few friends in Japan have been incredibly supportive, offering to help us shop or get whatever we need! Can't wait to come back and take them all out for a night of dinner and sake!

We packed our gear up, Ezra got a quick massage, and then we grabbed a taxi to the village. The bus stop looked way too crowded and we all wanted to get back.

We went straight to the dining hall for a late dinner. I could sense that he wasn’t pleased with his performance. He wanted to break 6m. He wanted to place higher. We talked for a long time, after everyone had left our table…. The various athletes he had just competed against kept walking by us. Sort of a strange thing how everyone is together!

Finally, well after midnight, we started walking towards the entrance. And then we saw our friend Heinrich, the grandfather and innovator behind what above knee sprinting and long-jumping is today. He’s a 3x Paralympian and a 9x medalist who competed in Athens, Beijing, and London. He loves Ezra and told him how proud he was of him. It was a great conversation and then Leon Schaefer, the silver medalist from the long jump, joined us. He was definitely bummed he didn’t get gold. Somehow, everyone left this super late night conversation for the better. And maybe most importantly, Ezra and Leon have continued to forge a relationship based on respect for each other and Paralympic sport. This will be a long term friendship I believe.

I walked Ezra to the US “block” and watched as he stepped into the elevator. Officially a Paralympian. A 16 year old Paralympian with the world at his finger tips. I am so proud of this child, so honored to be his father. As I walked in the dark to the taxi cab area (surprisingly far from the residences), I kept shaking my head… We did it. He did it. Amazing.

Clayton

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