12/08/2026
20 years ago I won my first major champs medal.
What most don’t know is what it took to get onto the runway.
The season started well. 17.26m, 2nd, Prefontaine. 17.42m, the W in Geneva. Top 5 in the world.
Then my performances nosedived.
16.50’s. Tired all the time. Legs burned & felt as heavy as lead. We couldn’t work out why.
3 years & numerous medical tests later, we finally understood that I had been experiencing burnout & chronic fatigue.
Going into the Euro Champs, Gothenburg, I had none of that explanation. I only knew I could not rely on my body the way I was used to.
I made the final, 16.84m. Relieved & exhausted.
The day before the final, my coach Ted King & I sat down to talk through the reality.
“Look, I know I can’t compete with these boys for six jumps. I won’t have the energy. But I know I can get one jump out. One jump is all it takes.”
The field stacked with world & Olympic medallists. Big call!
R1: Bailed the jump. Nerves consumed me.
R2: 16.72m. Better. Not enough.
R3: I heard my teammate, Germaine Mason, call from the stands:
“Come on, Dougie. You can do this. Let’s go.”
His belief gave me a surge of energy & helped me reconnect with my own.
17.12m. I almost shocked myself. I hadn’t jumped over 17m since Geneva, which felt like a lifetime ago.
Maybe I can do this.
R4: 17.21m!
Silver!
Self-belief helped me access a level of performance that had felt unavailable for months.
Post comp, I made a promise to myself to always believe in what I am capable of.
It helped me produce one of the greatest performances of my career.
Now, I hold two truths together.
Self-belief gave me access to what was still available that day. It let me hold onto possibility when my recent results, energy & own body were handing me reasons to doubt.
My body was also communicating something important, & it took me 3 years to properly listen & understand the holistic nature of recovery.
Sustainable high performance is the ability to perform consistently over time, & listening to my body’s intricate warning signs taught me a valuable life lesson.
My performance came down to one thing I refused to let go of: I can do this, & it only needs one jump
