The Tribune

By BRENT STUBBS

Senior Sports Reporter

bstubbs@tribunemedia.net

GOLD Coast, Australia: Having won medals at the Carifta Games and the Central American and Caribbean Games, high jumper Jamal 'Marly' Wilson is getting set to make his second appearance at the Commonwealth Games.

At the 21st version of the four-yearly games, Wilson said a medal here in the men's high jump final on Wednesday night would a be the crowning glory to his flourishing career. And he's confident that the Australian sun will shine on his performance.

"I feel like I'm in the Bahamas," said Wilson, who comes into the games as the second best high jumper in the country behind Donald Thomas. "The weather is the exact same thing. The beach is close and the people here are nice. I feel like I'm right at home."

Wilson said the atmosphere here reminds him a little about Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, where the 2014 Olympic Games was held. And he said it tops his first Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, Scotland in 2012, so he's confident that feeling will propel him to surpass his 14th place finish in the competition.

"Just in terms of the weather alone, coming from the Bahamas, I really appreciate it," Wilson stressed. “It's nice hot weather, cool breeze and every now and again, we have some rain. But everything is in place and I hope that can help me to perform very well."

The most difficult part of any competition, according to Wilson, is getting out of the preliminaries. If he does that on Monday night and gets into the final, Wilson said the sky is definitely the limit for him.

"I'm in great physical shape. Two weeks ago is where I performed my season's best of 2.31 metres or 7-feet, 7-inches, so I feel I'm actually there or either a step ahead of that," he proclaimed. "Only time will tell. We have the first round of the high jump on April 9 and then we will take it from there."

The "we" Wilson is referring to is his long time personal coach Ronald Cartwright, who was unable to make the tedious trek for two days from the Bahamas to get here. "I wouldn't say that with him not being here that I would perform under par. It makes a difference because as a coach he makes me feel co comfortable doing things that I wouldn't want to do.

"So even though he is not here, I still have a job to do. As a professional athlete competing on the circuit, I would like to think that I have the experience of traveling and competing without him. So him not being here, would not stop the show. I still have to out there and perform."

Wilson said there's only one goal and that is to "beat the next man."

The 29-year-old graduate of Temple Christian and the University of Texas at Austin said it's hard to put a mark on what he wants to jump because "I don’t want to subject myself to clearing just that height. It's about competing. It's about just staying focused in between each jump and take it one jump at a time. 

"I think the key to success is trying to clear the earlier heights as easy as possible. So we're going to be looking at first attempts each jump and just kind of have smooth sailing as I try to complete the rest of the competition. I just have to hope for the best and let God do the rest."

With a lot of people rooting for him to leave his stamp of approval on these games, Wilson is not applying any pressure on himself to get the job done.

"If you look at my resumé, a lot of people don't know that in those 13 years that I have been competing, a lot people forget that I started out as a three-time Carifta champion and at one time I held the Carifta record as the first person to go over 2.20m (7-2 1/2).

"I was also a junior Pan Am medalist, I've been winning medalist the Sr CAC. The winning gene is there, so it's no pressure. For me, I don't look outward, but rather more inward because I'm more self motivated. So I think once I go out there and execute, I will give myself a good opportunity to do very well at these games."

With Thomas in the mix in the competition, Wilson said he's even more motivated to compete.

"We all think about the magical thing and that is what gets us on the podium," I can't speak for him. I don't know where he's at right now. Mentally, he's in winning form and I can say the same for myself. When I look at him, I look at him as a competitor and I have to beat him too, so that is what I'm going out and try to accomplish.

"But I think with Donald Thomas and myself, when we link up, it brings out the best in me because he was the one that motivated me to jump high, coming from the junior ranks and into the same ranks. That same fire is there and so I want to compete well. I want to beat him and I want to take the gold medal away from these games."

In the meantime, Wilson said he hopes to check out the kangaroos and koalas to help keep his mind focused on the task ahead of him.