As a young girl growing up in a tough London suburb trouble was only a hop, step and a jump away from Lia Stephenson.
Rising crime, clashes with police and a constant under current of tension and drama saw many of her childhood friends tempted down the wrong tracks.
But Lia Stephenson’s faith in God, a supportive family and love for sport mean’t growing up in the shadows of Wembley Stadium drew her to athletics and kept her safe from harm.
Now that decision to concentrate on the runway boards of the long jump pits has teed her up for the opportunity to leap in British Athletic Olympic history and make it as a gold medal winning triple jumper.
Sport
“I didn’t really choose the sport, it kind of choose me in a sense,” Lia told sports nutrition supplement specialists PharmaNutricals.
“I started off in discus, I used to throw the discus and I used to sprint as well and one day one of the team managers asked me if I could just jump as I had long limbs.
“Since then I was approached by my coach David Johnson and he has helped me to achieve success, as well as motivation and drive me to be the best I can be”
“They showed me how to triple jump which I thought was a bit confusing, I was like ‘how do you go from one foot to the other’ but I did it and came second with a really good distance for someone who has never done it before.
“I was born in London, the borough of Brent but specifically Stonebridge, just by Wembley Stadium.
“The area is not renowned to be great so you could say I took myself from a situation where I was brought up in an area where there was lots of police involved and like, not the greatest influence on someone who is trying to do well.
Focused
“I had to stay focused on me and try to do the best I could do for me to succeed and do well.
“I had always been sporting since the age of 8, always doing something active. I wanted to do a chef at first and then thought; ‘Maybe not’ and stuck to sport. I knew I would do something to do with sport, I didn’t know if it would be gymnastics or badminton or anything but I knew I would hopefully get into it and try to make a career out of it.”
Lia is totally dedicated to her sport – but she also remains committed to her Christian faith.
The 19-year-old and her family are committed Church goers and she remains determined to maintain that balance.
Religion
She added: “Religion is a big thing for me. My family are strong Christians. We believe in God. I’ve been bought up within the Church and God is my focus and I obviously always tailor my goals to Him to hope I can do well, just because I have been bought up like that.
“It depends on how strongly you believe in your faith but my family do believe strongly and I do go to Church down here (in Southampton) and back home and stuff.
“I pray morning and night especially before competition, that is important. “You have to remember that even though you do pray to do very well you can’t blame God when it doesn’t happen. Things happen at different times. It is all in moderation, you never know what will happen, you just have to hope for the best.
“I am able to balance religion and sport. Surprisingly everything runs really smoothly.”
Triple jumping is perhaps not the obvious choice for a young girl growing up in London but then Lia Stephenson is not your ordinary 19-year-old.
With her purple tinted braids, love of fashion and obvious charm she appears at first glance to be more X Factor than athletics but underestimate her at your peril as her she boats a rich vein of sporting tradition.
She added: “My family originated in Jamaica, most of my family were born in Jamaica but me, my brothers and sisters and my Mum were born in the UK.
“They are mainly sprinters so I deviated from the norm which is OK, that is where the speed comes from down the runway, that is the best part and the landing of my triple jump.
“My Mum was a 100m and 200m sprinter and relay runner, my dad did sprinting as well when he was younger and my sister used to throw the hammer and was a sprinter.
“My little brother plays football, he is the striker for the football team, this has been his position since he started playing football. I guess the sprint speed runs in the family!
“Everyone always knows long jump but no-one really knows triple jump. They think I just run and jump into a pit and I’m like ‘no, there are a couple of phases there, you have to hop and step and then get into the pit.
“The hardest thing for me when I started the training was the load and going from phase to phase, from the hop into the step, coming in at full speed is hard to cope with it on your ankles, hips and knees so you have to do a lot of training to get the body ready. That is why I spend the whole of the winter preparing for the summer.”
Olympics
Clearly practice is paying off for Lia and she has become one of the hottest prospects for British athletics though Rio and the Olympic Games this summer are probably a leap too early.
Tokyo and the 2020 Olympic Games however is a very real possibility and with the backing of Solent University and The High Performance Academy there she is determined to make her mark in Japan.
She added: “I think Tokyo is more, in my mind, realistic but I’d love to go to Rio. For me to go to Rio I would need to jump at least 14’20 or get above the girls because after Christmas I will be a senior so I’m with everyone who is 20 years and above so that means the best in the world.
“My PB at the moment is 12’71, I need to get to 14/20 so this year the hope is to break, while I have broken a couple of 13 ms which for my age at the time would be amazing but they came in as a foul and weren’t counting. The goal for this year is to open with a 13 and end with a 13’50 which would put me quite high in the rankings.
“The difference is strength because I haven’t been training for that long compared to the others people who have been doing triple jump so I do need a couple more years building up my strength and getting used to it and coping with coming out of a massive hop into a step.
“I’m kinda tiny, I’m not really a big girl so I need to develop that strength before I can move onto bigger differences.
“I’m not writing Rio off, it is still in my heart. It is kind of my secret plan. I’m not expected I could say. I could pull out an amazing jump one day and then pull out something that was like she didn’t jump well, but, it just depends on the day really.
“I always hope to do well, I pray to do well, because I want to win a competition but you have to take the positives and negatives.”
Aside from her Olympic dreams Lia’s feet remain firmly planted on the ground and she remains committed to her studies at Solent University.
She is studying Health, Exercise and Physical Activity know as HEPA and at some point her education will provide her with a career but for now, Lia Stephenson is dreaming only of flying – as far as she can into the Olympic sandpit.
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