Katarina Johnson - Thompson rebuilds her career in France
Johnson-Thompson has been revived by a move to France after she realised change was needed
The Stade d’Athlétisme Philippidès is practically deserted as Katarina JohnsonThompson rests in the shade of the single stand and looks out across the cloudless scene. The group of 20 or so eager but hopelessly unathletic schoolchildren are back in the classroom after calling a halt to their clumsy attempts at hop, skip and jumping into the sand pit down the back straight.
The leather-skinned pensioner has retired for the day after his morning’s exertions star jumping and shadow boxing by the finish line.
And the small, but elite, collection of world-class multi-event athletes has disbanded for a spot of lunch ahead of an afternoon lifting weights in the gym. Stillness has descended.
For someone given the nickname “Droopy” on account of her downbeat demeanour, Johnson-Thompson has been notably abuzz with laughter and smiles throughout the morning sprint session, having invited The Sunday Telegraph for a first look inside her new Montpellier base.
The contrast between training in Liverpool, the place she will forever call home, and the south of France could not be more immediately apparent. Where almost exactly a year ago she was posting photos of a rain-drenched track in the North West of England, she is now surrounded by the chiselled, bronzed torsos of athletes ditching their training tops to savour the late spring sun.
But there was more to JohnsonThompson’s move than a search for better weather. Glancing into the distance as she considers the upheaval, she says simply: “It’s going to be different this year.”
Blessed with such natural talent that Jackie Joyner-Kersee tipped her to trouble the American’s three-decade old heptathlon world record, the last two years have been tough going for Johnson-Thompson.
First came the disaster of crashing out of the 2015 World Championships when failing to register a mark in the long jump; then the disappointment of two dismal throwing events at the Rio Olympics that caused her to finish sixth when she had been considered a gold-medal candidate.
It was the latter failure on the grandest of stages that provided the moment of clarity. The realisation that something had to change; everything had to change.
“The Olympics maybe pushed me over the edge,” she says. “I just don’t want to be put in that situation again.”
As the lucrative sponsorship contracts had rolled in and the expectations had increased with growing comparisons to a certain Jessica Ennis-Hill, JohnsonThompson’s life had in fact changed very little since becoming a full-time heptathlete.
A self-confessed “homebird”, she had remained with her childhood coach Mike Holmes and spread her wings only as far as a neighbouring road from her mother. She was comfortable and she was safe. And she was not fulfilling her potential.
Eight months on from her split with Holmes in the wake of the Rio Games, Johnson-Thompson is reluctant to go into details. She maintains “a lot of respect” for the man who helped her win world youth and junior titles, and says ending their relationship was both “difficult” and “sad”.
But she sees that as the past – an era best left behind along with the “Droopy” moniker. Now under the surveillance of a trio of French coaches – Bertrand Valcin, Jean-Yves Cochand and Bruno Gajer – JohnsonThompson (right) is hoping for her second coming aged 24.
She dismisses the notion of bravery that might be attributed to leaving her entire life – and beloved dogs – behind to move to a country she knew little about as “just something I had to do”.
With a home World Championships in little more than two months’ time, she suggests she is already feeling the benefit of the change in training structure from long, intense sessions to short, sharp bursts of technical fine-tuning.
But it is the transformation in her life away from the track that could perhaps prove of even greater importance. “I didn’t realise how much my family did for me until I came out here,” she says, somewhat sheepishly. “I probably shouldn’t admit this but I mopped up for the first time ever a couple of months ago and got the Hoover out. I fixed the internet by myself last week as well because it broke.
“I have to season my own meat. [In England] it ’s very easy to got oM&S, get pre-seasoned chicken and just stick it in the oven. [In France] I have to do everything from scratch. So I feel like I’m doing a lot more for myself.
“Could that translate to athletics? For sure. I’m speaking up. I’m not afraid to say what’s best for me and what I feel like my body needs, instead of just going along with it. I do feel like I’ve become more independent and decisive.”
Not that adjusting to the Gallic way of life has been easy. She balks at the French tendency to serve their meat in a puddle of blood, struggles with the idea that a trip to the beach is an everyday activity rather than a big day out, and fights the temptation to sample the multiple patisseries within shouting distance of her top-floor town house apartment located in one of the city’s typically narrow, centuries-old passages.
Then there is the language barrier. Regularly found seeking solace in a local coffee shop run by an Australian/ English couple, Johnson-Thompson is yet to start French lessons – “next year or maybe this summer I’ll try and fit them in” – and is reliant on training partners to translate.
“It’s definitely difficult in certain things,” she admits. “Like [training] group meals – I feel like maybe I don’t want to attend all of them because I don’t want to make them feel uncomfortable with having to explain everything in English for me all the time.
“I don’t want to be sitting there when everyone’s talking, so it is a difficult dynamic. But I’m OK with it. There’s some things that I had to sacrifice with finding the right place for me and language was one of them.”
This summer’s London World Championships will provide the first barometer of whether the sacrifice was worth it.
There she intends to fight for gold, insisting she is “embracing” the shot put – her most problematic discipline – and can challenge Olympic champion Nafissatou Thiam’s crown as the new queen of heptathlon after feeling truly injury-free for the first time in her senior career.
Her task will naturally be aided by the retirements of Ennis-Hill and Brianne Theisen-Eaton, who claimed silver and bronze respectively in Rio, but asked whether she thinks about the opportunity created by their absence she replies with a simple: “No.”
She remains keen to learn from Ennis-Hill, especially now they are no longer rivals, and admires her former British team-mate’s ability to peak at major championships – an art form that has appeared elusive for JohnsonThompson, who admits Thiam “did what I couldn’t do” in Rio.
The carrot of triumphing in London is a big one. “I was fortunate to go to London 2012 as a junior and I remember thinking London 2017 is five years down the line,” she says. “Now it ’s happening it is a really huge opportunity for any athlete who is British. My dreams aren’t over. I still have another fo four years to try and get that OlympicOlymp gold – maybe even eight yea years.
“Maybe I am not going to be a triple Olympic heptathlon medallist, but I can still get an Olympic medal. medal.”
As she has done throughout, she smile smiles as she says it. If nothingno else, Mont Montpellier has cert certainly brought a se sense of joie de vivre to J JohnsonTh Thompson’s life. An And, while learning the language is still to start, she knows exa exactly what that mea means.
‘I still have another four years to try and get that Olympic gold – maybe eight years’
Kat Katarina JohnsonThompsonThompso will compete for the Britis British Athletics team at the IAAF World ChampionshipsChampio in London this summer.summ Tickets are available via tickets. london2017athletics.comlondon201