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News24 Mar 1999


The other side of Jon Drummond

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Another side to Jon Drummond
Louise Tricard for IAAF

Jon Drummond is a 100m and 200m specialist from the USA. Originally from Philadelphia, he now lives in Los Angeles with his wife, Celia and daughter, Gabriella. A member of the elite sprinting group coached by John Smith, with World Champions’ Maurice Greene, Ato Boldon of Trinidad & Tobago and double Olympic Gold Medallist France’s Marie-José Perec, he also sings with the gospel group ‘Kirk Franklin & The Family’. Their first album reached number 1 on the Billboard gospel chart in 1993.
Highlights of his sprinting career include the 4x100m World Record at the World Championships in 1993, and although without a major title to his name, he has several brilliant performances under his belt, including a 9.92 for 100m and 20.03 for 200m. Self-styled "Clown Prince of the Track", he is greatly appreciated by the public wherever he races, but here he shows us the softer more serious side of his character, explaining how becoming a father has changed his life.

I’m Just Trying to be a Dad

Gabriella Ruth Drummond was born on July 25 weighing in at seven pounds and one ounce. I spent maybe three days with her and then headed to Europe for a month. So I missed the crying days after she was born - the waking up every hour on the hour days. When I got back home she pretty much was trained to sleep through the night. I don’t know if that was a blessing from God because most babies that young don’t sleep through the night. My daughter would eat at midnight and then sleep until 5am. She is not a crier or screamer.

I grew up in a house full of kids. I’m the baby of four. My sister has two kids and my brother has kids and all of them grew up in my mom’s house. I’ve always been around babies, so I know how to handle them. I know how to play with them. So that’s what I do all day.

I spend my day with my daughter. I do all kinds of things with her. I put her on her stomach and tell her to roll over - and wait and watch - I put her arm up and then push her and she rolls over - she laughs and then I laugh because she’s rolling over.

I’m trying to get her to walk! I know it’s a little early - but......I think she will walk before she crawls. We hold conversations. She thinks I’m the only one who understands her. She only talks to me. We have really good, long conversations. She even broke down the laws of physics to me one day. I really understood it. I figure that she’s going to be a nuclear physicist.

She knows how to count. And as far as being an athlete goes, I’m not going to make an issue for her to be an athlete. But, if she enjoys watching her dad and decides that she wants to run too, then she can be like her dad. I’m not going to force that on her. I want her to grow up a normal child. I want her to grow up and be what she wants to be - to have her own personality - have her own life. A lot of kids that I have spoken to put pressure on themselves because their parents expect them to be what they want them to be. And although I want the best for my child, I want her to do what she is going to enjoy. Right now, I send her subliminal messages - play the piano, sing, ballet. I speak Spanish to her each day as does my wife who is fluent in Spanish. Hopefully she’ll be tri-lingual because I want her to learn French. I’m just trying to cover all aspects and then at the end of the day if she wants to run track, I’ll say, ok - come on, let’s go run.

She is a strong little baby. I put her on my lap and she bounces up and down and I say, "you’re just a baby, you’re not supposed to be doing this - but since you want to, ok. So I went out and bought a bouncing chair and put her in it and she bounces herself.

I do a lot of singing to her. I know she will have an ear for music. She loves to sing and clap. I really enjoy making up songs for her. I made up songs for her address and telephone number so that when she is old enough to talk she’ll know her own address and phone number because of the song. To me, that’s the best way to teach a child because kids remember songs. She’ll even know how to spell her name because of a song.

I’m also teaching her some of the finer things in life. She’s the best-dressed baby, I think, in Los Angeles right now. I am a shopper extraordinaire. I can’t go to the mall without stopping in Baby Gap. My wife gets jealous. So I try to balance the scales. Day one I take Celia, my wife shopping - Day two, I take the baby shopping - Day three, I take my wife shopping, Day four, the baby and Day five, I take me shopping! I love to shop. That is how we spend our leisure time in a day. My wife and I put the baby in the cradle and we walk through the mall and shop.

We do a lot of educational things with the baby. We turn on classical music in the car because they say it’s supposed to excite a child’s mind.

My day is pretty scheduled as a track athlete but the joy is that from early morning until about eleven am. I am with Gabriella. Then there is about a four hour block of time when I am not with her. That is the time that John Smith kills me every day! But when I return from practice I’m home until the next day and it’s all fun with the kid. She’s made me a softer, gentler, compassionate, patient person.

So, those are the things I do with Gabriella in a day. I try to do everything right. I’m trying to be a dad. I just lost my father and I’m trying to be like my father was for me - to my child.

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