Tamgho serves time honing triple jump in Cuba

BACURANAO: Teddy Tamgho could have been excused for taking it easy after being handed a one-year ban for missing three drugs tests.

But the world triple jump champion is doing anything but, pushing himself to the limit in a five-week training camp in Cuba with coach Ivan Pedroso.

"It's more than 30 degrees Celsius (84F) at 9 o'clock in the morning - it's very, very tough," Tamgho tells AFP at Bacuranao beach, close to Havana, big droplets of sweat coursing down his face after a 45-minute training session under the watchful eye of Pedroso.

"But I need a bit of heat, to feel good. I prefer that to going training in the rain when it's 10 degrees."

The 25-year-old reigning world champion was handed a one-year ban for missing three out-of-competition doping tests by the French Athletics Federation (FFA) in June, though there was no indication that he had deliberately tried to avoid the tests.

And the Parisian jumper sought a little bit of refuge in Cuba, a country passionate about sport.

"Cuba is a country of athletics, in every discipline. I came to impregnate myself a little in this atmosphere," Tamgho said.

"It's a school that has always fascinated me," he told AFP from the shade of a palm tree on the white sandy beach.

In Cuba, Tamgho's guides are long jump legend Pedroso (nine world titles and Olympic gold medallist) and 2008 Olympic 110m hurdles champion and "friend" Dayron Robles.

The two Cubans look after Tamgho, a fluent Spanish and English speaker, giving him lodgings and precious words of advice.

"They show me that I still have quite a lot of work to do before being able to claim to be an exceptional sportsman," said Tamgho, whose winning jump of 18.04m in the Moscow worlds was the third longest of all-time.

"There's lots for me still to do, starting by winning an Olympic title."

Tamgho said his friends and family had understood his decision to seek temporary refuge in Cuba.

"I had to get away. I needed to be on my own for a bit, to prepare myself well before coming back," he said.

"It's also a good thing because it allows me to be the most detached possible. It's a good disconnection. It's true that people see me less on Twitter!"

In his downtime, Tamgho remains disciplined.

"I stay at the house, I recover, the physio comes to the flat. With the sun that beats down and the amount of training that I'm doing, I need optimal recuperation," he said.

"I'm not much into tourism, but Dayron Robles has shown me some of the island, he forces me to follow him around from time to time."

Tamgho's ban will be lifted on March 17, 2015, a timeframe that hands the jumper as his goal "a real preparation for the first time since 2011", the year that saw him suffer the first in a string of injuries.

"From the moment the athletics meets start, I'll be ready, as long as there are no physical or off-track problems."

First up for Tamgho will be the defence of his world title in Beijing in August 2015.

And the competition in the event promises to be tough, with Cuba's world silver medallist Pedro Pablo Pichardo, and current Olympic champion and 2011 world gold medallist Christian Taylor of the United States sure to be contenders, alongside French duo Benjamin Compaore and Yohann Rapinier.

"It's a very good thing for the French triple jump. We'll have a very good fight next year," Tamgho said.

Pedroso said he saw in 21-year-old Pichardo an athlete who could bring the "big rivalry which the event and Teddy are missing".

In any case, Pedroso warns, "if we're capable of combining power, speed and technique, there'll be no limit for Teddy".