Lex Gillette
Elexis Gillette ( * October 19, 1984 in Kinston, North Carolina) is an American athlete who competes in the long jump, triple jump, as well as the sprint distances. He has a vision disorder and therefore starts in disabled sports in the classification groups T11 and F11, the T and F for the English names of track: (: field en. ) are ( en. career) and field. He is the current world record holder in the long jump and also holds the American record in the triple jump.
Life
Private
He is the son of Ervin and Marshall Verdina Gillette Sims and has Uvonne a sister. At the age of eight years, 1992, his sight through which congenital visual impairment already not too strong, fast, whereupon he had to undergo several operations, but had only short-term improvements result. A little later he lost his sight completely. Gillette graduated from East Carolina University sports management, business administration and Latin American studies and earned his 2012 Master of Business Administration at the University of Phoenix. Currently he lives in Chula Vista, California.
Sports career
2002 Gillette first drew attention to himself when he won the title in the long jump at the of the United States Association of Blind Athletes ( USABA ) organized national championships. Even with subsequent U.S. Championships, he was successful, so around 2008 in the wide - and the triple jump in 2010 and even with four gold medals in the long jump and triple jump and the 100m and 200m.
Long considered Gillette among colleagues as "Mr. Silver " because he, despite numerous front Placements never celebrated a major title internationally. So he reached for example, at the 2003 IBSA World Championships and Games of the International Blind Sports Federation in Quebec, Canada in the long jump and fifth place in 2010 at the Paralympic World Cup in Manchester in third place in the 100 -meter run. Even more significant, this is shown by his participation in Paralympic Games, where he 2004, 2008 and 2012, three times in succession had to be content with the silver medal in the long jump itself. At the World Championships in 2013 in Lyon, he finally managed to break through this series and he secured the victory in the long jump.
Awards
- 2002: USABA Male Athlete of the Year
- 2003: News & Observer Athlete of the Year Award