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Pan American Games
Mental Mistakes Hamper Cline's Performance
By Dean Greenaway
Jul 30, 2007, 04:48

Keita Cline in the hop phase of the Triple Jump. Photo: Dean "The Sportsman" Greenaway

RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil—Keita Cline didn’t let pouring rain, swirling winds or the cold conditions of the Brazilian winter get to him in Saturday’s triple jump at Joao Havelange Stadium on the last day of competition in the 15^th Pan American Games here in Rio de Janiero, but, a mental mistake affected his performance.

“Frankly, I think nerves got the best of me and I had to get it out of the way. It was like ‘OK, let’s get ready to go,’” he said of his first jump which was a foul in his return to the event in a major competition.

“In the next jump, I just couldn’t get under it in the second phase and I couldn’t finish,” he noted of the effort that measured 14.37 meters and would be his best on the day. His third jump which began technically better saw him collapsing in the second phase as he cut the sand at 14.02 meters.

“That would have probably been the best effort, but I ended up over rotating a little bit,” Cline explained, noting that the triple jump is a very technical event. “One peace you and feel good, and in the next piece you do something wrong, you can completely throw yourself out of finishing the jump. But, overall, for coming out and putting in a good hard effort, I was hoping for the best, but didn’t quite get the results I wanted.”

Keita Cline lands in the pit on his final jump, which measured 14.02 meters. Photo. Dean "The Sportsman" Greenaway

Cline said it was a mental error on his final try that hurt him. He said he didn’t exactly trust himself off the board to be able to take such a huge first phase in the three part jump. “I think it might have surprised me coming into it, because I felt OK on the board and I was thinking back at the board, instead of thinking into that phase of the jump,” he noted. “So, I was in the wrong place in the mind. More than anything else, I’ll probably say it was a mental error.”

Returning to the event for the first time since earlier in his career, Cline said he’s going to train in the fall, see how he feels and open the 2008 season with some 400s. If he can run a decent 400, he said he’ll get into his jumping training which is a lot of strength training. “If I can come out and jump over 15 meters and do it within good effort, get a good off season in, then I’ll continue,” he said. “If not, hopefully, I can find a place within the BVI Olympic Committee sports administration and help out the younger ones coming up.”

BVI Pan Am Games team enjoying the meet. L-R: Kevin Fahie, Keita Cline, Attache, Julia Caiado, back: Leniece Lewis, Dominique Maloney, Tahesia Harrigan and Dag Samuels. Photo: Dean "The Sportsman" Greenaway

Head coach Dag Samuels said Cline has some technical areas he has to improve on and he needs some help. “One time he said he’s going to retire, but, I think he sees he can make a great effort in the triple jump and he’s willing to give it another try,” Samuels noted. “As far as he’s concerned, the technical aspect is really killing him.”

Samuels said he was very pleased with what he saw at the games, particularly with Tahesia Harrigan, Dominique Maloney and Leniece Lewis, who made BVI women debut at the games, which he described as spectacular. “It was a fantastic games,” he said.