About

Nathan Douglas is one of the greatest triple jumpers Great Britain has ever seen. He is continually admired for the elegant style, graceful technique and spring with which he carries out the triple jump, and it is this which allowed him to develop as a world class athlete.

At the tender age of 21, Nathan made a huge improvement on his lifetime best from 16.49m to 16.95m, performing when it mattered at the Olympic Trials, with his final jump in the 6th round. This resulted in qualification for his senior major championship debut for Team GB at the Athens Olympic Games, which was testimony to his outstanding talent at such a young age. While others around Nathan were nervous about him making his senior debut on the biggest sporting stage on the planet, with no experience, Nathan ceased the opportunity. In the qualifying rounds he jumped beyond expectations jumping his second longest jump ever of 16.84m and narrowly missed the final by a mere 7cm.

Making a big impact the following season, Nathan competed at only his second senior outing, the European Indoor Championships, where he placed 4th only for a few centimetres to deny him a medal, showing the speed of his progression. He continued to put in the hard work after the indoor season and was rewarded on his first outdoor competition of the season, smashing through the magical 17m barrier, jumping a personal best of 17.11m.

However, Nathan was not done there, in the first round at the AAA National Championships he wowed the crowd with a personal best of 17.34m. In the second round Nathan produced what truly put him amongst the worlds elite, he increased his personal best even further to a monstrous leap of 17.64m. This ranked him 3rd in the world and also 3rd on the all time British triple jumping list while making him the British Champion for a 2nd year in a row. This distance did not only show he was challenging with the best in the world, it also provided evidence that he was capable of performing exceptionally well under immense pressure.

Taking confidence from the previous season, Nathan started the season brightly jumping 17.26m at the famous Prefontaine meet in Eugene, Oregon, USA, following up with a 17.42m in Geneva, Switzerland.

What people didn't know was Nathan was now secretly batting chronic fatigue syndrome that came out of nowhere, suddenly he struggled to train, struggled to run, struggled to lift weights, struggled to sleep, struggled to compete and could only perform at 16 metres much to his frustration. At its worst even the most simplest activity like jogging, became difficult as his legs would burn like fire and felt as heavy as lead. 

Nathan, exhausted and battling these symptoms of M.E., impressively still managed to pull out a big enough jump to just scrape through to the final at the European Championships in Gothenburg. 

In the final Nathan’s team were understandably concerned as they could sense a first major championship medal opportunity slipping away, Nathan determinedly and unsurprisingly had other plans. Although tired and heavy legged Nathan’s faith in his ability to perform under pressure when it matters most paid off leaping to 17.21m, winning the silver medal and missing out on gold only to the Olympic Champion, however, defeating the Olympic silver medallist.

After becoming the British Indoor Champion, up next was the European Indoor Championships in Birmingham, where there was an epic battle. A competitor laid down the gauntlet with a first round leap of 17.56m, the furthest jump in the world! Nathan unfazed and always ready for a battle relished the challenge and chased after him getting closer to the lead round after round, producing the series of his life, 17.08m, 17.21m, 17.47m, 17.41m. Smashing his indoor personal best, winning the European silver medal and ranking him 2nd in the world! As one sports journalist said "that was one of the greatest triple jump competitions I have ever witnessed and Nathan made it all possible by refusing to lose and giving it everything".

Nathan reproduced this form in the outdoor season, but a serious hamstring injury cut short his season and he missed the World Championship in Osaka.

Having worked hard to rehabilitate himself from this career-threatening setback, miraculously he still managed a return to form at the Olympic Trials and qualify for his second Olympic Games in Beijing.

Nathan has always had a passion for performance psychology which lead him to achieve a BSc in Sport and Exercise Science (Psychology) from Loughborough University. He is a ICF ACSTH Certified Professional Coach and a Licensed Practitioner of Neuro-Linguistic Programming.

Nathan is currently in training for the 2017 London World Athletics Championships.

unreasonably ambitious