Mitchell Watt (born 25 March 1988) is an Australian track & field athlete. His main event is the long jump and holds the current Oceania record for the long jump – 8.54m. He was the first ever Australian long jump medalist at a World Championship and was the silver medalist at the 2012 Summer Olympics.[1][2]
Early life
Track and Field
Watt started his athletics career very early and first started getting attention as a schoolboy at Brisbane Boys College, a prestigious private high school in Queensland. As a 13-year-old he competed in the GPS 100 m, 200 m, 400 m relay, 100 m relay, long jump, high jump, triple jump, shot put and discus, winning all of his events bar discus with a respectable 4th.[citation needed][clarification needed]
As a junior, he won the All-schools nationals in 1999 (long jump), 2000 (long jump), 2001 (long jump [national record], triple jump [national record] and 100 m).[3]
Rugby Union and Australian Football
Watt took an interest in Australian Football and Rugby Union in his later years of high school. He proved extremely versatile successful in both codes. In Australian Football he won two State Championships during high-school playing as ruckman.
In Rugby Union, he played in the outside backs and was vice-captain of the 1st XV. He was a member of the State team (Queensland Schoolboys squad), a team which several current Australian Wallabies played in.[3]
He won the 2011 Australian long jump title with a personal best of 8.44 m, setting a stadium record at the Melbourne Olympic Park Stadium with the final jump of the final competition that was held at the venue.[5]
Watt won silver at the World Championships in Daegu, with a jump of 8.33 m in an interesting competition where the winning jumps were made in the second round of jumping. The top three jumpers failed to improve on their first and second round jumps.
Watt was the 2011 Diamond League Trophy winner for the long jump, picking up the $40,000 bonus.[7] He won in Shanghai, London, and also Stockholm where he set the Australian record, and had already secured victory before the Final in Zurich. He is the first and only Australian to ever win a Diamond League Trophy. He also finished the 2011 season with the longest 4 out of 5 jumps in the world.[8]
Stadium records
Watt currently holds the following stadium/meeting records in the world:
Shanghai (Shanghai Stadium, China) - 8.44m
London (Crystal Palace Stadium) - 8.45m
Rethymno (Vardinoyannia, Greece) - 8.43m
Melbourne (Olympic Park, Australia) - 8.44m
New York (Icahn Stadium, United States of America) - 8.16m
Endorsements
Watt has proven popular with global sponsors. He has signed endorsements with Adidas, Powerade, Omega, Mitsubishi and Coles Supermarkets.
Personal life
Watt obtained his double degree in Law / Economics from University of Queensland and now he currently resides in New York where he is a management consultant.[9]
