Ambitious Freitag soars to new heights

Jacques Freitag soared to new heights as he joined the ranks of the rich and famous this week - and he wouldn't change it for the world.

The 21-year-old Pretoria athlete lived up to his reputation as the world's leading men's high jumper last week when he claimed the gold medal during the world championships at Stade de France.

"I'm getting a lot of attention lately and it feels great," he beamed. "I must have done about a hundred interviews already and I'd hate to see what my phone bill is going to be like after all this!"

Considering his earnings, he does not really need to worry.

The IAAF paid him $60 000 for winning world championship gold and his shoe sponsor, Adidas, will reward him with another sizable sum.

In addition, the various endorsement contracts he'll be sure to attract during his two-year reign will no doubt help to keep the wolf from the door.

"It wasn't long ago that I used to have to jump like crazy off to get $3 000; so when the IAAF offered me $60 000 for winning here, I said: 'Duh, I'll take it'."

The well-disposed, level-headed youngster, who became the first man in history to win world high jump titles at youth, junior and senior level, said he hasn't decided yet what to do with the spoils of his hard-earned victory.

"I don't know," he smiled. "I'd like to go out and treat myself to a new sports car or something like that, but I suppose that when I sit down with Peet (van Zyl, his manager), he'll convince me to do something sensible with the money, like maybe buy a house or invest it somewhere."

He has had his eye on a Mercedes-Benz SL55 AMG for a while now. "But I'll have to jump a lot higher before I can afford one of those!"

His next assignment is the World Athletics Final, formerly the IAAF Grand Prix Final, in Monte Carlo on September 13-14. "Maybe if I can win there, I'll use that prize money to buy myself something nice and keep the world champs money."

After that, he competes in Osaka, Japan on September 23, and he's ready to go to the All Africa Games in Abuja, Nigeria, in October, although he's thinking about asking for an exemption.

"I've been invited to compete in Tahiti on October 11, where the prize is $50 000 of pearls if I can jump 2,38m and that would be something special," he said. "I'd really like to do it because I'll get to spend a week on an island afterward and I could take my girlfriend (Carika Pieterse), who has been so supportive of me."

Freitag says he doesn't particularly enjoy talking about the riches part of his fame and fortune.

"Sure, it's all part of the deal, but this kind of thing might happen only once in my lifetime. A year or two and it's finished; so I think I'm entitled to enjoy it while it lasts."

It has been a hard road for the African and South African record holder.

In mid-2002, his career went off the rails.

After clearing his lifetime best height of 2,37m at the national championships in Durban, Freitag, a somewhat intimidating figure who towers 2,07m in his socks, used to go to nightclubs and get beaten up for no reason other than his blossoming stature as a world-class high jumper.

And while competing in Europe in preparation for the Manchester Commonwealth Games, Freitag was struck down by a career-threatening ankle injury that later required surgery and kept him sidelined for the rest of the year.

Then he and his long-time coach and friend, Jonathan Greyvenstein, parted ways. "He was becoming too 'windgat' (cocky)," said the coach at the time.

On his return early in 2003, Freitag announced that he had appointed a new coach, Angus Pohl, but things didn't work out between them. He and Greyvenstein meanwhile sorted out their differences and are now happily closer than ever.

Fortunately, the ankle is also stronger than ever.

"All that stuff that happened last year definitely made me tougher," he said. "I think that I can now cope with a lot of things that others can't, and there is certainly a higher level of fight in me (in competition)."

But, at such a young age, was he not pushing himself too hard by almost demanding gold in

Paris?

"People said Paris was too soon for me and that I should rather concentrate on the (2004) Athens Olympics," he said. "But you won't believe how badly I wanted this (gold). Who knows? I might get injured tomorrow and never be able to compete again.

"There is no tomorrow for me and that makes me dangerous (again, in competition)."

Does he not share the same fear as his friend Okkert Brits, the pole vault silver medallist in Paris, that becoming a world champion puts one in a "comfort zone" and the hunger for success diminishes?

"No way! For me it's a never-ending story. In the future, I will only get hungrier because now I know what gold tastes like. On Monday, when I went over the crossbar and won gold, there was suddenly another kind of hunger in me. The first thing I told Jonathan was: 'Now for the Athens Olympics'."

What about long-term?

"Well, if you think that I wasn't even sharp here and still jumped (a season's best) 2,35m, you can imagine. A lot of pressure is off me now and although I am world champion, I don't have to be anything.

"I just want to improve all the time. This year I'll jump 2,38m and 2,39m. Next year it'll be 2,40m and maybe two, three, four or even five years from now I will get the world record (2,45m).

"But mark my words. I will get it."

Nobody's doubting you, champ.