Hansle Parchment: Five things to know about Jamaica’s Olympic 110m hurdles champion

When the 110m hurdles final was about to begin at Tokyo 2020, Jamaica’s Hansle Parchment was not the name most people were talking about.

All eyes were fixated on 2019 world champion and indoor 60m world record holder Grant Holloway, who is also the second-fastest man over 110m hurdles in history.

Yet 13.05 seconds later, Parchment had won gold with a historic run that saw Holloway finish 0.04 seconds behind to take silver and Parchment’s compatriot Ronald Levy seize bronze.

Now with the World Athletics Championships on the horizon and Paris 2024 in his sights, here are five things to know about Jamaica’s hurdles sensation Hansle Parchment.

A wrong bus almost left his Olympic dream in tatters

Things could have been so different at Tokyo 2020.

On the day of the Olympic semi-finals, Parchment boarded a bus to take him to the Olympic Stadium. The only thing was, the bus he got on was headed the wrong way. With no official Tokyo 2020 cars available to take him to the venue, Parchment turned to a closeby volunteer called Trijana and implored her to help him.

"I saw this volunteer and I had to beg, ‘cause of course she is not allowed to do much, and she actually gave me some money to take one of the taxis," he explained after the race. "And that’s how I was able to get to the warm-up in time, and had enough time to compete."

That one moment of kindness proved to be the difference between an Olympic title and disaster.

After winning the gold medal, Parchment searched for the volunteer to return the money to her, show her his medal and give her a Jamaica shirt.

The story went on to be one of the most well-loved of the Games, with the Jamaican government even getting involved to offer the volunteer a trip to the Caribbean island as a way of saying thank you for her role in making Parchment an Olympic champion.

Small changes led to a huge Olympic win

If a small act of kindness got Parchment to the stadium, it was a small tactical change that eventually led to him winning gold.

Parchment knew that he had the speed to chase Holloway to the line, but his tall 1.96m frame had left him so far behind Holloway at the start of previous races that he was always unable to catch him.

In the heats, the Jamaican had started in the lane next to Holloway and watched his rival make a lightning-fast start on his way to finishing in 13.02 seconds. Parchment's relatively languid first metres had meant he could only finish in 13.23.

Something would have to change.

After talking with his teammates, Parchment came up with a plan.

“It was a pleasure to compete against Holloway for three rounds and I used that very wisely to study how he was running,” said Parchment. “Of course he’s getting out way ahead of everybody and it’s a challenge to get close, but after the first two rounds I realised I can get him. I realised how quickly I was closing him down.”

Inching his foot back slightly from the starting line and lowering his foot in the block, Parchment burst out of the blocks in the final, only trailing Holloway by the smallest of margins heading to the first hurdle.

By the end of the race, as his stride opened up, the Jamaican dipped across the line first to secure an unforgettable Olympic victory.

He studied Psychology at Uni and donated 650,000 dollars to his high school

Parchment's speech about analysing Holloway before the final should come as no surprise. After all, the Jamaican is an expert in Psychology.

The 31-year-old studied the subject at the University of West Indies, graduating in 2017. And the University staff were elated when he won gold in Tokyo.

“We at The UWI are bursting with joy and pride at Hansle’s tremendous achievement of the Gold Medal in the 110m hurdles at the Tokyo Olympics," Professor Dale Webber Pro-Vice-Chancellor and Principal of the Mona Campus said after the Games. "The UWI has always been a believer in sports as essential to the well-rounded student, and Hansle’s journey is a testament to that fact."

Parchment is obviously proud of the impact his education had on his career, pledging a sum of 650,000 dollars to his alma mater Morant Bay High School courtesy of the Sagicor Foundation.

“I would like the donation to go towards developing the school's sports programme," said Parchment at the time. "Particularly track and field, so that more students will be able to benefit like I did.”

He’s the oldest-ever Olympic 110m hurdles winner - but he’s still aiming for Paris

With his victory at Tokyo 2020, Parchment became the oldest-ever winner of the Olympic 110m hurdles title.

His triumph at 31-years-old came a full nine years after his first Olympic medal - a bronze from London 2012. However, with Paris 2024 just another two years away, Parchment isn't close to giving up on his Olympic dreams just yet.

“I feel like, for hurdlers, we can go a little longer," he told World Athletics. "It doesn’t require that much fast running to get the right times, it’s more technique and execution.”

However, if Paris 2024 is on his radar, it will probably be his last Olympic tournament: “My plan is not to go past 2024; that is where I’d cap things off,” he said.

And what a way to cap off his incredible career it would be.

He couldn’t get by without his barber

After his Olympic triumph, one perk of being a gold medallist left Parchment beaming from ear to ear: a free haircut from his favourite Barber.

And in a sport where milliseconds can mean the difference between success and failure, 'hairodynamics' - as Parchment refers to them - may well be his secret weapon.

As he explained in an interview with Observer Online, Parchment isn't the only world-class performer in his neck of the woods in Jamaica.

“Mario is a world-class barber (who) always does world-class things, so I expect these kinds of things from Mario; Mario is a real artist, not just a barber. I must say I'm grateful...[we] coming from far.”