Olympic long jumper Jazmin Sawyers reveals she was 'left out' at school for being too sporty

Olympian Jazmin Sawyers has revealed she was “left out” at school because she was sporty.

The 25-year-old long jumper, who started competitive sports aged four when she took up gymnastics, said other pupils found it “confusing” that she “didn’t want to be one of the girls”.

Sawyers told the Standard: “I was lucky as I was very determined to do sport. I wouldn’t say I was bullied but I got left out a lot... people would be confused about why I didn’t want to be one of the girls and ask: ‘Don’t you want to do something girly?’

“They thought I wanted to be a boy. But to me, sport was always girly.”

Sawyers persisted and joined City of Stoke Athletics Club focusing on high jump, long jump and later hepthalon. In 2012, she represented Great Britain in the bobsleigh at the inaugural Winter Youth Olympics after she was spotted by sports coaches.

She has a law degree from Bristol university, where she was studying while preparing for the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, where she took silver in the long jump.

At the Rio Olympics in 2016 she finished eighth in the long jump final. The athlete, who is also a singer and appeared on The Voice in 2017, said having more successful sportswomen in the public eye — including the Lionesses in the Women’s World Cup — had “normalised” females in sport.

“It makes it so much easier for girls to map out a career in sport when they can see other people doing it,” she said. “There are so many more role models now. There were no women footballers when I was younger. I think they’ve made a really big and positive impact.”

Sawyers was talking at GO Run For Fun, in partnership with The Daily Mile which encourages children to run, jog or walk.

Last Thursday, 2,400 children from 45 schools took part in a fun run in Battersea Park, hosted by Sawyers.