Noble: ‘I Wanted To Do Better’

Commonwealth Youth Games medallist Sheldon Noble said he wanted to better his 7.64 metres leap that won him gold in the Bahamas but he was too fatigued on his final attempt to go the distance.
Noble achieved the personal best on his fifth attempt but returned on his final leap to cover a distance of 7.11 metres to win the broad jump.
The feeling of having achieved the feat, Noble said, was overwhelming as he stood on the podium listening to the national anthem of Antigua & Barbuda.
“It [felt] very awesome to be representing my country and hear my national anthem and being on top of other people because it is my first international meet and it felt very great. I was a little fatigued after jumping that [7.64] because I put a lot into it but I still think I should have ended up over 7 metres on my last jump,” he said. 
Noble beat Australia’s Schmidtchen Benjamin and Whymns Denvaughn of The Bahamas who had jumps of 7.54 and 7.14, respectively.
The athlete, who returned home on Monday, said achieving the gold medal distance did not come without much hard work.
“I was slightly nervous but I was just thinking about jumping that distance in terms of the 7.6 [metres] because I have always wanted to jump that distance. The competition was very stiff so I had to keep focussed and I was just thinking about hitting the board because once I did that then I knew I would have ended up at first,” Noble said.
Minister of Sports EP Chet Greene, on Sunday, congratulated the Antigua Grammar School (AGS) student and encouraged the athlete to reach for the stars.
The nation will now turn its attention to the World Championships where sprinter Cejhae Greene will be Antigua & Barbuda’s lone individual competitor.
The country’s 4×1 relay team comprising Daniel Bailey, Chevaughn Walsh, Jared Jarvis and Tahir Walsh will also compete at the World Championships. Greene will also be on the relay team.