Olympian's mom, twin hope to get to Beijing

When an 8-year-old Jacquelyn Johnson started in track and field, she would often tell people to watch for her in the Olympics some day.

Her mother, Beth Knapp, said that confidence, focus and enthusiasm never wavered.

"Whatever goal she set, she would exceed," Knapp said via telephone from her home in Buckeye. "She's like that. She makes a goal and she achieves it."

Knapp has been there for most of Johnson's triumphs on the track, from her days as a member of the now-defunct Yuma Valley Flyers club team, where she got her start, to the U.S. track and field trials in Eugene, Ore., on June 27-28, where Johnson qualified second in the heptathlon and became the first athlete from Yuma to ever reach the Olympic Games.

"It was very emotional because I know she talked about it since she was little," said Knapp, who relocated to Buckeye from Yuma two years ago. "Even down to the last event, the reality of it didn't hit till she did that last 800 and went through the finish line."

And now, one way or another, Knapp said she's going to be there with Johnson as her dream of 16 years in the making comes to fruition in Beijing on Aug. 15 and 16.

Knapp said the cost to make the trip is about $4,000 to $5,000 per person. She said that she is going to find a way there "no matter what," but added she would love to bring Johnson's twin brother, Jermyn, to support her on the world's stage as well.

"My mom is one of my biggest supporters and I want her there," Johnson said in a telephone interview from Tempe. "It would be great to see my mom and my brother in the stands because not a lot of people are going to be able to go to Beijing. But to have at least my mom out of all people, and my brother there to watch me would help boost my confidence.

"It just helps to have someone there you know in the stands watching."

In between her days with the Flyers and her preparation for the Olympics, the 2003 Yuma High graduate won an Arizona high school record 14 state titles in track and seven NCAA championships at Arizona State.

Johnson said she credits her very first coach with the Flyers, Walter McCloud, for giving her Olympic aspirations.

"A couple years after I started, Coach McCloud would tell me, 'You're pretty good, I think you can make it,'" Johnson said. "Ever since he told me that, it was over. I was like, 'I'm gonna go. That's what I want to do.'"

Dorothy Johnson, Jacquelyn's grandmother who still lives in Yuma, said she hopes Jacquelyn's biggest fan can make the trip for the most important event of her life.

"Her mother has followed her everywhere for track, just about whenever she could," Dorothy said. "She's a hard-working mother, and she's been behind her every step of the way."

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Make checks or money orders out to Beth Knapp. Send to The Sun, Attn: Accounting, 2055 S. Arizona Ave., Yuma, AZ 85364 or drop off at the front desk. The cutoff for donations is July 22.

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Derrik Miller can be reached at
dmiller@yumasun.com or 782-6520.