UEL sprinter aims for gold again
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Published
10 February 2023
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UEL alumnus Jona Efokolo is aiming to add to his medal collection at this summer’s World Championship in Budapest, he told East London Sport. Jona won three track medals in 2022 as part of the men’s Team GB/England 4x100m relay squad, including the Commonwealth Gold.
Recently, the 23 year old talked to East London Sport about his success on the track last year, his hopes and aspirations for 2023, graduating from the University of East London and his training regime. East London Sport is based at the University of East London campus in Docklands and provides multi -sport access for its students, staff and the wider community. It hosts a wide range of sports from Basketball, Volleyball and Judo and it has recently refurbished its gym at a cost of £500,000. SportsDock was a training base for Team USA for the London Olympics in 2012.
Interview with Jona Efoloko, University of East London alumnus
Jona said that 2022 was, “All about the hard work we put in as a team put in and it showed how much we trusted ourselves. You can never have too many medals and my family love to see them and take pictures but our target is to some more Gold to them this year.”
He described how well the Team GB/Team England relay teams worked together on and off the track “GB Athletics has been great and we have camps where we spend time together. We don’t train but get to know each other and that all helps with our preparation and training, as trust is so important, ” he said.
Jona said the support of fans made a great difference to the team’s performance, especially at the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham. “When you step on the track and you’re running you zone out from the crowd but when they announce that you’re representing Team GB or Team England and say your name you get goosebumps and 100% the crowd lifts you. When you run it’s all about tunnel vision and getting the job done.”
Jona studied Business Marketing at UEL and he offers this advice to new students.
I believe that academic qualifications are as important as sport. A sports career doesn’t last forever. From my perspective academia and sport go hand in hand. It’s so important to believe in yourself and to be able to say that you did your best,” he said.
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