Jaysuma Saidy Ndure (born 1 January 1984) is a Gambian-Norwegian sprinter. He is of Serer heritage of the noble Ndure family. In 2002, he went to Oslo, aged 18 and settled with his father who has lived in Norway since the 1970s. Having changed nationality from Gambia to Norway in 2006, he holds Norwegian records in the 100 and in the 200 metres,Gambian athletics records – Athlerecords.netNorwegian athletics records – Athlerecords.net and is the seventh and fourth fastest European of all times on the two distances. He has a bronze medal from the African Championships and several top-three placings in IAAF Golden League meets and the IAAF World Athletics Final.
Early and personal life Saidy was born in Bakau, western Gambia, and raised by his mother. His first experience in the sprint events came in high school in his hometown. He reportedly took up the 200 metres event in order to avoid beating his friend, who already had taken up the 100 metres event. In June 2001 Saidy entered the West African Championships in Lagos, and won the 200 metres in 21.27.West African Games and Championships – GBR Athletics The result was a new Gambian record time. However, setting a national record did not inspire him to commence serious training, as he still preferred to play basketball and volleyball for fun with his schoolmates.
In 2002, Saidy moved to Oslo, Norway. A number of relatives already lived in the vicinity, most importantly Saidy's father who had lived in Norway since the 1970s. Searching for a leisure activity, Saidy decided to take up athletics again and joined one of the athletics clubs in the Norwegian capital, IL i BUL, whose training sessions were held in the internationally known Bislett stadion. Here, his talent was soon discovered and Saidy was put in contact with coach Olav Magne Tveitå, who still coaches him.
Saidy later established a relationship with Heidi Trollsås, a retired 400 m hurdler hailing from the Norwegian city Sandefjord who competed on the national level. The couple eventually moved to Blystadlia outside of Oslo, where they still live. Trollsås also functioned in the capacity of manager until 2008. Feeling that a professional agent was needed to handle Saidy's career, they hired noted Swedish athletics manager Daniel Westfeldt. Shortly thereafter Saidy signed a lucrative five-year contract with Nike.
Athletic career
2002 to 2003 In 2002, the year Saidy came to Norway, he started competing more seriously in more international competitions. Eighteen years of age, he was in the age group to compete at the World Junior Championships in Kingston, Jamaica. He competed in the 200 metres, but did not progress past the first round with a fifth place in his heat. With the time of 21.53 seconds he finished fifth in his heat, behind such athletes as eventual bronze medalist Wes Felix and Leigh Julius.2002 World Junior Championships Official Results – 200 METRES – Men – Heats – IAAF.org A week later Saidy entered the Commonwealth Games held in Manchester, England. Here he qualified for the next round for the first time, at the same time setting a new Gambian record of 21.25 seconds. He did exit in the next round after finishing fifth in the heat, the four best finishers in each heat progressing to the semi-finals.Commonwealth Games results – July 28 – Athletics results – Sporting Life However, the quarter-final time of 21.20 seconds marked yet another Gambian record.
After arriving in Norway that summer, he tried the 100 metres and ran in 10.66 seconds in Drammen in August. In Norway alone, five athletes had better marks that season.
The 2003 season turned out to be another season with steady progression, but still without achieving the major international breakthrough. In July he broke his first Gambian 100 metres record, running in 10.52 seconds in Gothenburg. The old record was 10.54 seconds, set by Lamin Sanyang in May 2001 in Saidy's hometown Bakau. The next day he ran the 200 metres, and set his second Gambian record in two days with 21.18 seconds, this time in headwind.
At the 2003 African Junior Championships he won a bronze medal in the 100 metres and the 200 metres gold medal.African Junior Championships – GBR Athletics In August Saidy competed at his first World Championships, still only 19 years old. The competition in the 2003 World Championships in Paris proved too tough, as Saidy once again failed to reach the second round. With 21.42 seconds, he finished sixth out of seven in a heat where eventual silver medalist Darvis Patton, among others, ran. Saidy did however have the fastest reaction time in his heat with 0.128 seconds.2003 World Championships Official Results – 200 Metres – Men – Heats – IAAF.org
On another note, in May Saidy he tried the 400 metres for the first time, clocking in 48.76 seconds in a local meet in Oslo. As of 2007, he has not run the distance again. Nonetheless, he has stated that the 400 metres might become his special event after turning 30 years old.
2004 to 2005 2004 would be the year when Saidy won his first international medal at senior level, and progressed significantly in both the short sprint events.
During the indoor season, he lowered his personal best in the 60 metres to 6.77 seconds, achieved in a February meet in Gothenburg. In late May he broke the 21-second barrier on the 200 metres, demolishing his own Gambian record with 20.69 seconds in Szombathely. During the same meet he also broke the 100 metres record twice in as many days, with 10.46 on 29 May and then 10.37 on 30 May. Two months later he won the bronze medal in the 100 metres event at the 2004 African Championships, clocking in 10.43 seconds and finishing behind Olusoji Fasuba and Idrissa Sanou.African Championships – GBR Athletics It was the third Gambian medal at the African Championships, following the two bronze medals at the 1996 edition. He did not place in the 200 metres at this championships.
In August, Saidy made his final preparations for his first Olympic Games participation. He showed great form by lowering the national 100 metres record yet again, first to 10.29 seconds in Malmö and then 10.27 seconds a week later in Lillehammer. The Olympic Games began three weeks later. The Gambian Olympic squad only consisting of two athletes, Saidy and female runner Adama Njie, Saidy was chosen as the Gambian flagbearer at the opening ceremony. He entered both the 100 and 200 metres, and for the first time, he progressed from the first round in a global international competition. Moreover, he did so in both events. The 100 metres event took place first. Here, Saidy lowered his record to 10.26 seconds as he progressed by finishing third in his heat, behind eventual silver medalist Francis Obikwelu and Ronald Pognon. In the quarter-final, however, 10.39 seconds was not enough to reach the next round. He finished in last place in his heat, this time having the slowest reaction time.2004 Olympic Games Official Results – 100 Metres – Men – Quarter-Final – IAAF.org In the 200 metres event, the first four finishers of each heat plus the four fastest times overall would qualify for the next round; with a fifth-place finish in the heat and a time of 20.78 seconds Saidy became the last athlete to qualify.2004 Olympic Games Official Results – 200 Metres – Men – Heats – IAAF.org Again, he ran in the heats with an eventual medalist, Shawn Crawford who went on to win the Olympic gold medal. The quarter-final saw Saidy finish sixth, failing to progress further.
His season debut in 2005 came at Florø on 4 June, where he ran the 100 metres in 10.53 seconds and the 200 metres in a mediocre 21.14 seconds. The main goal for the 2005 season was the World Championships. Unlike the Olympic Games the previous year, Saidy only competed in the 200 metres. He progressed comfortably from both the heat and the quarter-final. In the semi-final he ended fifth in his heat, 0.07 seconds behind Usain Bolt who with 20.68 seconds secured the last spot in the final.2005 World Championships in Athletics – Results 200 Metres M Semi-Final – Iaaf.org
Two months before the World Championships, he had set another Gambian record in the 200 metres, running in 20.57 seconds on 12 June in Warsaw. At the same meet he also clocked a season's best in the 100 metres of 10.31 seconds, which meant that he did not break the 100 m record in 2005. In July he ran under his 2004 record time on two further occasions. Only a week after the World Championships, he won a meet in Malmö to break the 200 metres record once more. The new record was 20.51 seconds.
2006 to 2007
The 2006 season began early, with the 2006 Commonwealth Games being held in March in Melbourne, Australia. Saidy ran a 10,56-second 100 metres on 9 March as a test, but did not compete in the 100 metres event at the Commonwealth Games which took place on 19 March. Instead he opted for the 200 metres event. Having progressed to the semi-final, he was eliminated there after placing fifth in his heat. He was only 0.04 seconds behind Uchenna Emedolu who secured the last final spot in that heat; the other heat saw three competitors finish in the range of 20.72–20.73 seconds, yet still advance to the final.
After the Commonwealth Games Saidy spent the next month training, before running a 20.89-second 200 metres in Dakar in late April. Two weeks later he improved to 20.59 seconds at the Super Grand Prix meet in Doha. He remained active through the summer, despite not entering the 2006 African Championships to defend his medal from 2004. Having run well at various Grand Prix meets, he collected enough points to finish fifth on the World Athletics Tour,2006 Grand Prix – Men's 200 Metres Standings – IAAF.org thus enabling him to compete at the World Athletics Final for the first time. The 2006 World Athletics Final was held in Stuttgart, and Saidy made an international breakthrough as he finished sixth in the 200 metres in a new Gambian record time of 20.47 seconds.
This would be his last Gambian record. He had filed for Norwegian citizenship a few days before the World Athletics Final. The next month his citizenship application was accepted by the Norwegian Directorate of Immigration.
In 2007 he made his season debut with 20.62 in the 200 metres at the Super Grand Prix meet in May in Doha. He did not run the 100 metres until late June, when he achieved a mediocre 10.50 seconds in pouring rain during a national meet in Lillehammer. Another low-key 10.44 performance in Malmö the next week followed, but the meet was still successful as he broke his own best time in the 200 metres with a 20.41-second race. The display of form continued at the end of the month, as he finally broke his three-year-old personal best in the 100 metres, running in 10.10 seconds in Tallinn. In addition, he lowered his personal best time in the 200 metres to 20.25 seconds at the same meet. The news report titled "Norwegian record up next", he indeed lived up to the expectations: On 7 August he participated in both events at the DN Galan Super Grand Prix meet in Stockholm. He ran the 100 metres in 10.07 seconds, erasing the Norwegian record held by former European champion Geir Moen since 1996. The result was even achieved in a headwind of 1,0 m/s, leading him to believe that a time in the range of 9 seconds was achievable in a manner of time.