Olympic triple jumper Salif Mane will listen to his late father’s voice before he goes for the gold
One U.S. athlete’s bid for Olympic gold is being fueled by his father’s voice.
One U.S. athlete’s bid for Olympic gold is being fueled by his father’s voice.
But Salif Mane’s father won’t be in Paris to cheer on his son when he competes, for the first time, at the Summer Olympics in the triple jump event against some of the world’s top athletes.
Instead, the 22-year-old New Yorker will perform the same ritual he did when he won a spot last month on the U.S. track and field team and struck gold at the Olympic trials: He will listen and relisten to the voicemails his father left him in December 2019, a few months before he died from Covid.
“There are three voicemails from him that I kept,” Mane told NBC News. “In them, he just says positive things like I am praying for you, or go out there and do well.”
Stream every moment and every medal of the 2024 Paris Olympics on Peacock, starting with the Opening Ceremony July 26 at 12 p.m. ET.
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