KNIGHT-WISDOM Yona

General
COMPETING FOR JAMAICA
Born in Leeds, England, he had the choice of competing for Great Britain, his father's birthplace of Jamaica, or Barbados where his mother was born. He opted for Jamaica and received his Jamaican passport in January 2012. "First thing is, that's where Usain Bolt is from. Two, I could get more funding than from Barbados, and three, I figured I could get into international competitions this way instead of waiting to make the Great Britain team." (sportspielonline.com, 13 Oct 2019; yorkshirepost.co.uk, 22 Jul 2013; jamaicaobserver.com, 09 Aug 2012)

BASED IN SCOTLAND
In 2018 he left Leeds, England, and moved to Scotland to train with coach Jen Leeming at Edinburgh Diving Club. "I made a diving decision to train in Edinburgh for the remainder of the Olympic cycle [speaking in 2018]. This is because of the growing programme up here and the quality of the head coach. I made the decision after the suggestion from my old coach Edwin Jongejons and Ady Hinchiffe [at City of Leeds Diving Club] that I would be able to get more consistency and attention from the coaches here." (loopjamaica.com, 07 May 2021; olympics.com, 13 May 2019; jamaica-gleaner.com, 01 Oct 2018)

POST-RIO EXPECTATIONS
He said his life after competing at the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro did not meet his expectations. "I had expectations coming off the back of an Olympic Games, which were not real. What actually happened wasn't how I expected it to turn out. I got back from Rio and spent a week doing absolutely nothing. I spent most of the day in bed, playing on my phone, but I thought I would be seeing so many people. I thought everyone would be congratulating me, there would be parties for me and I just thought all these crazy things. But it didn't happen, and it took me a long time to understand that's not how it worked. In the years since then I've been on a journey trying to understand that no-one really cares what you do. There are so many people on this planet. What you do as a person, there's probably about three people that care about it. That's probably your best friend and your parents. People go forward and they'll give you one day of celebration but that's it. You can't allow yourself to bask in those moments for too long. Enjoy it, by all means enjoy it as much as you can, but you can't just rest on those moments. Times change and life goes on quickly." (sportspielonline.com, 13 Oct 2019)

ANATOMY
In 2017 he participated in the Olympic Channel series 'Anatomy of a Champion' where he visited a laboratory in Liverpool, and all of his physical traits would be evaluated. He was identified as the tallest competitor in the 3m springboard event at the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro and he also has abdominal muscles that support his height. "I worked very hard for years to strengthen them. And this has helped me enormously because I want to make a good entry into the water, and this is what the judges see last. It's an important point and my abs help me a lot with that." (olympics.com, 13 May 2019; Olympics YouTube channel, 13 Feb 2017)

He became the first Jamaican male diver to compete at the Olympic Games when he participated in the 3m springboard at the 2016 Games in Rio de Janeiro. (loopjamaica.com, 02 Apr 2021; SportsDeskOnline, 31 May 2021)

He became the first Jamaican diver to compete at the world championships when he participated in the 1m springboard at the 2013 edition in Barcelona, Spain. (yorkshirepost.co.uk, 22 Jul 2013; SportsDeskOnline, 31 May 2021)