A 6-year-old kid sat mesmerized in his family’s home in Kingston, Jamaica, as Michael Johnson took the world by storm with his historic double at the 1996 Olympic Games.
Perhaps hypnotized by the flash of those signature gold spikes, he watched as Johnson smashed the world record in the 200-meter final, lighting up the Atlanta night in 19.32 seconds.
Johnson had already struck gold in the 400-meter dash just two days before, becoming the first man in the history of the modern Olympic Games to pull the 200/400 sweep.
Maybe it was those gold spikes. Maybe it was the gold chain. Maybe it was the patented upright sprinting style Johnson used to crush his rivals on the sport’s grandest stage. Or maybe it was even the sudden burst of emotion in victory that remains an enduring image of the Olympic movement to this day.
One kid’s dream was born that day. That kid was Damar Forbes.
“I emulated him, I wanted to be like him,” Forbes revealed as he remembered watching Johnson as a young child. “There weren’t any Jamaicans really on the scene at that time like today, so I wanted to be the one to rival him. That’s what made me want to run. It really fueled me to want to run track and maybe one day be that star for Jamaica like Michael Johnson was at that time.”
Forbes holds tight the memories of his youth.
Racing his friends to school stoked a competitive fire in Forbes. He tells the story of playing “Catch You” with the other children in which he would give a friend a head start and race to school, to the store or even to their house. He laughs as he shares stories of the triumphs that only fueled his fire.
At 6 years old, Forbes was too young for organized athletics. He and his primary school classmates would instead dream of one day racing against their idols, like Michael Johnson and Merlene Ottey.
“That’s how we would have fun most of the time,” he said. “I never actually raced in a meet or anything like that. We pretty much just made up our own races and things like that. I was fast back then, so I won a lot of the time. That’s what you have to do as kids, I guess.”
But it was as a kid when Forbes’ life would change forever.
On the promise of better job prospects and a prosperous life for her children, Forbes’ mother, Joan, immigrated to the United States in 1998 and settled in Pittsburgh, Pa., with members of her extended family. Forbes remained in Jamaica with his father, Hopeton, before later joining his mother in Pittsburgh as he neared his eighth birthday. His brother, Damion, also made the move to the U.S.
While Forbes was too young to compete for his school in Kingston, his introduction to organized athletics as an elementary school student in Pittsburgh would one day open the door to chase his dream.
His first track meet was a city championship when he and his classmates loaded a bus and made a trip to a local track to compete against many of the Pittsburgh area schools.
“I couldn’t believe I was actually going to a real meet,” Forbes remembered. “I would tell my mother, ‘This is my dream, this is what I want to do. I want to run track, I want to go to the Olympics!’ She would just laugh and think, ‘Oh, he’s just being juvenile,’ or whatever. But she encouraged me.”
And after winning his first city race, Forbes was encouraged himself.
“Those city competitions in elementary school really got me into organized track. That was so much fun,” Forbes said. “From then I just started competing in summer track. It just kept going from there.”
It wasn’t until Forbes competed on the summer circuit at 10 and 11 years old that he was introduced to the event that would one day carry him to the pinnacle of the sport.
That’s when he first took flight in the long jump.
“We would have jumping competitions all the time, just me and my friends,” Forbes said. “We would just try to jump up and see who could jump the highest, or jump over certain things or whatever. I would pride myself in being able to jump over things without touching them. I could jump pretty far. It was just one of those things where one day somebody suggested I do the long jump.
“I had always wanted to be a sprinter growing up, so I kind of did both for a while. When I started to get a lot better jumping, I knew what I needed to do. I never looked back from there.”
Pennsylvania is home to one of the truly unique events in all of sports with the annual running of the Penn Relay Carnival at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia.
The Penn Relays not only shines a spotlight on many of the nation’s top college programs, but also boasts a Jamaican flair with the country’s top talent on display within the ancient confines of Franklin Field each season. Forbes would often make the 300-mile trip east to Philadelphia with his mother to see many of his fellow countrymen compete at the highest level of the sport.
But that is also where Forbes fell in love with the LSU program he would one day call home.
In 2004, Forbes watched as Tiger great John Moffitt dominated the long jump to win the Penn Relays title in the event. Moffitt would later win the Olympic silver medal for the United States in Athens, Greece, nearly four months after the Penn Relays with his school record of 27 feet, 9 ½ inches.
“They were dominating, dominating,” Forbes proclaimed. “We went for Jamaica, like everybody else that came. But LSU, if I was going to pick a school that day, it was LSU because it seemed like they were winning everything. I didn’t know where the school was, but I knew the name LSU.
“I was just like, ‘Yeah, that’s my school.’ I told my mom that since ’04. That’s what I’ve been striving for from the beginning. That’s where I always wanted to go.”
It wouldn’t be long before Forbes was also on LSU’s radar as one of the nation’s top prep prospects.
After again moving with his mother to Decatur, Ga., before his freshman season, Forbes flourished during his four-year stint at Martin Luther King, Jr. High School. LSU’s assistant coach Todd Lane first watched the tall, lanky prospect perform in Omaha, Neb., at the 2008 USA Track & Field National Junior Olympic Championships during the summer following his junior season.
That’s where Forbes saved his best jump for last as he soared 24-8 ½ for a new personal record on his last attempt to capture the USATF Junior Olympics gold medal.
“What impressed me the most about Damar was the way he competed,” Lane recalled as he watched from the stands as Forbes won his gold medal. “He really stepped it up and willed himself to the win that day. I could see that he had talent, but what I remember most is how competitive he was. I left the track that day knowing this was a kid we had to recruit and try to get to LSU.”
Little did Lane know how easy a sell LSU would be to one of the nation’s bright young stars.
Forbes took his official visit to Baton Rouge within weeks of competing at the LSU Indoor Classic during his senior season in 2009. It would be the only visit he needed to take.
“I just always wanted to go to LSU. I just couldn’t see myself competing against LSU,” Forbes said. “For some reason, I didn’t even care what happened on the visit. I knew where I was going to go from the start. Everything else didn’t really matter to me. It was the only visit I took.
“I just didn’t want to take any more (visits). It wouldn’t be fair to the other schools recruiting me for them to have me come on a visit when I already knew where I was going.”
Lane says he even encouraged Forbes to hold off on his commitment and take another visit before making his decision to sign a National Letter of Intent with the Tigers.
“I remember Damar meeting with Coach (Dennis) Shaver at the end of his visit and going over everything and him saying, ‘I’m committed,’ Lane said. “When he met with me, I told him to wait a bit, go home and talk it over with his family and maybe take another visit. He told me, ‘I’m committed.’ I did not want him to rush into anything, but he just kept telling me, ‘I’m committed.’ That’s what he wanted to do.”
Forbes only scratched the surface of his potential as a freshman. The highlight of his season was certainly his return to Franklin Field for the Penn Relays, but this time as a competitor.
In a scene reminiscent of his victory at the USATF Junior Olympics two years earlier, Lane watched from his spot in the stands as Forbes again entered the final round of jumps trailing the leader. A sudden roar of the crowd fell on the infield as Forbes stepped onto the runway.
Taking his mark, Forbes reached into the legging of his uniform and flashed a small Jamaican flag to the fans watching from the grandstand. Clenching his nation’s banner, Forbes clapped his hands over his head to the cheers of the crowd. Suddenly, Forbes sprinted down the runway like never before and soared to his new personal best of 25-10 ¾ to win the college long jump title in his Penn Relays debut.
“That was a lot of fun to watch. I guess it kind of came full circle for him,” Lane said.
And in just three seasons as an LSU Tiger, Forbes has written a resume to rival those of the program’s all-time greats. His three All-America and three All-SEC honors speak for themselves.
But it has been his performance at the NCAA Championships that has set him apart. Forbes has won three NCAA silver medals in the long jump in the past two seasons, including his second-place finish at the 2011 NCAA Division I Outdoor Track & Field Championships while joining the 27-foot club.
After brushing the sand from his uniform following his fifth jump, Forbes exploded on the Drake Stadium infield when “8.23” was followed by “27-0” on the board, the third-best jump in school history.
“I know I have it in me. I just need to hone it,” Forbes said of his development in the LSU program. “And I still feel like I have a lot of potential. It might take some more time for me to see that, but I feel like I am seeing some of it now. It’s great because this is where I wanted to come and this is where I’m flourishing. I’m following my dreams, and I’m going to embrace it and run with it.”
While Forbes has already represented Jamaica on the international stage at the World Championships one year ago in Daegu, South Korea, he is now ready to realize a dream 16 years in the making.
He will now forever own the title of “Olympian.”
He will don the Jamaican jersey on the Olympic stage as the Games of the XXX Olympiad begin with the opening ceremony in London on Friday night. Men’s long jump qualifying will be held Aug. 3.
“I’ve always had the same dream since before I even left Jamaica,” Forbes proclaims. “I always wanted to represent it. That never changed. Where I go in life may change, but that has never changed. From the day I watched Michael Johnson, I dreamed of going to the Olympics. I’m going to take in everything, but I am also going there to do the best I can for my country. I can’t wait.”
Forbes will now chase his dream with billions tuning in from around the world. Perhaps he will inspire an impressionable child somewhere to one day chase the same Olympic dream.