Jonathan Broom-Edwards Interview

Jonathan Broom-Edwards is the T64 World and Paralympic High Jump Champion born with talipes equinovarus (also known as clubbed foot).

Initially Broom-Edwards played basketball before giving high jump a try during his time at Loughborough University and realising he was “pretty good” at it. However, it wasn’t until a sports massage therapist spotted Broom-Edwards and told him he could qualify for the Paralympic Games, that Broom-Edwards realised his potential.

He saw my leg and was like tell me about your leg and I told him, talipes equinovarus (clubbed foot) it’s what I was born with. He said you know you can classify for the Paralympics with that, and I was like nah, I had never seen myself as a disabled athlete, it was just my gammy leg. But it didn’t get off the ground until after 2012, and I wasn’t fully classified until 2013.”

At his first World Championships In Lyon 2013, Broom-Edwards placed second – earning his first international silver medal in high jump. He went on to win two more silver medals at World Championships in 2015, and 2017, also winning silver at the Rio Paralympics in 2016. Silver finally turned into gold in 2019 at the World Championships in Doha, where Jonathan jumped 2.02 meters – claiming his first World Champion title.

In Tokyo 2021, the pressure was on as Broom-Edwards, the World Champion, was eager to add another gold medal to his collection. Jumping an astonishing 2.10 meters Broom-Edwards took his second gold – also beating his long term rival Maciej Lepiato (Paralympic Champion 2012 and 2016, and World Champion 2011, 2013 and 2015).

Becoming World and Paralympic Champion, however, was not a simple journey for Broom-Edwards, with several injuries along the way including a ruptured Achilles.

My career, excuse the pun, has had many ups and downs. The stubborn part of me always was thinking I can do better than this and I think rupturing my Achilles in 2018, gave me something really tough to work beyond. It got me to really focus in on my mind, I had to become very present, I had to work on my head, I had to work on my meditation – because not many people come back from those sorts of injuries.

Taking up high jump was a key pivotal point in Broom-Edwards’ life, providing him opportunities to compete on the world stage - challenging himself more than he ever thought possible, both physically and mentally.

You work within the boundaries of your capabilities, but it gives you this opportunity to really discover what boundaries are actually there and what boundaries you are probably placing on yourself or are in your head I didn’t realise my potential until sport came along, sport really gave me this opportunity and platform to realise my potential, demand more out of myself and demand more out of my leg . To the point now where I’m probably stronger, fitter, faster than a lot of my able-bodied counter parts. You don’t know how strong you are until strong is all you’ve got.

On top of training and competing, Broom-Edwards is also an athlete ambassadorand motivational speaker – inspiring those of all ages to achieve the best they can. He has also recently started studying for an Osteopathy degree to further pursue his passion for physical therapy.

I find a lot of joy in what I do as a therapist and as a motivational speaker – it gives me joy to help others. My story is really specific in terms of what I do – I jump over a stick, so that’s not really relatable but the journey I have gone through, the ups and downs, the hard times I’ve had to push beyond, the times I wanted to quit but I haven’t, are things that are relatable to people from all walks of life I’d say to anyone looking to get into para sport, jump at it - really go into it, and give it your all because you will discover things about yourself. It's given me many happy moments, it’s given me a lot of horrible moments as well, but that’s the beauty of life isn’t it. Just explore your own limitations and what it feels like to go beyond them.