This CT athlete set to compete in Olympic Trials triple jump final Sunday

After Sean Dixon-Bodie missed on his first two triple jumps attempts Friday night at the U.S. Olympic Track and Field Trials, Maurice Calenda was a little nervous watching his former athlete’s last attempt.But Dixon-Bodie, a senior at the University of Florida from Bloomfield, came through, jumping 52 feet, 9 1/2 inches to advance to the finals of the triple jump Sunday. The top three jumpers, if they meet the qualifying standard of 56 feet, 6 inches, will advance to the Paris Olympic Games.“I was sweating myself,” said Calenda, the former jumping coach at Bloomfield High. “I didn’t even want to watch that last jump, that’s how nervous I was.“The first two jumps, something was off with his runway, He wasn’t running through the board; he was stutter-stepping. I guess he figured it out on the last jump, and he got in.”Calenda had faith in Dixon-Bodie, whom he started coaching Dixon-Bodie’s freshman year in high school.“I knew he could make the finals at the Trials with how he’s been jumping and where he is in his training,” Calenda said. “To see him struggle in those first two jumps – maybe he was overthinking it or trying too hard – other than that, I definitely knew he could make the finals.”This is Dixon-Bodie’s second Olympic Trials; he made the finals in 2021 following his freshman year at LSU before he transferred to Florida, where he has been a three-time first team All-American in both indoor and outdoor triple jump.When Dixon-Bodie was at Bloomfield, he started off as a soccer player who liked to run. He competed in the 400 and 800 meters in track, but the coaches quickly noticed his jumping ability and moved him there.“He didn’t like it at first,” Bloomfield boys track coach Garfield White said. “His junior year we started seeing the signs of him being really good at it and he exploded his senior year.”Dixon-Bodie won eight state titles in high school and was an All-American. He did not get to compete his senior year in outdoor track because the 2020 season was canceled due to COVID-19.His LSU team won the NCAA championship and the last two years, Florida has won the NCAA title, with Dixon-Bodie finishing eighth in the triple jump (53-5) this year after finishing fourth last year. Indoors, he finished fifth at the NCAAs (54-1 ¾).Calenda talks to Dixon-Bodie, who also competes in the long jump for Florida, after every meet but didn’t talk to him Friday. He did text him, however.“I said, ‘Whatever happened during those first couple jumps, let it go, you’ll be fine, continue to have that survive and advance mentality,’” Calenda said. “‘Get ready for the finals and go ahead and go after it.’”Dixon-Bodie has not reached the Olympic standard yet, but Calenda believes that on a good day, he can do it.“He’s a 55-foot jumper, but he’s going to have to pull one out of the hat (to hit the standard),” Calenda said. “I do believe if he puts it all together – he’s had a couple jumps this year where he got out there and kind of over rotated or lost his balance, especially NCAAs indoor, he had a jump where he was going to jump a bomb, but he over rotated and missed… if that Sean shows up, yes, he’ll get that standard.“His body is ready to do it. He just has to put it all together.”

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