Jordan Baylis of Leimert Park's Transfiguration School and the Southern California Running Cougars will be bringing home the gold when he returns from the Junior Olympics in Baltimore.
The 11-year-old who lives across the street from me jumped 17 feet, 8 1/4 inches at the United States Track and Field event on July 30.

His mom said that he has been working hard for more than a year, so hard that his parents decided to put him on a club team to run all year long. Jordan not only practices hard on the field but studies the sport. He watched Carl Lewis, one of the great track and field Olympians of all times, on Youtube to emulate his skills.

Obviously something worked.

Tonight in London, Brittney Reese of the USA won a gold in the long jump as she flew 23 feet, 4 1-2 inches. Earlier this week, Will Clay took the bronze with a jump of 26 feet, 7 3/4 inches, behind Great Britain's Greg Rutherford (27-3 1/4) and Australia's Mitchell Watt (26-9 1/4).