Cape Town - Breaking records has become the norm for an Athlone-born skater who continues to defy the odds.
Jean-marc Johannes was advised by doctors against any sport as he grew up with chronic asthma and spent many days in hospital.
However, he still went on to participate in skateboarding and has made a huge success of it.
He's been breaking world records every consecutive year since 2016 and more recently he did 14 heelflips within one minute, beating the previous record of eight. This now makes him an eight-time world record holder.
Johannes said he was grateful to be able to have achieved this. “I’ve always wanted to prove to myself that I could push my own limit in any way possible, so I’m happy to continue to be able to do so in this way.
“What motivates me is the idea of growing and learning as an athlete, to always find the opportunity to do both, and I feel that breaking a record is one of my own ways I can do that, mentally more than physically. I wanted to show the youth that impossible is nothing and that we can do more than what we think we're capable of.
“Perhaps it’s different for others who have broken a record. For me personally I always said it's more mental than physical. When I'm out having a normal session, I start doing the specific trick at different locations, so eventually over time it becomes second nature. When it comes down to doing the attempt, I would have already known how to do the trick in almost every way,” he said.
Johannes plans to break two more records by the end of August.
“This is a personal journey for me which began many years ago. I stopped going to hospitals when I was nine years old and I started skating when I was 10. I owed it to myself to break 10 records. I look forward to skate internationally and hopefully build a skate park one day and create opportunities for skateboarders.
“Skateboarding is an art form before it is a sport, it’s limitless in the fact that there are an endless amount of tricks to learn and we can create our own tricks out of pure thought. I love the fact that there's a way to grow mentally without limits.Thank you to everyone for the support and for believing in me,” he said.
His coach and close friend Ghaamid Julius said he felt lucky to have witnessed Johannes’s journey.
“It’s been like more than 16 years now. I feel like the push has been on for a long time.The push to make baby steps in terms of getting proper recognition and sponsors locally took years in the beginning. Thankfully, he was able to.
“He always seemed to use one success to plan the next. There’s also the fact that he was able to truly dedicate himself more to skating full-time to tap further into his potential.
“It’s always fun to watch someone who is naturally talented. He’s been humble in his approach but highly motivated and determined.That energy is good to be around and part of what skateboarding is really about,” he said.