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Philips Idowu wins TJ gold

From www.iaaf.org - Berlin, Germany - Phillips Idowu has red hair and piercings in his tongue, left eye-brow and bottom lip. Just for good measure, he wears silver rings in both his ears. But tonight in the Olympic Stadium, all that glitters really is gold for the extrovert British triple jumper after he finally achieved what he has dreamed about for so long - becoming the World champion. Twelve months after twice leading the competition at the Olympic Games in Beijing, before finishing second behind Portugal's Nelson Evora, Idowu, 30, gained his revenge. Evora was also the defending World champion but Idowu beat him with the best jump of his life, a soaring, powerful third round leap of 17.73m to break his personal best by five centimetres and finally earn the reward his career has been crying out for. "You know what, it's a good day," said Idowu as he spoke within minutes of his win. "I have a World outdoor title to go with my World indoor one."

In Beijing, he cried when he realised he had come so close. There were tears again tonight. He said, "I broke down when the competition was over. I don't know what was going through my mind." And as for this win making up for Beijing, Idowu said: "Last year? What happened last year?" What happened last year was straight-forward. It was the making of this outstanding field eventer from London who now can focus on the Olympics coming to his home town in 2012 knowing he can win gold there too because he has proved he can do it at last. But tonight he achieved an aim that has been 12 months in the making. He started thinking about Berlin as he received silver in Beijing. Idowu said his mind went to these World Championships, “When they put the medal around my neck (at the Olympics)”. He added: “You have to look ahead. That competition was over so I have to look forward to the next one.” He started training at the end of October and even though he hit 30 the next month, it had no effect on him. “Being 30 does not make a difference to me. I thought I would have to buy a sports car and date 21-year-old blondes or something like that! But I am cool.” "A lot of people think that being 33 by the time of London I may be beyond performing at my best but I feel that only now have I started to reach the potential that people have been talking about for the last six years.”

Idowu originates from Hackney in East London and he is one of the closest British athletes to live near to the Olympic Park. His school sports lesson were on the football pitches of Hackney Marshes which are literally across the road from the epi-centre of the Olympic venue - but for so long in Britain he has had to live in the shadow of World record holder Jonathan Edwards. It was at the World championships in Gothenburg in 1995 that Edwards broke the World record twice with his amazing jumps of 18.16m and 18.29m. When Idowu first gained world-class recognition, the comparisons with Edwards were obvious. Yet how fitting it was tonight that he should break his personal best on his way to gold tonight because he his old mark of 17.68m had always been associated with silver. It had been set when he took the lead in the final of the Commonwealth Games back in Manchester in 2002. Gold was his for the taking then - before Edwards leapt 17.86m to beat him. It was the first of many psychological blows that Idowu has had to take in his career. At the Olympics in Athens, he failed to record a legal jump in the final and did not make the cut. Then in Beijing, Evora soared past him. But this intensely private man never gave in. He changed his coach, switching to Aston Moore, the Birmingham guru who guided Asia Hansen to a Triple Jump world record indoors in 1998. It meant a great deal of travelling from his London home, but a journey that has brought the greatest of rewards. He said: “You need to set high standards to be one of the best jumpers. "You have to aim for the stars. I didn't want to sit here and constantly say I want to get bronze or finish fourth. If I did that, I might as well pack up and go do something else.”

His first major outdoor title arrived in Melbourne in 2006 when he won the Commonwealth Games before he won the European Indoor title in Birmingham in 2007, the World Indoor crown a year later in Valencia and now, after the disappointment in Beijing, the glory of tonight. Idowu had been only fifth in the world rankings before Berlin and when Evora reached 17.54m with the first jump of the whole competition, it set a tough standard. But true champions are the ones that deliver the great performances when it matters most. Evora did that in Osaka and Beijing and when Idowu took to the runway in round three, he steeled himself for what was ahead. This was the moment of his career and as he took off it looked a sensational effort. Indeed it was. The scoreboard flashed up 17.73m, and the silver studs on his face began preparing for a golden friend to join them.

Christine Ohuruogu (GBR) placed 5th in the 400m final in a season's best 50.24 secs. The defending Champion, who missed 2 weeks training with a hamstring injury on the eve of the Championships, gave a good account of herself and will live to fight another day.