- 21 Aug 08, 05:50 PM
All day, the omens had looked so good for Phillips Idowu.
The rain had fallen so heavily in Beijing that he could have been at home in London. His hair was dyed red, the same tone as the Chinese flag. He even had the same bib number, 1809, as Kelly Holmes had worn when she won 1500m gold in Athens - the same number, spookily, as the Olympic triple jump record.
But in the end, even for a man who had said a few weeks ago that he felt "bullet-proof", who had gone all year unbeaten and who produced his season's best in the Olympic final, it wasn't quite enough.
This was one of those strange evenings where the disappointments almost overshadowed the gold medals.
Thursday night was meant to be the evening that Liu Xiang lifted the roof off the Bird's Nest by retaining his 110m hurdles crown, the set-piece moment where the whole of China gathered round their television sets and celebrated victory for their favourite son.
Instead, with Liu's Achilles injury forcing him out of Monday's heats before he'd cleared a single hurdle, Dayron Robles' fine win was greeted with generous applause but little more. It didn't matter how beautifully Robles hurdled. In Liu's absence, it could never be the same for the home crowd.
For Britain, Idowu's near-miss was preceded by Goldie Sayers losing out on a javelin bronze by a single place, even after throwing a new British record - and declaring herself "sick as a dog" afterwards.
The highly-promising Michael Rimmer failed to get through his 800m semi, stricken by food poisoning, and Martyn Rooney ran more than half a second slower in the 400m final than he had in his semi, when a time even two tenths of a second slower would have won him an unexpected bronze.
The women's 4x100m qualified for their final, but their male counterparts - the reigning Olympic champions - made a terrible mess of their last changeover and found themselves, correctly, disqualified.
For the American team it was even worse. First Jamaica completed its sweep of the individual sprint titles as Veronica Campbell-Brown blew away Allyson Felix in the 200m final.Then Darvis Patton and Tyson Gay dropped the relay baton with the race at their mercy, repeating the error which cost the US gold four years ago.
Just when they thought it couldn't get any worse, Torri Edwards and Lauryn Williams then did exactly the same.
Against that, the solitary victory for LaShawn Merritt in the 400m didn't really balance things up, particularly when reigning champion Jeremy Wariner ran so poorly behind him.
Unlike those relay teams, however, Idowu doesn't deserve any opprobrium.
Two nights after another east London-born Brit won gold in the Bird's Nest, he almost repeated Christine Ohuruogu's trick of coming from behind to snatch an Olympic title.
Idowu had sought to brush away the pressure of being gold medal favourite by telling himself beforehand that he was dealing with "just another sandpit in another country".
For the first three rounds, it looked to have worked. When Leevan Sands nailed a 17.59m to snatch the lead off Phillips, the Briton replied with 17.62m with his very next jump - the sort of response that his critics have often claimed is beyond him.
What none of us had counted on was that Portugal's Nelson Evora would in turn respond to Idowu's leap by producing a jump of 17.67m - his longest of the season by over 30cm - with just two rounds to go.
Four years ago in Athens, Idowu failed to land a single clean jump, exiting the biggest stage of all with three successive fouls.
This was different. He would have needed a personal best at the death to deny Evora, who hasn't been in the world's top 10 all summer, and PBs almost never happen in the last two rounds of a triple jump competition.
Five centimetres was all that stood between Idowu and gold in the final reckoning. Arguably, his rivals raised their game by a slightly larger percentage tonight than he did - but with margins that fine, it would be a harsh man who criticised him for that.
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This comment was removed because the moderators found it broke the House Rules.
He jumped a season's best.
To have won would have required a PB.
For us watching it is not a disappointment even if it may be for Phillips himself.
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I remember earlier in the season saying he could break the World Record, maybe at Crystal Palace. Lol.
Before you make claims like that, you need to back it up with ability.
I never thought he'd win as to be a great champion you need great genetics, train hard, and thirst to win at all costs under the highest pressure. Philips has 2 out 3 of these.
Irrespective of seassons bests or PBs, he should of won. Period.
Compare him to Jan Zelenzy in 2000. Backley broke the olympic record. Next round Zelenzy broke it back. Thats what you need to be a champ.
He did better than i thought, but never a champ.
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He seemed to lack something today, I'm not sure what, but he could, indeed should, have jumped further. I feel he needs to be introduced to the psychologist who works with the cyclists, can't remember his name, but 4 years of positive thought (remember Victoria Pembleton's failure in Athens and how that was turned around) could make him a winner in 2012, after all jumping in your own backyard must help the adrenalin.
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You can only control your own performance, not that of your competitors.
Philips jumped a season's best, which is really about the minimum acceptable performance at a major championship. It wasn't his fault that an opponent produced a surprisingly good distance and narrowly beat him.
He should be disappointed but more that he was unlucky than that his performance wasn't at the level it should have been (unlike in some previous championships, where he has fallen well short of expectations).
It was really the flip side of Ohorugu's gold, where she perfomred above expectations to take the gold from the favourite - this time Evora over-performed and Philips didn't have quite the capacity to respond.
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I'm disappointed he didn't get this though he did jump well, as it would have been good to have one gold without any controversy around it on the track and field. With the mens' relay baton dropped, and unless the Jamaicans do the same in the womens' the chances now look slim.
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Yet again the athletes on the track fail to deliver. How many medals won by the open water swimmers? - three! How many on the track? - three.
Time to have a team prepared to work, commit and focus.
If they want it enough....
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Well done to Team GB for such sucessful Olympics. Looks like you could manage to be the most sucessful european team.
Germany will make up some ground on Friday, but it might not be enough.
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What so many critics here like Katweb above, and elsewhere, seem to be forgetting is how flawed this argument of 'track and field athletes get the most funding of all our Olympic teams' is.
The global investment in achieving track and field success is so hugely proportionally greater than a sport such as rowing, sailing, or even swimming, that actually in reality GB track and field athletes face a FAR greater challenge than other Olympians to succeed and gain medals even with their greater funding. Far more nations put more focus on athletics than any other sport, so I see one gold, two silver and one bronze in the most competitive Olympic arena of all as another great GB achievement at these Games.
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It's not on the track! It's a field event!
A brilliant performance from our native red head (allbeit from a bottle)... 2nd in the Olympics... Silver medal... disappointing... you're all having a laugh.
He can be disappointed and want to spur himself on but some of the comments I've read on 606 and the blogs today are unbelievable.
The world Champ pulls out a massive jump in the 4th round when he's been under-performing all year. He came right and won it. Simple happens. Phillips's best on the day was not quite enough but Not by much.
Just because Evora had a bad season does not make him a bad jumper.
On the rest of the day... a 5th, a 4th with a PB... people are just getting spoilt by what has been an incredible medal haul. Athletics is the most competitive of the events and Jamaica have had a blinder but no country is going to dominate like they used to. Relax and enjoy probably the most exciting olympics I can remember...
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Never raised his game. Cant believe he didnt expect someone to jump far!
Its the Olympic games after all. 17.62m would never have been long enough to get gold at an olympic since 1988.
If you are World No.1, you have to win. Trouble is, deep down, Philips doesnt believe his own hype.
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Disappointed, but have to confess not all that surprised Idowu didn't get the Gold. Sorry, but I just never had that 100% confidence that some quarters did about his chances.
He did impress me in responding with that 17.62, much better than the one-and-done Idowu of old. But on a day when he needed that little extra Olympian performance he didn't have it.
Still. As had been pointed out, there are parallels to Edwards in '96, so if ever he's going to be motivated to get gold in 2012 then this is it.
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Trouble is, deep down, Philips doesnt believe his own hype
========================
But British sportsmen get critisised for believing their own hype
Anyway, Idowu was unlucky but he was simply beaten by the better guy. Evora makes a 17.59, Idowu responds but Evora just had an extra something today. Hopefully Idowu will learn from this and use it
Good performance though
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Idowu showed that he's nothing but a lot of talk and a bad haircut.
Sure he put in a decent jump, maybe even a great jump if it was Gateshead in April, but this is the Olympics and for the Olympics it was nothing special. Even then silver would have been acceptable if he hadn't been running his mouth all year. Maybe he'll keep his yap shut in the build up to 2012, but I doubt it.
I'm no expert, but I've got to question his technique. He always lands on his feet rather than his backside as the other do. Surely there's a few centimeters to be had there.
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With Michael Johnson now virtually working full time for the BBC why not pay him a few more quid to join UK Athletics as a coach and motivator the the track and field team for London 2012.
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"Darvis Patton and Tyson Gay dropped the relay baton with the race at their mercy, repeating the error which cost the US gold four years ago."
Didn't they win the silver behind GB four years ago? I could be wrong, but I don't think they dropped the baton (although unconvincing changes may have cost them gold, admittedly).
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Well done Phillips, you did your best and brought home a valued athletics silver, BPed and game 3xJumping a UK pedigree.
No complaints, solid performance,no ones bullet proof, and many althetes bomb out injured or burn up.
Hey Phillips; you brought up the amazing 40 Olympics medals for TeamGB
I wouldn't ever imagined this 14 days ago so the old patriotic ego looks contented but acknowledging in the mirror, reflecting back to the 1980's Great medals famine where silvers were like gold.
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I'm looking forward to 'Dazzlingbestinshow's' entry to 2012... Thery seem to be an expert and very good at whatever they do and are absolutely ready to do it in front of 91,000 people and billions watching on the TV worldwide.
Tell us 'Dazzling', which sport have you reached Olympic standard at???
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Weeks ago the BBC had already awarded the gold medal to Phillips, lots of interviews asking how it would feel to win the gold, what it would mean to be Olympic champion etc etc.
It is quite naive to assume (as the BBC did ) that whoever enters the competition with longest jump will win by right.
Although Phillips has jumped well all season and won all competitions, the winning distances of between 17.4m-17.55m have not been outstanding and would be vunerable in an olympic final, this proved to be the case, you have to factor in the possibility of someone getting it "right" on the day, as well the althletes holding back during the season and peaking at the right time (both apply to Evora and remember he is the world champion).
I think Phillips had a great competition, he acheived a seasons best in the Olympic final and won a silver medal, he will have gained confidence from this, so please BBC spare us the dour report with "disappointing" inserted everywhere, and remember just because everyone says you are going to win it doesn't mean you will.
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Oh... And Meazza, when you said 'I'm no expert', you summed it up.
You're not... they are. I think I'll leave it to them rather than start advising on technique from my armchair.
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Some of the comments on Idowu (all talk and a bad haircut - that sort of rubbish) are of a truly awesome stupidity.
On the other side, I am heartily tired of someone countering criticism of an athlete by saying "Could you do it, then?" That is a childish reply, worthy of the school playground. If it's only permissible to criticise somone if you could do what they do, then none of us should be allowed to vote in democratic elections, because however useless government ministers may be, the chances are few of us could do the job any better, if at all.
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Philip Idowu failed to produce the much hailed, and expected Gold medal - So what!. He managed a season best jump under extreme pressure and should get some credit for that at least.
Lets not forget that the guy who won had to dig deep and produce his best ever jump to take Gold.
Philip was bumping his gums saying he would win and felt he could break the world record but unfortunately could not live up to his own hype. Lets not be too hasty here to judge him. In my opinion, any athlete who goes into any event(olympics or not) and does not genuinely believe they can win should stay at home because they do not deserve to wear their countries colours. Similarly, an elite athlete properly prepared for major events knows they have to produce a PB to win and with it always comes the chance of breaking the world record.
If most of our track and field athletes had produced the same level of performance we would have a bigger haul of medals to get worked up about.
This is not meant as adig at them, they all tried their best I`m sure but with only a 4 medal tally so far they now need to focus hard and dedicate the next few years to London 2012
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Go Nelson Evora!!!
Even as a Brit I was cheering Evora! He had the ability, presence and above all the attitude for gold. Philips' constant posturing and over-confidence cost him the top spot.
Portugal deserve this medal. They are a nation plagued by under-funding and a lack of top level development. I am proud of their achievement.
Finally, please BBC, please update your medal table to be accurate. Portugal have won a gold and silver, not just the gold that you show. Although coverage on TV and Radio has been second to none, I was disappointed that no-one on the team even acknowledged Evora as a contender. Please ensure that in future your athletics team don't go the same way as the football lot and assume we have a God-given right to win gold in certain events.
Thanks.
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Part of the problem is setting the target of achieving Gold. As any sports coach will tell you, the problem with this is it depends on other people over whom you have no control. What an athlete needs to do is set goals that are within one's own control - e.g. to jump X metres. If this then achieves the requisite metal, then fine.
In interviews, this came over as very much the approach of the British cycling team - they cycled to a time, not a medal. The medal was simply a result of the performance.
Goldie Sayers DID achieve her target (British record in the final), and it was sad that it wasn't quite enough to achieve the medal, as she acknowledged in interview, but what a great performance. I would be interested to know whether Idowu set himself such a target. That should define his satisfaction or not. You can't control an athlete who jumps a world record or, in Idowu's case, within 1 cm of Idowu's lifetime outdoor best. A gold on that basis was always going to be a tough call.
Another part of the problem is that the distances Idowu has shown he can jump don't really compare with what has too often been needed in the past to win a gold. Looking at his stats beforehand, my own estimation was that a medal of any colour would be a good result of a good performance, which is what Idowu gave.
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Belmons, You make a good point about the 'could you do it?' brigade. As if you aren't entitled to an opinion unless your an olympic athlete. Especially on a page designed for debate.
Your point about stupid comments it less well thought out. You've got to allow a bit banter to give the comment zest. I feel my basic point that a silver medal was a decent performance if he hadn't been talking like he was a stick on for gold stands up.
Also people saying it'll all come good in 2012 for Idowu are getting ahead of themselves. He'll be 33 by then and while some athletes peak that late it's unusual. 2012 is 4 years away and he's probably not even started planning his haircut yet!
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At great expense, Team GB athletes get years of coaching from top experts to prepare for the Olympics. Should we also employ Mr Idowu's mum to tell him to take that silly metalwork out of his face, wash the pink dye from his hair and stop telling everyone how fantastic he is until he's achieved something? We may not win any more medals by doing so, but we'd be less embarrassed to have him represent our country.
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Why do I get the impression that some people are born with a negative gene. Blog after blog after blog, you get the usual suspects with something negative to add.
Well I take my hat off, I am quite certain if any of you negative contributors won a silver medal at the olympics you would take yourself straight to the electric chair.
I agree he was starting to sound too confident and the media were ready to hand the Gold to him, but let us celebrate the fact that he has achieved a first medal at the olympics. Criticize him for his big mouth, but people the vitriol directed at him for winning a medal: My gawd you would think he was a killer on the run or something.
Calm down folks.
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Oh Jaymore, where would we all be without your sage words of wisdom? To think that some people may have mistaken this message board as a place for animated and lively debate! Just as well you're here to remind us that we're all just here to contribute politely appreciative words of condolence to our underachieving track and field athletes. Stay vigilant Jaymore, you never know when the next cheeky dissenting post may appear!
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26. I give up on you. I'm glad our athletes didn't (and I mean that in the GB team collective noun term, not just people running on a track).
You're embarrassed to have someone represent our country who has trained for years and won a medal??? WHAT!??!!!
I'm seriously having issues with the sanity of the British people at the moment.
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MartinDFerry I am appalled by your post. You are a complete and utter under-achiever, what makes it worse is the way you put your post together despicable, utterlly despicable at your age you should do better to me that would warrant silver position if we were classifying posts. I hope you never represent our country in anything you'll make us a laughing stock, better still do not represent any country period. In 2012 you'll probably be over the hill nothing to add to society, your post should be off our computer screens. Wherever you are infront of your computer you should look in the mirror and be ashamed of yourselve, those ears my gawd. Terrible!!!!!
:o)
Now this is how some people read on here, hence I my post.
Heck it's a blog and people can be colourful if they wish, so logic would suggest my post represents another viewpoint. Problem?
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Astromesmo, please don't give up on me! We both know how much your opinion means, not only to me but to all those who share the view that Mr Idowu's opinion of himself is rather higher than it should be, and that his sliver medal would indeed have achieved (a modest degree of) praise if he hadn't predicted gold, been rude to his opponent and adopted his rather silly rock star affectation.
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Poor research Tom.
The triple jump world record is 18.29m.
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Jaymore, you're a star. Thanks for brightening up my evening. I'm off to put my head down, hope to be in touch again tomorrow.
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Apologies....
Olympic Record is correct as stated at 18.09m
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I think Idowu had a lot of hype surrounding him, his own and that of the media and it would seem that he cannot channel this hype into his jump, he chokes instead. I second the comment made about him utilising the cycling psychologist - just look at their achievement, pretty much swept the board clean.
However, having said that, Tyson Gay also had a lot of hype around him, was one of the favourites to take gold in the 100m yet he himself played it down and look at his performance during this Olympics. He underperformed constantly, even during his heats though granted this season hasn't been his best, what with his recent injury.
Contrast that to Idowu. Good run up, comfortable in heats and a personal best ultimately he brought a silver medal home, but we could all see he was disappointed in himself. Maybe this will be his catalyst for retrospection and development. Maybe he'll get over hyping himself up or he'll make himself live up to that hype for 2012. Maybe something amazing will come out of that disappointment. We can only hope he's not another Henman.
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This comment was removed because the moderators found it broke the House Rules.
Can't believe some of the flak for Phillips here:
Jumped a seasons best under pressure.
Took the lead ,lost it but came back to lead again.
Pipped by 5cm by an outstanding effort from a fine opponent.
What more do you want ?
Sure there have been a few longer winning efforts in Olympic finals recently but did you all consider the weather conditions? Bit different in Atlanta and Sydney I think - this final was excellent in the circumstances and there should be nothing but praise for the man, and of course for Evora.
But of course some people are only happy when they have got something to grumble about....
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I am Chinese girl.
Triple jump is a great sport to watch.
The way to jump is art. The body is beautiful.
I felt happy.
Do your best, it is good enough.
I learned triple jump when I was little.
It was flying. Thanks for a good show. It remain me something lost in the past.
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We shouldn't be proud of a gobby choker.
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Idowu, Asafa Powell, Sanya Richards, Paula Radcliffe, Kelly Sotherton...see the trend?
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I am an indian. In india cricket is like a religion not just a sport.All cricket playing nations except Uk and australia are not winning so much medals in olumpics.In my point of view cricket should be included in the olumpics performa for the future of cricket playing nations.
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Idowu, Sayers, Sotherton, the mens relay. Cut them some slack, they are led to believe that they are gods of athletics. Their coaches must shut out the rest of their competition. Idowu even thinking anyone was 'bulletproof' let alone himself and his irratic achievements. Our last triple jumper who came close to perfection was Edwards who would never, not even when he had the medals round his neck would have talked like that.
Letting these athletes think for one moment that all they have to do is turn up is the cruelty of athletics overhyped status and perpetuated by the support around the individuals. I agree with everyone who said that these people should look at the cycling and swimming support for example and guidance. Just look at the mentality of their competitors.
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When I compare him to the great Jonathan Edwards, well I had a feeling he would choke. He has an air of arrogance about him which can dangerously lead to complacency, and that's whats happened here. He did enough to get into first but when someone else jumped further, it was too little too late.
He needs to concentrate more on his jumping and less on his hair
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Moutarde - he's not a choker. Chokers perform worse under pressure, he produced a seasons best.
Is that a hard concept to understand? Your comment was feeble. Compare that to a rational comment such as therickster1's (comment 19)
Idowu is gobby - he should have left the stuff about capable of breaking the world record off, as he's not. But he was entitled to say he was capable of winning the olympic gold as although he didn't, it took one jumper launching way past his season's best to take it off him.
Compare that to Ohorougu - she did her seasons best, and nearly her personal best (just 1 hundredth off pb is 49.61) to win gold. But if Sanya Richards hadn't broken down (choked big style? her pb is 48.70), she'd have been well back.
dazzlingBestinshow - Idowu's jump wouldn't have got olympic gold since 1988? Well, Ohorougu's time wouldn't have got Olympic gold since 1972 - until this year.
You do you best and hope for some luck. You can be the best in the world, and if the luck isn't with you, or someone else pulls out every last drop, you won't get gold.
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It seems that some lay-fans have been seduced by the hype around Phillips and now feel they have been somehow short-changed.
People need to realise that Phillips, in terms of distance, is not a 'great' triple jumper. There must have been very few occasions where he has exceeded 17.70m. Therefore, Philips did as well as anyone could have expected of him.
He was just not good enough to win, something which has been masked by the generally poor standard of world triple jumping this Olympic year.
He has never shown himself to be an 18m jumper like Edwards, so don't expect him to be one!
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Having twice being pipped for the decathalon by Daley I know how it feels.
Atheletes would really go up in my opinion if they congratulate the eventual winner though. Even if defeat hurts.
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Jugen you were a great competitor, in another era you'd have been an olympic champ..unlucky Jurgen.
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"What none of us had counted on was that Portugal's Nelson Evora would in turn respond to Idowu's leap by producing a jump of 17.67m"
Nélson Évora is the world title holder, won last year in Osaka. None of us counted? Only the ignorants. Nobody writes of the world title holder!
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"44. At 08:29am on 22 Aug 2008, Not logged in wrote:
Moutarde - he's not a choker. Chokers perform worse under pressure, he produced a seasons best. "
A season's best is the absolute minimum we should expect from an Olympian. What did the winner do? Did he exceed his season's best?
Sorry, but the definition of choking is being the favourite and losing.
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Lot of nonsense posts here. The important thing is that we are competetive. Philips was just that - missed out at the end but did well, just got beaten by a very, very good jump.
Were heads need to start rolling is the people in charge of our sprinters, were we stand no chance, and don't even get me started on that joke of a relay team.
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Moutarde
"Sorry, but the definition of choking is being the favourite and losing."
What dictionary are you using? you're pathetic.
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I'm surprised the BBC allows one poster to call another "pathetic".
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It's seems there's a bit a needle there between him and Jonathan Edwards (going by last night coverage and comments)
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Idowu - sort your hair out and get that stuff out of your face. Concentrate on your sport rather than your image.
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It seems from some of the comments here that people were glad he didn't get Gold.
That they were hoping he 'failed'.
Why? Perhaps they had built an opinion of him that they wanted to have confirmed.
Namely, that Phillips Idowu wasn't much cop. This could be because of his hair and his piercings, or maybe because of his spectacular failure in Athens.
Either way, they wanted to have their opinions that he wasn't much cop confirmed.
Had he won Gold they would have gone, "Yeah, that's the least he should have got - and, anyway, it was a poor competition."
They would have probably criticized him for not breaking the world record.
Okay, so he talks himself up. And he didn't deliver on the talk. But I don't know if he would have had more chance of winning Gold if he had said, "Well, golly, Evora he's the world champion, he's got more chance than I have, and that Brazilian, he's jumped 17.90. If I'm lucky, I might scrape a medal."
When it comes to athletics I would imagine that part of the trick to winning is convincing yourself that you are the best. That doesn't guarantee it will always work out for you, but it's your best chance, anyhow.
Anyhow, to put it into context: he had never won an outdoor medal before and now he's got a silver medal. That's an achievement I would say.
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He hit a season's best and won his first major medal, and only the world champion was able to surpass him by all of two inches.
The idea from some posters that this is a 'fail' is pathetic and needs to be ignored by Idowu himself.
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PhilKlein - I couldn't agree more!
It seems devastating that the British public are waiting/expecting for our athletes to fail!
To win at ANYTHING you first must BELIEVE.
He has done an amazing job, and I know that he'll no doubt beat himself up about it because he thinks he can do better...but that's how it goes on competition day.
For British athletes I have always thought there was a lack of belief (which I think comes from the public and media!) but it's slowly working through our team and Philips did an outstanding job of staying focused and positive all the way! Ok his belief and focus may have slipped just a tad on the last jump but with reports claiming that its nearly impossible to get a PB of the last 2 jumps what do you expect?!
The last two jumps need not be ANY different to the first jumps - it's only the mind that makes it seem different (probably the difference between gold and silver)
I'm proud to be British and have such an inspiring team to look forward to cheering for in 4 years time.
For anyone saying any of them are not champions then you probably aren't doing much to change that are you?! You could start by giving the ppl who are making sporting history the encouragement and belief they need.
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Phillips got a silver, for some people this is proof if needed that he is a failure oh wait let me use the really intelligent analysis he is a bottler.
Now the difficult part is asking them to rationalise their arguments, all you tend to get is oh he has a big mouth, he has red hair, what's with the piercings etc etc. You will notice that there is nothing about his performance, just personal reasons given. I deduce from this that they most likely did not want him to win in the first place.
To any one that was disappointed with his silver and made their point by referring to his actual performance, this is not directed at you, only those folks that had their fingers crossed hoping for a failure as the event commenced.
I guess by that logic we can call Tom Daley a failure, also we can extend that to Shanaze Reade, also Ross Edgar, add to that Jason Kenny and the list goes on.
First Olympic medal, seasons best. I mean the guy delivered, shame he didn't win. But from a sporting perspective he delivered. Most definitely.
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Let's see:
Évora is just 24, won the World title last year and his PB is 17,74 (he didn't have his PB during these Olympics as some of you said).
Idowu is already 29, never won a major title and his PB is 17,68.
And the great BBC has a journalist that writes "what none of us counted on was that Portugal's Nelson Evora would in turn respond to Idowu's leap by producing a jump of 17,67"? Does he usually bother to be informed about non-British athletes?
Of course, during the first half of the season Idowu was better than Evora, but at these top competitions it's just normal that things suddenly change. And Evora was obviously one of the favourites to win the Olympic title. He could or he could not but I find it sad that the understandable desire for a British athlete to win the gold led so many to blindness and even arrogance.
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"What none of us had counted on was that Portugal's Nelson Evora..." ???
Oh my god... No one counted with Nelson Evora ???
I don't understand ... He is just the world champion !!!! And now he's the OLYMPIC CHAMPION!!!!
In Osaka he jumped 17,74 to won the title and nobody counted with him ??
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Well ... Once again Portugal has beat you ...
eheheh ....
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The man did well! Second best triple jumper in the world, with a seasons best jump! What more could we ask for? He tried his best.
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