Idowu hunting 2012 glory after Euro gold
BRITISH triple-jump king Phillips Idowu immediately targeted victory at the London 2012 Olympics after adding European Championship gold to his burgeoning collection.
Idowu cemented his reputation as the man for the big occasion last night in Barcelona by blowing away his rivals with a personal best leap of 17.81m.
Frenchman Teddy Tamgho, who had been tipped to challenge Idowu (right), could only manage 17.45m and had to make do with bronze, behind Romania’s Marian Oprea (17.51m).
Londoner Idowu’s success added to his Commonwealth and World golds, meaning only Olympic glory has evaded him – something he intends to put right on home soil.
“There is one more medal in my career I need to win and that will come in a couple of years,” he said. “I’ve worked hard for this, people think I’m a lucky athlete, but I’m not lucky, I’ve been doing this for 10 years now. I win gold medals. That’s what I do. Hopefully now people will stop doubting me.”
Idowu had been short of form this year while Tamgho, 21, jumped a world-leading 17.98m last month, and he added:?“I knew I would have to do a big jump to win here but me and my coach got it right and we planned for this day.”
Earlier, Britain’s Martyn Bernard claimed a superb bronze medal in the high jump, while Mo Farah and Chris Thompson both booked their places in Sunday’s 5,000m final.