Golden nights continue to motivate European champion Phillips Idowu

This article titled “Golden nights continue to motivate European champion Phillips Idowu” was written by Anna Kessel in Barcelona, for The Guardian on Friday 30th July 2010 16.20 UTC

There was a look of confusion on Phillips Idowu’s face as he stood on the runway to take his last jump in the triple jump final yesterday. He had already won the competition. He had already jumped a lifetime best of 17.81m and now here was his chance to go one better. He paused, and then stopped altogether, shaking his head, signalling to the officials that he could not carry on as he forfeited his final jump.

Smiling at the memory he tried to explain. “The emotion just took over me,” said the 31-year-old, describing how his eyes had filled with tears and he simply could not compose himself. Nobody had predicted this European title to be his. “There was quite a few open jaws last night,” he cackled, enjoying having proved the doubters wrong.

But the doubters had their logic. In a season so dominated by Teddy Tamgho, the 21-year-old world indoor record holder tipped to take the European title, Idowu had lain low – under the radar, under the weather with a virus, and under par.

Now here he was, European champion against the odds, another title to add to his collection. On the track, Idowu – the elder statesman by a decade – embraced Tamgho, holding the French youngster’s face with one generous big hand as his expression contorted with the pain and disappointment of a bronze medal when all indications had been that he would win gold.

“I told him he’s still a star,” said Idowu. “I told him he’s a world [indoor] champ and never forget that. I know what it feels like going into a competition expecting to win, being the favourite, and then being disappointed. I had that going into Beijing.”

In Beijing, Idowu took silver, having been ranked world No1 all season – just as Tamgho was this year with his 17.98m leap in June. After the Olympics, late in 2008, Idowu made changes; he left behind his home city of London, relocated to Birmingham and started a family. The change of lifestyle has suited him well and with two young children he appears to have a new motivation in his life.

“Yeah, definitely,” said Idowu. “It’s a positive thing. I had my boy’s little lion strapped to my bag. It makes noise, it growls like a lion growls. Every time I moved my bag I could hear it, grrrr. Every time I heard it go off or looked at it, it reminded me of my daughter, my son, my girl at home. I heard my daughter was running round the house going nuts yesterday. My son was in tears – Carlita [Idowu’s girlfriend] was screaming down the house and he didn’t know what was going on so he was scared.”

Idowu dreams of leaving a legacy for them, matching medals for each of them, tucked safely away – for now – in his sock drawer; two world titles – indoors and out – the European indoor gold, the Olympic silver medal and Commonwealth gold and silver.

He has already stated that he needs one more medal to complete his collection – gold in 2012 in a stadium a stone’s throw from where he grew up in Hackney – but what about the world record? Jonathan Edwards has tipped Tamgho to be the one to break his 15 year-old mark of 18.29m, is it an accolade that Idowu lusts after? “I don’t think about that,” he said. “If it happens at a random Grand Prix somewhere that’s fine. But when it comes to competing at a major champs my main priority is to win.

“If I went out there looking for a particular distance then I may fall short and be disappointed. Colin [Jackson] was here a couple days ago, talking about his loss in 1992 at this very stadium [in Barcelona], he came here expecting to break the world record and win the competition and he suffered injury in the first round. Instead of just focusing on winning the race he was still thinking about running the world record. And he’s not an Olympic champion today. So for me it’s a case of win first and everything else will come.”

Idowu plans to defend his Commonwealth title in India in October – “it’s another medal, you know I love these golds.” Could he retire – satisfied – without that Olympic gold that has so far proved to be beyond him? “If I felt like I could retire satisfied I’d retire now. There’d be no point in me competing any more. If money motivated me you’d see me at every Diamond League competition and all that. The major champs are my focus, that’s the reason I compete in the sport to win titles and medals. All that financial stuff is of no interest to me. I want to be able to retire, pass away and leave a legacy for my kids.

“So they can look back and say: ‘Dad was good at what he did’, they can tell their kids: ‘Grandad was good at what he did’. They can also tell them about the upbringing I had and the background I came from. Inspire them to know that regardless of how difficult life may be at times you can still make the best of yourself, you can come from a really bad upbringing and be the best in the world. That’s my inspiration. That’s my message.”

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