The 21 strides Phillips Idowu hopes will take him to Olympic gold

Labrinth, Trevor Nelson, Phillips Idowu, Leona Lewis and Hackney school students at the Hackney Empire. Photograph: BBC / Mark Allan

This article titled “The 21 strides Phillips Idowu hopes will take him to Olympic gold” was written by Anna Kessel, for guardian.co.uk on Wednesday 25th May 2011 23.06 UTC

Phillips Idowu has had his fill of medals. A shoebox hidden away in his attic holds the triple jumper’s gold and silver gongs, won in consecutive years since 2006, a seemingly never ending run of accolades.

World titles – indoor and outdoor – a Commonwealth title, European title, he almost has the full set, a straight gold flush but for the Olympic silver medal in Beijing, an achievement still viewed as a loss by the Londoner who was in gold medal contention until the final round. In tears on the podium that day, Idowu will never forget the pain of that competition, and three years later the memory drives him on, juggernaut-like, towards trying to win the gold at London 2012.

To do that the 32-year-old has decided to concentrate on distance – rather than trophies – this season. It is rare to hear an athlete say that they would willingly give up a world title but for Idowu it is a case of been there, done that. “I’d rather jump a world record than have the world title,” he says, before adding, “and win the Olympic title next year.

“The last few years I’ve had to focus on picking up the titles that I haven’t had – so being at the Commonwealth Games, the Europeans, the world indoors, world outdoors, all those titles I didn’t have to my name. I’ve got everything now other than the Olympic medal.”

In previous seasons Idowu has tended to pick and choose his meets carefully, generally avoiding the high-profile grand prix circuit, aiming instead only to peak for the championships. But this year, for the first time, the Hackney-born athlete will be out and about – starting with a clash against the former Olympic champion Christian Olsson in Rome in the Diamond League series on Thursday – with the aim of getting closer to Jonathan Edwards’s 16-year-old world record.

“This year I’ve got an opportunity where I’m already a world champion, I’ve got that title – if I focus on jumping as far as I can, close to or even over the 18m barrier, then at least I’ve got that under my belt and that’s something I can build on coming into 2012. It would be nice to get the distance and if it means I sacrifice my performance in the summer because I’m focused on that one goal then I’m willing to do that. Because I know that by 2012 I’ll be back in winning form.”

Although Idowu has dominated the major championships over the past few years, a young talent by the name of Teddy Tamgho is fast following in his footsteps. The 21-year-old Frenchman has already jumped 17.98m – the furthest any man has managed in 13 years – and while Tamgho has not yet found his championship form, Idowu is smart enough to know that it is only a matter of time. And who can say that it will not come in 2012?

Tamgho is a ticking time bomb. So far Idowu has managed to pull out a personal best to dominate his championship finals three years in a row, but his best of 17.81m still remains some way behind the Frenchman’s.

If that bothers Idowu, he certainly does not let on. Targeting a jump of 18m this season – 19cm further than his own best – Idowu says he feels confident enough that he can make it.

“I definitely feel confident, things have gone well this winter … I feel confident that once I go back to a 21-stride as opposed to a 16-stride [as part of the technique work he did during a short indoor season] plus a couple more months of working and ingraining that technique, there’s no reason why I shouldn’t be able to open up with my best ever jump – ever. There’s no reason why I shouldn’t be able to do that.”

At the Stadio Olimpico in Rome on Thursday evening we will be watching with bated breath to see whether his prediction comes true.

Phillips Idowu will be competing at the Aviva Birmingham Grand Prix on 10 July and the Aviva London Grand Prix on 5-6 August. For tickets or more information go to uka.org.uk/aviva-series or phone 08000 556 056*

guardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010

Published via the Guardian News Feed plugin for WordPress.