Favourite Idowu misses out on triple jump gold
Friday, 22 Aug 2008 08:29
British triple jumper Phillips Idowu beaten into silver medal position
Great Britain's Phillips Idowu has been beaten into the silver medal position by Nelson Evora of Portugal in the men's triple jump.
The Londoner was tipped as one of the top medal prospects for Team GB at the Beijing Olympics.
But he failed to scale the heights of his world championship-winning performance in 2007 in a rather flat competition that never really got going.
Idowu set an early marker with 17.51m in the first round before Evora and Arnie David Girat of Cuba both bettered it with their second attempts.
The Briton retook the lead in the third round, clearing 17.62m.
But when Evora jumped out to 17.67m with his fourth attempt, the prospects of an 18th gold for Team GB looked bleak.
The final two rounds failed to produce any drama in the Bird's Nest Stadium, with the arena atypically void of atmosphere once the men's 110m hurdles finished.
The result, although giving Idowu a creditable silver medal, leaves the triple jumper mulling over what might have been and looking forward to the next Olympic Games in his native city in four years time.
"It's not what I wanted, but I'll take it," Idowu said afterwards, admitting he was "upset" and "hurt" by the final result.
"It was a really tough competition, I had to work. I was really close but in the end it wasn't quite enough.
"I came here to achieve a lot more and I just fell short. I've come a long way, though. Last year I wasn't even in the mix for medals. It's been a long road.
"I'm a winner, so I don't want to be content with silver. I've been in such great form this year I believed I could do it.
"But I went down fighting, I couldn't do more than that."
Leevan Sands of the Bahamas took the bronze medal with a national record of 17.59m.