Beijing 2008 - Idowu beaten into silver

Eurosport - Fri, 22 Aug 16:35:00 2008

Gold medal hope Phillips Idowu had to settle for silver in the men's triple jump after being beaten into second by Nelson Evora of Portugal at the Olympics in Beijing.

ATHLETICS Beijing 2008 - Britain's Phillips Idowu competes in the triple jump at the Olympic Games in China - 0

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Idowu led the field with a leap of 17.51m after the first round, but Evora (17.56) and Cuba's Arnie Girat (17.52) pushed the British jumper back into third place.

A season's best jump of 17.62 propelled Idowu back to the top of the pile, but Evora was in inspired form and his next jump was measured at 17.67m to win him the gold medal.

"It's not what I wanted, but I'll take it," said Idowu. "It was a really tough competition, I had to work. I was really close but in the end it wasn't quite enough.

"It hurts. I'm upset. 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, I don't want to be content with silver. I will go on. I've been in such great form this year I believed I could do it.

"I went down fighting, I couldn't do more than that."

Team-mate Larry Achike finished seventh with a jump of 17.17m.

Factbox on Nelson Evora (Portugal) who won the Olympic gold medal in the men's triple jump.

Age: 24 (date of birth: Apr 20, 1984)

Residence: Lisbon, Portugal

Career achievements:

Gold medallist, 2007 World Championships, triple jump

Fourth place, 2006 European Championships, triple jump

Evora was born in Ivory Coast but moved to Lisbon with his family when he was four. He became a Portuguese citizen in June 2002 having previously competed for the Cape Verde Islands.

Evora decided to switch from high jump to long jump and triple jump after injuring his knee at the age of 15.

BOA / Eurosport

Comment 1 - 20 of 20

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  1. 1st: Untrue that Evora had competed for Cape Verde, he lives in Portugal since he was a small kid, he had ALLWAYS have been a portuguese athlete. 2nd: Evora wins, Idowu doesn't, period. 3rd: Idowu, be humble!

    From nunomcleod@..., on Fri 22 Aug 11:39PM

  2. Nelson is the best i am portuguese and i love nelson evora. gold to portugal. Força Nelson jump nelson jump nelson olé olé

    From graca_pacheco, on Fri 22 Aug 3:12PM

  3. Punchmetwice. The Brits are mediocre athletes.Only good at obscure sports.Olympics focus on track and field not sailing and cycling.Usain Bolt is now a legend.He is certainly more famous than that Scottish cyclist Chris Hoy.You simply do not apply yourselves.Ethiopia is even higher in the athletics medal table-hahahaha.Once in a while you produce a Jonathan Edwards but that is it.Apart from Nigerians and Afro-Carri beans who acquire British citizenship you will always be in athletics doldrums.London 2012 you will be the most unsuccessful host nation.Mark my word.

    From kknyoka, on Fri 22 Aug 11:02AM

  4. KKNYOKA TWO THINGS FIRST JOHNATHAN EDWARDS!!!.....DOES THAT NAME RING A FU CKING BELL AND SECONDLY WHERE THE FU CK WAS ATO BOLDEN IN THE 100M THIS YEAR?????? U SUKKA

    From punchmetwice, on Fri 22 Aug 12:32AM

  5. Yeh 'cos T&T are so high up in the medal table. Once their drug cheats were rumbled they just quietly slipped into the shadows.

    From BoBBie G, on Thu 21 Aug 11:41PM

  6. Great, Nelson! What a lesson for those other well paid athletes - In Portugal we pay them 1000euro - something like the monthly wage of a public bathroom keeper in England or France. So this really means a lot. Thanks, lad.

    From pmouro, on Thu 21 Aug 7:56PM

  7. Well such is like , but in every thing you have to be grateful to God for bringing you this far... you can always get the Gold anytime... just keep trying ... be strong and courageous

    From Splendour, on Thu 21 Aug 7:47PM

  8. Agreed with rickyk!!!!

    There is always rubbish written on the British Olympic section of yahoo...
    First someone writes about population
    Then someone relates football to olympics...

    Then other rubbish.... it's about the Olympics people!!!!!

    From Varisha, on Thu 21 Aug 7:46PM

  9. I think you need something to calm those genes down robtyman

    From alwyn j, on Thu 21 Aug 6:09PM

  10. whooops, I don't mean to copy and paste apoppers message below. I do agree with him and rickyk.

    From t_sumardi, on Thu 21 Aug 6:07PM

  11. What a bunch of whiners and idiots, we have here! Are you stupid? olympics are full of cheaters. Whoever got the best scientist or best drug win the match, end of story. So far the Chinese have the best mutants playing in the olympics. I can't believe this... what a bunch of idiots! Read up on gene therapy and gene doping, you idiots. Its undetectable and untraceable. Most of these olympiads are genetically altered or using some kind of undetectable enhancing drugs. Stupid, retarded dumbfcuk!!

    From t_sumardi, on Thu 21 Aug 5:58PM

  12. What a bunch of whiners and idiots, we have here! Are you stupid? olympics are full of cheaters. Whoever got the best scientist or best drug win the match, end of story. So far the Chinese have the best mutants playing in the olympics. I can't believe this... what a bunch of idiots! Read up on gene therapy and gene doping, you idiots. Its undetectable and untraceable. Most of these olympiads are genetically altered or using some kind of undetectable enhancing drugs. Stupid, retarded dumbfcuk!!

    From asspoppers, on Thu 21 Aug 5:56PM

  13. Well done Nelson Evora.

    You're the man!
    You deserved that gold medal.

    From jpmpires, on Thu 21 Aug 5:42PM

  14. Gary S - What do you mean about Idowu being an overpaid athlete? Overpaid, I doubt it - not like our useless, unprofessional, primadonnerish footballers. Now they really are overpaid. It's disgusating how much the top players eran in a single week, and they behave like school kids goofing around behind the bike sheds.

    When you said' not the right minerals' were you implying that he was taking drugs and if so explain yourself properly. This is a very immature crass statement to make and the issue of drugs is a very serious one. Idowu did just fine - pity no gold but will be in London 2012. Keep going Phillips you're a winner - something that our footballers clearly aren't.

    From Gizmo1, on Thu 21 Aug 5:42PM

  15. didn't have the minerals when it came to it overpaid athelete

    From Gary S, on Thu 21 Aug 5:24PM

  16. what a load of @#$% is talked on here !

    From rickyk, on Thu 21 Aug 5:16PM

  17. Idowu did fantastic considering he had insufficient time after the plane landing to even take his 'deep vein thrombosis' socks off!

    Nah- well done Phillips :)

    From p, on Thu 21 Aug 4:58PM

  18. Well done... Nelson Évora, Phillips Idowu and Arnie Girat

    From Victor Pires da Silva, on Thu 21 Aug 4:57PM

  19. Well done Phillips!!!!!!! A brillant acheivement. Don't be upset and enjoy the moment.
    God bless you.

    From Babyface3009, on Thu 21 Aug 4:39PM

  20. Silver is not bad...when somebody is stronger than you... It's never too much to congratulate the champion, it demonstrates the "champion there is in you" (or not)...

    From Bruno R, on Thu 21 Aug 4:32PM
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