Idowu hopes to be Edwards' heir

14 April 2012

Phillips Idowu provided a brilliant - and colourful - launch pad for Britain's Olympic athletics challenge today before declaring his intention to succeed Jonathan Edwards as triple jump champion here.

The 25-year-old Londoner, sporting what he calls his "pillar-box red" barnet, needed just one fine leap to bound into Sunday's final.

Then he insisted he would settle for nothing less than emulating Edwards, whose victory in Sydney is acting as his inspiration. "Hopefully, I can emulate what Jonathan did four years ago," he said. "This was a good start. I'm getting to my peak now the championship has come around and I'm going to go out there to do myself justice."

If he does himself justice, he really does have a chance of challenging for a medal because Idowu has often threatened to produce a result which properly reflects his considerable talent.

His leap of 17.33metres, recorded in temperatures closing in on 90 degrees, impressed the hot favourite for the title, Christian Olsson. "After that, you have to say he is a real threat to me for the title," said the Swede, whose 17.68m led the qualifiers.

Olsson always describes Edwards as "Mr Triple Jump" but now that his old friend and rival is sitting here in the BBC commentary box, the Swede reckons he has to keep his eye on this other, rather more exuberant Brit, who gave up a promising basketball career because he felt he was too short.

Well, he's grown and Olsson certainly can't miss Commonwealth silver medallist Idowu, whose ever-changing, multi-coloured hairstyles have become a popular part of the UK athletics landscape. Today, the Belgrave Harrier reverted to the bright red dye he used on his major championship debut at the last Games when he surprised many by reaching the final and finishing sixth behind Edwards.

After a slow start to his comeback year - an operation on his knee kept him out of the whole season - Idowu's form has blossomed, culminating with a superb Grand Prix win at Crystal Palace. "To be honest, it felt easy qualifying for the final. Hopefully, it will feel just as easy on Sunday."

It won't be easy, though, with nine of the field having bettered 17m, the benchmark for triple jump excellence. Oxford's Nathan Douglas won't be among them, having just missed out on qualification with a 16.84m leap.

Shaftesbury's Abi Oyepitan, the brightest women's sprint prospect in Britain for a decade, booked her place in tonight's second round of the 100m, finishing second in her heat in 11.23sec.

Yet amid a parade of 'fun' sprinters, including a Somalian who clocked 14.29sec, one even more freakish character stood out - 44-year-old Merlene Ottey, competing in her seventh Games, a record for any track athlete in Olympic history.

These days she turns out for Slovenia, where she was granted citizenship in 2002 after training there for several years following a row with the Jamaican federation. Ottey showed she can still run a bit, easing into the second round as one of the fastest qualifiers in 11.14sec.

It is a long shot but the woman who has even survived the scandal of a failed drugs test to keep ploughing on still believes she could win a record ninth Olympic medal here. She already holds the outright record for any track athlete.

MORE ABOUT

Holland Park (London)

London

Oxford Street (London)

Idowu hopes to be Edwards' heir

Read More