Tyneside a fixture in Idowu schedule

Aug 28 2009 by Steve Brown, The Journal

THE typical Bank Holiday weather he could do without, and Phillips Idowu can’t wait to hit the beach (a warm one) come season’s end.

With a World Championship triple jump gold medal fresh in his pocket, he could have been excused had he given Monday’s Aviva British Grand Prix meet at Gateshead a miss altogether.

After all, at 30 and with the London Olympics in three years time, Idowu insists he will have to limit his future competitive appearances to a level his body can handle.

Yet the International Stadium is different.

For its history and support are not lost on Idowu. And while he downscales the frequency of his athletic outings elsewhere, Gateshead is a meeting he always makes a point of attending.

“The 2012 Olympics aren’t the sole focus,” he said.

“I sit down and think about my career over the next three years and at the most I’ve probably got 20 competitions in me during that time.

“I have to pick which ones I’m going to do, I’m not an athlete who can compete week in, week out.

“I’m getting older, but I’m improving which is a good thing, knowing you can still go out and compete at 30. That’s definitely a positive and hopefully I can keep on improving over the next three years.

“I don’t want to have London as the main focus. My focus is the job I need to do over the next 10 months, then the next 10 months after that.

“But you always get great support up here (at Gateshead). Terrible weather but the fans still turn out, make a lot of noise and support you.

“I do enjoy coming up here, that’s why I make sure that I do plan it into my schedule.

“Regardless of how I feel at the end of a major championships, I try and make an appearance here.

“Then, hopefully after the rain of Gateshead I can lay out on a beach.”

He will deserve to.

After claiming silver at last year’s Olympics in Beijing, when second to Portuguese rival Nelson Evora, Idowu went one better at the World Championships last week. A jump of 17.73m was the longest in the world this year, a personal best and enough to exact revenge on Evora and inspire Team GB to greater success in Berlin.

Still though, and ever the perfectionist, Idowu isn’t completely happy.

“To be honest, I would prefer to have a season like I had in 2008 – but to finish off with the gold medal,” he said.

“This year I haven’t jumped as consistently as I did last year but ultimately, at the beginning of the year, the goal was to win the World Championships.

“Now the World Championships are over, you definitely get a positive feeling about the Great Britain team.

“Going into them there was a lot of negativity, with people missing out through injuries. I think the media was preparing for the worst. But we just went out there and, as expected, I got a gold medal. From there, things seemed to snowball and everyone performed beyond themselves.”

Idowu particularly enjoyed beating Evora, and relishes further battles.

At Gateshead, however, it is North East-based Brazilian nemesis Jadel Gregorio – who beat an injury-ravaged Idowu last year – who is foremost in his mind.

“It’s been a while since we’ve had two jumpers competing at such a high level,” he said of Evora.

“Now we’ve got a crop of people like Nelson, and Cubans like Alexis Copello, so there’s competition and if you don’t keep improving everyone else is going to.

“Gregorio beat me last year. But I had been in bed for three days!”

Tickets for the Aviva British Grand Prix can be bought online at www.uka.org.uk or by phone on 0800 055 60 56.