Nelson Evora of Portugal competes on his way to winning the Men's Triple Jump Final (© Getty Images)
Osaka, JapanHe came as No. 4, but finished as No. 1. An auspicious night indeed for Portuguese triple jumper Nelson Evora had never won a medal in a major championship. But he debuted with a gold, which was the first medal in Osaka for his country. And indeed, his was the sole top eight performance thus far for Portugal.
“I am overwhelmed by this success,” the 23 year-old said. “I cannot yet believe that I am the World champion.”
After Christian Olsson’s withdrawal due to injury, Evora had entered the final in the number four spot in the year’s world lists. Jadel Gregorio (Brazil/17.90), Aarik Wilson (USA/17.58) and Osniel Tosca (Cuba/17.52) all had better credentials this season than Evora. Coming to Osaka, the Portuguese had a personal best of 17.51m, which was a national record as well. But in the final in Osaka he improved to 17.74.
“It was my aim to jump a personal best and I had hoped for a medal – but I never thought about the gold,” admitted Evora, who received his medal from World record holder Jonathan Edwards at the awards ceremony.
But asked if Edward’s record of 18.29m is a goal, Evora said: “First I need much more experience than I have now. I will of course try to further improve my personal best and one day hope to jump 18 metres. But at present it can not be my aim to break that record.”
If the last name rings a bell...
Born on the Cape Verde Islands, Evora has family ties to the world-renowned Fado virtuoso, singer Cesaria Evora. (But no, he does not sing). His parents then moved to the Ivory Coast and on to Portugal when Evora was six years old. The idea was to give their child a better perspective concerning education. When Evora was seven he started participating in athletics. His talent became obvious, but first, in the High Jump and not in the Triple Jump. When he was 11 and measured 1.40m tall he had already jumped 1.64m. But a knee injury seemed to have stopped his promising development at the age of 15. “After that it was too risky to continue high jumping. So I turned to the triple and long jump.”
This year Evora had also improved in the Long Jump to 8.10m, which makes him the No. one European jumper if the two personal bests are combined. While he had not won any medal as a senior prior to Osaka, he was successful as a junior. In 2003 he took both the Long Jump and Triple Jump titles at the European Junior Championships. Two years earlier he had won the European Youth title in the Long Jump.
Double duty calls
Today the Triple Jump is his main event, but he will compete in the Long Jump in Osaka. “The long jump is more for fun,” he said. But he will still approach it seriously in Osaka and wants to jump beyond the eight metre mark again. Last year he tried the High Jump again and improved to 2.07m.
Supported by his club and his federatrion as well as the National Olympic Committee, Evora has concentrated solely on athletics after he had finished grammar school. But he intends to start studying marketing and communication later this year. “But I will take enough time to train for the Olympics next year.”
While he is already very popular in Portugal observers say that this triumph will put him in a hero-like position in his home country. Evora only switched his citizenship to Portugal in 2002.
Happy in Portuguese home
“I am very happy in Portugal and get everything I need for my sport,” he said, pointing out that an indoor facility is available in the winter if necessary. Originally he had hoped to be in contention for a medal at last year’s European Championships in Gothenburg. But training on a relatively hard track he injured his heel and had to be content with a fourth place in the Triple Jump and sixth in the Long Jump.
Living in Lisbon, he competes for the famous football club Benfica. But he is not very interested in that sport though.
“When the European Championships’ Final was on between Portugal and Greece, I watched it with friends hoping that Portugal would win and that we would celebrate. But when they lost we still celebrated – with Greeks.”
Jörg Wenig for the IAAF
