Phillips - ‘Big jumps and winning championships, you can’t go unnoticed for ever’

Dwight Phillips literally jumped for joy tonight as he jigged on one leg out of the sand pit after his 8.32 metres winning leap. The performance was his longest jump of the night and dispossessed Jamaica’s James Beckford of the lead which he had just established with a 8.28m leap of his own just minutes before.

“The dance is just something that we do back in my home town in Georgia,” confirmed Phillips. “I was so excited by my effort I just thought I would give everyone in the Stade the benefit of my dancing skills!” Phillips’ face breaks into a wide smile and he laughs out loud.

With all the jigging and dancing for joy, the casual observer having missed Phillips’ jump might have wondered if the movement was to dislodge some sand trapped underneath his USA team kit.

But no, that was never a possibility because with Phillips wearing a red, white and blue coloured skin tight body suit with hood and glove attachments, there was hardly any opening except a roundel for the face and other than that just the ends of the fingers where sand could ever have stood a chance of touching his skin.

In reality while the entertaining jig was certainly an expression of joy, both it and the suit were attention seekers, symbolic of an exceptionally talented athlete who despite a World Indoor title last March, and a 8.44m personal best this summer feels he has not been given the level of media attention his achievements deserve.

In short, the 25 year-old Phillips feels he has been over looked.

“I didn’t get as much attention as I was expecting after my Birmingham win (2003 World Indoor championships), maybe this win will. So yes, I do find it frustrating that it’s pretty hard to get any attention.”

It shows just what a ridiculous world we live in nowadays that the Phillips, a well spoken communications major at Arizona state university, finds that coming from a straight forward family background is a promotional disadvantage. The media world and sponsors unfortunately don’t see any mileage nowadays in a clean living family who comes from Decatur, Georgia in the deep south.

There is his father Art and mother Laura, and he has three brothers, Al, Edwin, and Demario. Just a straight forward family unit but the modern world wants an angle, it wants spin, and with his dancing and his costume Phillips is fighting back in an effort to get noticed.

But the world of advertising, sponsorship and promotion doesn’t realise what it is missing. Here is an intelligent, articulate, natural guy, who is quite happy to show his emotion.

“I don’t know what to say, I am just so happy, I am lost for words,” was a comment which set the press conference room into fits of laughter because Phillips had hardly stopped speaking since he sat down for the post race interviews.

Phillips motivation tonight was his family. “They expected me to win, especially my brothers, and I expected to win because of the pressures they put on me.”

“None of my brothers are into track, though I have a younger brother who plays (American) football.”

“I am no ‘superman’ like the image they have tried to build around Savante (Stringfellow). I know I am not as flamboyant as him. He’s a great jumper, no taking anything away from him. All I know is that I just like competing for myself, and yes, I win.”

The reigning World champion hurdler Allen Johnson had the same problem at the beginning of his international career, the promotional world just didn’t want to know but after time he made them listen. Phillips is convinced he can achieve the same result by letting his performances on the runway do the talking for him.

“Yes, I think they will pay attention after a while. I am going to put some big jumps together in the future. With big jumps and winning championships, you can’t go unnoticed for ever,” Phillips concluded confidently.

So what was the first thing he going to do tonight?

“Oh that’s simple. I can’t wait to get back to the athletes village so I can phone my family and tell them how I got on.”

You can jig, you can wear fashionable costumes but in the end you can never spin the small town kid out of Phillips.

And thank god for that!

The day we start over looking the Dwight Phillips of this world is the day that all sport is finished.

Phillips jumps long and wins, and that should be entertainment enough.  

IAAF