Phillips Idowu

Phillips Olaosebikan Idowu, MBE (born 30 December 1978) is a British athlete who specialised in the triple jump and was active at elite level between 2000 and 2014, with his greatest success coming between 2006 and 2011. He is a former World Outdoor (2009) and Indoor (2008), European Outdoor (2010) and Indoor (2007), Diamond League (2011) and Commonwealth Games (2006) triple jump champion. He was also a silver medalist at the 2008 Summer Olympics. Idowu is a member of the London-based Belgrave Harriers athletics club and has been for much of his career.

Despite his successes, Idowu had suffered by comparisons with his senior compatriot Jonathan Edwards, and had been at times accused of inconsistency and of failing to fulfil his potential, including his disappointing injury-affected failure at the London Olympics 2012. His championship record since 2007, especially his gold medal at the 2009 World Athletics Championships, addressed some of these criticisms; by the end of his elite career, the Olympic Games was the only major championship gold to have eluded him, with a silver medal his best return in 2008.