Jonathan Edwards - Road to munich
The English team was very strong at the European Cup in the Superleague in Annecy - the men wanted to qualify for the World Cup in September in Madrid - and beside they won the competition in Annecy, they reached their goal. One of the best "points-supplier" was Jonathan Edwards. The spectators were really impressed how the Olympic-Champion in the triple jump managed his event. And, of course he collected eight points for his team.
Jonathan Edwards - on the road to munich (Foto: Kiefner)
The conditions were good, even it was so hot, that every athlet try to escape out of the sun into the shadow, which was very rare in the stadium. But Jonathan Edwards, the 36 year old triple jumper from Newcastle, who is an ambassador for the European Championships in Munich shows his big experience and routine. Young athletes could learn a lot from this big athlete.Not easy to jump
Even it was not easy to jump because of the wind, which turned round and changed all the time the direction. Sometimes it came from one side, sometimes it came from the other side. And the second thing was, that the competitors were not bad. First of all the british Athlete had to compete against the World Champion from 1999, Charles Friedek from Leverkusen and the strong Italian guy, Fabrizio Donato. But he dominated the four attempts and won with 17,19 m, only two centimeters in front of Donato and six centimeters better than Friedek. And he only jumped three times, cut out one attempt. "I had a little bit a problem with my ancle and I didn`t want to take a risk", explained the Olympic Champion who got lot of applause from the french spectators in the stadium. Edwards was one of the foreign athletes the people respected and accepted most.
The man with the mixture of black and grey hair said with a wink: "I am an old man, and I have to take care at my muscles and bones". That means, that the slim triplejumper wants to save his strenght for big jobs. This is one of the reason why he only started twice in this season before the European Cup. Of course Edwards wants to become European Champion. And he wants to win Gold at the Commonwealth Games in Manchester. Then he would have the four most important title an athlete can have. "It would be great to say, that I am the one who is Olympic Champion, World Champion, Winner of the Commonwealth Games and European Champion at the same time", Jonathan Edwards said.
"I want to start at every Golden League Meeting
But of course the 36 year old father of two boys wants to earn money in this season as well. "I want to start at every Golden League Meeting", Edwards said. He starts in Olso on Friday and want to show the young generation, that he still is the king.
One of his strongest competitor as well in the Golden League as at the European Championship is Christian Olsson. And this is sure: It will be a exciting show, these totally different athletes, will demonstrate the Europe and the World.
Jonathan Edwards still has a very big motivation and says: "I am happy that I am still able to show such big jumps. Since a few months he has a new training partner at Gateshead Stadium Headquarters - the new british long jump record holder, Chris Tomlinson. And the combination Edwards/Tomlinson seems to be very succesful. The 20 years old guy who reached already 8,27 m this year won the long jump in Annecy with 8,17 m. So this duo had a qouta of hundred per cent. And you can be sure, it was not the last time.
Ursula Kaiser
