Nelson Évora

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Nelson Évora

Évora after the men's triple jump medal ceremony at the 2007 World Championships.
Medal record
Men's athletics
Competitor for  Portugal
Olympic Games
Gold 2008 Beijing Triple jump
World Championships
Gold 2007 Osaka Triple jump
Silver 2009 Berlin Triple jump
World Indoor Championships
Bronze 2008 Valencia Triple jump
Universiade
Gold 2009 Belgrade Triple jump
Gold 2011 Shenzhen Triple jump
European U23 Championships
Bronze 2005 Erfurt Triple jump
European Junior Championships
Gold 2003 Tampere Triple jump
Gold 2003 Tampere Long jump

Nelson Évora (born 20 April 1984) is a Portuguese athlete, of Cape Verdean descent, who specializes in the triple jump and long jump. He is the former triple jump olympic and world champion. Évora currently competes for the Portuguese club S.L. Benfica. He represented Cape Verde until 2002, when he got Portuguese citizenship, in June that year.

Biography

Born in Côte d'Ivoire, where his parents had come to live from Cape Verde, Nelson and his family moved to Portugal when he was five years old.[1] He still holds the Cape Verdean records in both the long jump (7.57 m) and the triple jump (16.15 m).[2]

Évora's family settled in Odivelas, on the floor above João Ganço's, a former Portugal record-holder and first man in Portugal to pass over 2m in the high jump. David Ganço, one of João Ganço's three sons, one year older than Nelson, became Évora's best friend. One day, João Ganço, seeing them playing in the street, suggested that Nelson start practising athletics, following David's example, and, just like that, Nelson sportive career started. João Ganço then became Évora's coach.

Évora is a member of the Bahá'í Faith.[1]

Sports career

He competed in the triple jump in the 2004 Olympics, without progressing from his pool, and finished sixth at the 2006 IAAF World Indoor Championships. He finished fourth in the triple jump final and sixth in the long jump final at the 2006 European Athletics Championships in Gothenburg, having set a Portuguese triple jump record of 17.23 metres during the qualification. At the 2007 European Athletics Indoor Championships he came in fifth place.

On 27 August 2007, Évora became the triple jump World champion at the 2007 World Championships, in Osaka, Japan, establishing his personal best, Portuguese national record and second best world mark of the year at 17.74 metres.[3]

On 9 March 2008, Évora placed third in the triple jump competition at the 2008 IAAF World Indoor Championships, in Valencia, by jumping 17.27 metres.

On 21 August 2008, he edged out Phillips Idowu of Great Britain and Leevan Sands of the Bahamas to take an Olympic gold medal with a 17.67 metres jump.

Évora set the world leading mark at the Grande Prêmio Brasil Caixa in May 2009, winning with 17.66 m. He was pleased with the jump (his third best performance ever) and stated his intention to surpass the 18 metre mark at the forthcoming 2009 World Championships.[4] In mid-2009, he won the triple jump gold at the Universiade and another at the 2009 Lusophony Games.[5]

However he was unable to replicate his winning form at the 2009 World Championships in Berlin, being relegated to 2nd place. After leading with a first round jump of 17.55m, the man he beat in the Olympics, Phillips Idowu, was able to take the gold with a third round jump of 17.73m, the longest in the world for that year.

Personal bests

Évora en route to his 2009 World Championships silver medal

Achievements

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Baha'i World News Service - Top sportsmen find support in faith
  2. ↑ Cape Verdean athletics record
  3. ↑ Nélson Évora campeão do mundo do triplo salto (Portuguese)
  4. ↑ Biscayart, Eduardo (2009-05-25). Belém spectacular produces five world season leads – IAAF World Athletics Tour. IAAF. Retrieved on 2009-05-30.
  5. ↑ Fernandes, António Manuel (2009-07-14). Évora, another title in Lisbon. IAAF. Retrieved on 2009-07-23.

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Nelson Evora.
Awards
Preceded by
José Veras		 Portuguese Sportsman of the Year
2007 – 2009 		Succeeded by
João Pedro Silva
Olympic Games
Preceded by
Nuno Delgado		 Flagbearer for  Portugal
Beijing 2008 		Succeeded by
Telma Monteiro
Summer Universiade Champions in Men's Triple jump
World Best Year Performance in Men's Triple Jump
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