Phillips Idowu is an English triple jumper. He is the current Commonwealth Games champion, and World and European Indoor champion.

Phillips Idowu is an English triple jumper. He is the current Commonwealth Games champion, and World and European Indoor champion.

He is a member of the London-based Belgrave Harriers athletics club and has been for much of his career. Phillips is known for his eccentric personality, sporting a variety of hair colours, an array of facial piercings and trademark booming laugh.

Phillips was a talented sportsman at school in both basketball and American football, yet he was most successful as a junior in athletics. In 1997 he came to attention as a triple jumper when he won the English Schools Championships and the under-20s AAA title, rounding off the year by coming fourth in the European Junior Championships.

His success continued in 2000, when he was ranked in the top 10 triple jumpers in the world and placed sixth in the 2000 Olympic Games. In 2001 he won the European Cup, though later that year his form was found wanting at the World Championships in Edmonton. His first major international medal came when he won silver at the 2002 Commonwealth Games, setting a new personal best of 17.68 m but losing to world record holder and compatriot Jonathan Edwards. Later in 2002 he placed 5th in the European Championships.

In March 2006, Phillips triumphed at the Commonwealth Games in Melbourne, winning Gold. In 2007, in the absence of world leader Christian Olsson, Phillips beat compatriot Nathan Douglas to Gold in the European Indoor Championships in Birmingham. He recorded a championship record jump of 17.56 m, beating Olsson's world-leading jump by 12 cm.

He went on to win the IAAF Golden League Bislett Games in June 2007 with a distance of 17.35 m (56' 11"). By July 2007 he was ranked the number three triple jumper in the world, a new career high.

On March 9, 2008, Phillips won his first world title, taking the Gold medal at the 2008 IAAF World Indoor Championships in Valencia, Spain. His jump of 17.75 m also broke the British and Commonwealth Indoor record previously held by his compatriot and former adversary Jonathan Edwards, who presented him with his medal at the ceremony.

Phillips won the men's triple jump title at the 2008 British Olympic Trials with a distance of 17.58 m, at the time the longest (outdoor) jump of 2008. He followed this up with further jumps of 17.57 m and 17.27 m.

He took Silver in the men's triple jump at the 2008 Beijing Olympics behind World Champion Nelson �vora after arriving at the games as the favourite. His best jump was 17.62 m, achieved in the third round. In an interview with Reuters, he expressed disappointment at having won only Silver, though he displayed good humour and said he looked forward to the next Olympics, London 2012.