© Stade de France ®
Macary, Zublena et Regembal
Costantini - Architects
ADAGP - Paris - 2002
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COMPETITION  RETRO |
 Gothenburg 1995 – EDWARDS SOARS TO GLORY
Paris 2003 Saint-Denis
Jonathan Edwards made history at the 5th World Championships in Athletics by becoming the first man to leap beyond the mythical 18 metre mark in the triple jump.
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| Vandystadt |
Unquestionably the one image that remains, above all others, from the Gothenburg World Championships is that of Jonathan Edwards flying through the Swedish sky on his way to a new triple jump world record. And what a record! The 18 metre barrier had been the nemesis of the sport’s greats for years. Willie Banks, the previous record holder and one of the greatest jumpers ever consistently came up just short of the mark throughout his long and distinguished career. His world best, set in 1985, stood at 17.97m, and even though American did jump 18.20m in the US trials in Indianapolis three years later, that mark was unfairly assisted by a tail wind and scratched from the record books.
17.98 m: better than Banks, but still not 18m!
Edwards was to experience the same frustration in the summer of ‘95. At the Villeneuve-d’Ascq meeting, he flew through the air to an astounding 18.43m, only for the wind gauge to deny him glory. Edward did break Banks’ world record prior to Gothenburg though, at a meeting in Salamanca, Spain.
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His 17.98m leap was just 1cm more than the previous best, but proof of the huge strides the Englishman had made over the past few seasons – both literally and metaphorically. The European bronze medallist in Stuttgart of two years earlier was now the world record holder, a star back home, and firm favourite for the forthcoming World Championships.
A change is as good as a rest
A devout Christian, fervent Newcastle United fan and physics graduate, Edwards had only just made the leap from world-class to world’s best jumper that summer, at the age of 29. Earlier that year, he left chilly Britain for some warm weather training at Florida State University, USA. There he met fellow believer and coach Dennis Nobles who helped him refine his mental approach to the sport. Nobles worked on his technique too, calculating that a longer takeoff, combined with raising the torso, holding the hop and step phases and controlling the pumping of the arms, would work wonders. And work wonders it did.
Two jumps, two world records
Edwards was a transformed man during an unbeaten 1995 season, and in Gothenburg put everything together just when it mattered. To say he blew away the competition is an understatement; his first jump was massive, smashing the 18 metre barrier at last (18.16 m) and extending his world record by a full 18cm.
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Then, on his second jump, on a high and drawing on the adrenalin still pumping round his body, Edwards soared to 18.29 m. «I was flying. It felt like I was on a cloud», he explained after the competition, and thanked God for his success. Bermuda’s Brian Wellmann was 67cm behind in silver, the largest victory margin ever at a major international competition. Looking back many years later, Edwards said: "It all seemed so wonderfully easy that whole season. I stepped on the track and almost jumped 18 meters at will.” Whether he manages to break that barrier again in the Stade de France® is debatable, but one thing is for sure, eight years after that memorable night in Gothenburg Edwards will up there challenging for World Championship gold yet again.
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