Nelson Évora

GCIH
Nelson Évora

Nélson Évora in 2015
Personal information
Nationality Portuguese
Born (1984-04-26) 26 April 1984
Ivory Coast
Residence Lisbon, Portugal
Height 183 cm (6 ft 0 in)
Weight 74 kg (163 lb)
Sport
Country  Portugal
Sport Track and field
Event(s) Triple jump
Club Sporting CP[1]
Coached by Iván Pedroso[2]

Nelson Évora, GCIH[3] (born 20 April 1984) is a Portuguese track and field athlete who specializes in the triple jump and long jump.

Évora is the current triple jump European indoor champion, and a former triple jump Olympic and world champion. Évora competes for Portugal and Sporting CP. He represented Cape Verde until 2002, when he got Portuguese citizenship, in June that year.

Biography

Born in Ivory Coast, where his parents had come to live from Cape Verde, Évora and his family moved to Portugal when he was five years old.[4] He still holds the Cape Verdean records in both the long jump (7.57 m) and the triple jump (16.15 m).[5]

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

Évora is a member of the Bahá'í Faith.[4]

Sports career

He competed in the triple jump in the 2004 Olympics, without progressing from his pool,[1] 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.[6]

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.[1]

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.[7] In mid-2009, he won the triple jump gold at the Universiade and another at the 2009 Lusophony Games.[8]

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

Personal bests

Évora en route to his 2009 World Championships silver medal

International competitions

Year Competition Venue Position Event Notes
Representing  Portugal
2001 European Youth Olympic Festival Murcia, Spain 1st Long jump 7.49 m
2002 World Junior Championships Kingston, Jamaica 18th (q) Long jump 7.28 m (+0.7 m/s)
6th Triple jump 15.87 m (-0.2 m/s)
2003 European Junior Championships Tampere, Finland 1st Long jump 7.83 m
6th Triple jump 16.43 m
2004 World Indoor Championships Budapest, Hungary 10th (q) Triple jump 16.30 m
Ibero-American Championships Huelva, Spain 7th Triple jump 15.56 m
Olympic Games Athens, Greece 23rd (q) Triple jump 15.72 m
2005 European U23 Championships Erfurt, Germany 3rd Triple jump 16.89 m (+1.9 m/s)
World Championships Helsinki, Finland 14th (q) Triple jump 16.60 m
2006 World Indoor Championships Moscow, Russia 6th Triple jump 17.14 m
European Cup First League Thessaloniki, Greece 1st Long jump 8.05 m (0.0 m/s)
2nd Triple jump 17.03 m w (+2.5 m/s)
European Championships Gothenburg, Sweden 6th Long jump 7.91 m
4th Triple jump 17.07 m
Lusophony Games Macau, China 1st Triple jump 16.30 m
2007 European Indoor Championships Birmingham, United Kingdom 5th Triple jump 16.97 m
European Cup First League Milan, Italy 1st Long jump 8.10 m (-0.9 m/s)
1st Triple jump 17.35 m w (+2.4 m/s)
World Championships Osaka, Japan 1st Triple jump 17.74 m NR
World Athletics Final Stuttgart, Germany 3rd Triple jump 17.30 m
2008 World Indoor Championships Valencia, Spain 3rd Triple jump 17.27 m
European Cup First League Leiria, Portugal 1st Long jump 7.88 m (0.0 m/s)
1st Triple jump 16.91 m (+0.8 m/s)
Olympic Games Beijing, China 1st Triple jump 17.67 m
World Athletics Final Stuttgart, Germany 1st Triple jump 17.24 m
2009 European Team Championships Leiria, Portugal 2nd Long jump 7.94 m
1st Triple jump 17.59 m
Universiade Belgrade, Serbia 1st Triple jump 17.22 m
Lusophony Games Lisbon, Portugal 1st Triple jump 17.15 m
World Championships Berlin, Germany 2nd Triple jump 17.55 m
2011 European Team Championships Stockholm, Sweden 6th Triple jump 16.33 m
Universiade Shenzhen, China 1st Triple jump 17.31 m
World Championships Daegu, Korea 5th Triple jump 17.35 m
2014 European Championships Zürich, Switzerland 6th Triple jump 16.78 m
2015 European Indoor Championships Prague, Czech Republic 1st Triple jump 17.21 m
World Championships Beijing, China 3rd Triple jump 17.52 m
2016 World Indoor Championships Portland, United States 4th Triple jump 16.89 m
European Championships Amsterdam, Netherlands 17th (q) Triple jump 16.27 m
Olympic Games Rio de Janeiro, Brazil 6th Triple jump 17.03 m SB

Orders

References

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Nélson Évora.
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
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