It was past 7pm when Teddy Tamgho (pictured), a little-heralded 20-year-old French triple jumper, put together the jump of his life to rip the gold medal from the clutches of Yoandris Betanzos of Cuba.

The day was once again dominated by the United States, however, whose four gold medals included imperious performances by Bernard Lagat in the 3,000 metres and the 4x400m relay squad.

This brought the US gold-medal tally to eight, from 26 events, far ahead of the next best haul of three by Ethiopia, whose distance runners were cheered every step of the way by their hundreds of partisan fans, who contributed greatly to the lively atmosphere in the Aspire arena.

Asked after his race by insidethegames for an explanation of why US sportsmen and women are performing so strongly at present, Lagat said: "There was amazing organisation from Albuquerque to Doha.

"This is the best team I have ever been in.

"Everybody is together.

"The sprinters, the jumpers, the pentathletes were all cheering for us.

"It was amazing."

Russia recovered a little poise after their sporting disappointments of recent times, taking two golds - and nine medals in all - partly due to a 1-2 in the men’s high jump.

But there was more heartache for superstar pole vaulter Yelena Isinbayeva after her disappointing performance at last year’s World Championships in Berlin.

The 27-year-old could manage only 4.60 metres, far below her 5.00 world record, in finishing fourth behind Fabiana Murer of Brazil.



It was a Russian, Mariya Savinova (pictured), who deprived Britain’s Jenny Meadows of gold in a scintillating 800m that took place immediately after sprinter Dwain Chambers had receiving his 60m gold medal.

Savinova surged past the Briton off the final bend to win in a world-leading 1min 58.26sec ; Meadows clocked 1:58.43, a British record.

Britain’s overall tally of four medals from the Championships - two gold, a silver and a bronze - matched the target set by head coach Charles van Commenee.

US athletes for once had to accept second-best in a highly competitive men’s 60m hurdles, won on the line by Cuba’s Dayron Robles in a Championship record 7.34.

Terrence Trammell was two-hundredths of a second further back, recording a US record.

Defending champion Liu Xiang of China could manage only seventh.

Interviewed after his golden leap of 17.90 metres, an indoor world record, a pumped-up Tamgho was already looking to the future.

"If I can do this at 20, I will have to work so as to be able to jump even further,” he said.

"Only two people [Britain’s Jonathan Edwards and Kenny Harrison of the US] have jumped 18 metres.

"Now I have to fight to be the third."

Tamgho revealed that he had benefited from advice from other triple jumpers including Brazil’s Jadel Gregório, who finished sixth in Doha.

"Gregório told me, ‘First you jump and afterwards you explode’," he said.

Contact the writer of this story at [email protected]


Related stories
March 2010: Exclusive - Chambers admits his London 2012 Olympic dream is over
March 2010: Double gold for Britain but US dominate in Doha
March 2010: Chambers looking good for gold in Doha
March 2010: Britain can win five medals in Doha but London 2012 more important
February 2010: World champions head British team for Doha