USA&rsquo;s Dwight Phillips has donated a pair of spikes to the IAAF Heritage Collection which is currently on public display in Qatar ahead of the IAAF World Athletics Championships Doha 2019.
Phillips, the 2004 Olympic and four-time world long jump champion, has given the shoes which he wore when leaping to bronze at the 2007 IAAF World Championships in Osaka.
The spikes were symbolically handed over to the collection in Doha via the safe hands of Qatar&rsquo;s best young long jumper, 18-year-old Rasheed Abdullah Al-Suwaidi, who trains in Aspire under the guidance of coach Al Walid Abdullah. 
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Qatari long jumper Rasheed Abdullah Al-Suwaid</div>
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&ldquo;My donation of these shoes is all about &lsquo;giving-back&rsquo; to the sport which has given me so much,&rdquo; said Dwight Phillips, who retired in 2013 with a personal best of 8.74m (2009).
&ldquo;I&rsquo;m really pleased that my Osaka spikes will now sit in the IAAF Heritage Collection alongside the kit of Jesse Owens, Carl Lewis and Mike Powell to name but a few.
&ldquo;I hope the spikes will be an added attraction for fans and help motivate young athletes like Rasheed to aim high in their careers,&rdquo; confirmed Phillips, who also took gold at the 2003 IAAF World Indoor Championships. 
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Display at the IAAF Heritage Exhibition in Doha</div>
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The spikes will be on show until the 7 October in the IAAF Heritage World Athletics Championships Exhibition which was opened last month by IAAF President Sebastian Coe and Dahlan Al Hamad, IAAF Vice President and Director General of the IAAF World Athletics Championships Doha 2019 local organising committee. The exhibition is situated in the City Center Doha, the largest shopping mall in Qatar.
The IAAF Heritage World Athletics Championships Exhibition is kindly supported by the International Athletics Foundation, ASICS and SEIKO.
IAAF

USA’s Dwight Phillips has donated a pair of spikes to the IAAF Heritage Collection which is currently on public display in Qatar ahead of the IAAF World Athletics Championships Doha 2019.

Olympic and four-time world champion Dwight Phillips donates spikes to IAAF Heritage Collection

Four-time world champion Dwight Phillips is one of the all-time long jump greats. Yet it wasn&rsquo;t until he learned to delve deep and discover more about the sport that he began to enjoy the success for which he is best remembered.
<h3>Homework pays off</h3>
"My greatest challenge was becoming a student of the sport. When I started out in track, I competed off talent alone. I wasn&rsquo;t really educated in my event. I wasn&rsquo;t familiar with the nuances of long jumping and consequently I finished seventh and eighth in my first two major championships finals &ndash; the 2000 Sydney Olympics and the 2001 IAAF World Championships in Edmonton.
"I sustained a hamstring injury after Edmonton and as I didn&rsquo;t have a sponsorship contract at the time, I considered walking away from the sport. I was offered a job in pharmaceutical sales worth $85,000 a year. The choice was clear. Do I take this job or try and follow my dreams and change my approach to the sport and become more informed? I took the latter option.
"In the fall of 2001 leading into 2002, I could see changes. I became more informed and my movements improved. I became more patient, a lot stronger. I didn&rsquo;t have to rely on my coach as much. I became much more educated in my event. I studied endless videos of Ralph Boston, Lynn Davies, Carl Lewis and Mike Powell &ndash; all the great jumpers of the past. My fianc&eacute;e at the time used to say she was sick and tired of me watching the videos, but I knew it would help me become a better athlete.
"I can remember one definitive competition when I knew I was on the right track. I was up against the Cuban great Ivan Pedroso, who was the world and Olympic champion at the time and whom I&rsquo;d considered unbeatable up to this point. But in Padova, Italy in 2002, I managed to beat him by jumping 8.36m. I thought, &lsquo;if I can beat the world and Olympic champion, that&rsquo;s a big feat&rsquo;. It gave me a lot of confidence.
"The next step was to succeed on the major championship scene and that happened at the 2003 World Indoor Championships in Birmingham. Throughout my time at college, I became known as the king of finishing second. People would call me that and I would laugh, but internally it was very frustrating because it was the truth. In Birmingham, I led from round two with 8.23m until Yago Lamela of Spain passed me with 8.28m in the final round. I tweaked my hamstring in round five, so I had to make a decision. Do I accept second place or rise to the occasion? I chose to break the trend of second places and went on to win the competition by one centimetre. That gave me the confidence and belief I could be the best in the future."
Steve Landells for the IAAF

Four-time world champion Dwight Phillips is one of the all-time long jump greats. Yet it wasn’t until he learned to delve deep and discover more about the sport that he began to enjoy the success for which he is best remembered.

My greatest challenge – Dwight Phillips 

As a four-time world champion and the 2004 Olympic gold medallist, most fans recognise Dwight Phillips as a legend of the long jump. These days, the Georgia native, now retired from the sport, is directing his passion for athletics into his work as a coach and aspiring photographer.
Phillips was <a href="https://www.iaaf.org/awards/news/iaaf-panellists-best-athletics-photograph-of">recently named to a five-judge panel</a> that will select the Best Athletics Photograph of the Year at the IAAF Athletics Awards 2017 on 24 November.
In this Q&amp;A, Phillips discusses his evolution from a beginner and hobbyist in photography to an avid sports photographer who incorporates the craft with his work as an elite athlete coach.
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<h4>&nbsp;</h4>
<h4>When did you first start getting into photography? I noticed you started your Instagram account this year.</h4>
Initially I started in 2003 at the World Championships in Paris. I never imagined in my life that I&rsquo;d have the opportunity to travel to so many beautiful places, so I just wanted to try and capture the essence of each place I visit, so I can look back and have fond memories of all the countries I visit.
<h4>You&rsquo;re also an established coach and the world&rsquo;s first &lsquo;virtual track and field coach&rsquo;. How have you managed to incorporate that with photography?</h4>
I think people really enjoy seeing quality content, so with that in mind I wanted to combine some of the passions I have. So I make it a production when I&rsquo;m training, so the athletes I coach can see themselves getting better, it gives them a chance to share these photos with the world. It also helps to capture the essence of their training sessions.
Everything is so visual these days, it is all about engagement now and I believe it is important to combine both coaching and photography.
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<h4>You&rsquo;re a very keen photographer when it comes to sport, travel and landscape photography. What style of photography do you prefer?</h4>
Honestly, I only found that I really enjoy sports photography this year. Before then my passion was landscape photography, but with my equipment I use now it has really changed my perspective on sports photography. There are so many things you need to think about in sports photography that I never really considered. For me, every event in track and field provides you with a different mood, feeling, and emotion and you need the right settings to capture that.
<h4>Some of the images you captured at the World Championships were stunning, particularly of the long jumpers such as Lorraine Ugen. Which photo in particular was your personal favourite from this year&rsquo;s World Championships?</h4>
There were a few I really loved, but my favourite was of Christian Taylor. I&rsquo;m a huge Christian Taylor fan. The photo isn&rsquo;t actually of him jumping, but the beginning phase of his run. You can see the intensity and emotion on his face. He wanted it more than any other athlete. You know, for him he&rsquo;s been doing it for such a long time now and to still exhibit that level of passion is inspiring still.
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<h4>He&rsquo;s a really fantastic competitor. The fact that you can capture a variety of emotions crossing the different events is amazing.</h4>
Yes it is, and Mo Farah for example, in the penultimate lap of men&rsquo;s 10,000m, he turned around and looked up and I captured that. And I thought to myself what a great guy, he has the whole world on his shoulders performing at home and all the expectations, for him to win. That opening night of the World Championships is something I&rsquo;ll always remember. I managed to shoot the photo from up in the VIP area, it was just really inspiring, it gave me chills.
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<h4>It&rsquo;s impressive to get that kind of photograph from that position. What camera and equipment do you use?</h4>
I normally use the Canon DX Mark II, it&rsquo;s brilliant for sports photography and I can shoot 17 frames per second. That kind of speed gives you the opportunity to shoot some brilliant photographs.
I use the Canon 70-200 lens - again it&rsquo;s just brilliant for sports photography.
<h4>Are there any tips or recommendations you&rsquo;d give to people wanting to get into photographing sports such as athletics?</h4>
I would say just inform yourself, take a class. I bought a general camera initially, and then I moved up to a DSLR and I absolutely loved that. I just learned over time how to navigate through all the different setting and options for photography. It&rsquo;s just about educating yourself. I had a brilliant mentor, Ben Brown a local Atlanta photographer, but honestly I learned most from just trial and error.
<h4>Is there a particular piece of software you use to edit your photos --again any tips for amateur sports photographers?</h4>
I use Adobe Lightroom and also Photoshop, those are the two industry standards that I would recommend, I also have experience with Final Cut Pro too, so I have experience with composing and making videos.
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<h4>So, obviously you&rsquo;ve had success in the sport being Olympic and multiple world champion, but how does it feel becoming successful in the world of sports photography, especially through gaining more than 16,000 Instagram followers in less than a year?&nbsp;</h4>
Well you know, I found that if I was equally as passionate about something as I was about athletics, I knew I&rsquo;d have the opportunity to be as successful. You know, it&rsquo;s really a learning experience. As an athlete I would just be open to learning new things every day and I tried to apply that to photography.
<h4>How do you combine photography with coaching at a championhips?</h4>
If I have an athlete out there, photography comes second. My primary focus is on them, I want to be able to give my athlete all the attention. But, at times it can be conflicting though.
<h4>Coaching and athletics aside, how does it feel to be recognised for your photography by being a part of the IAAF&rsquo;s judging panel for the Best Athletics Photograph of the Year?</h4>
It is such an honour for me. I follow a lot of sports photographers, I use a lot of them as inspiration. Just to be on a panel alongside them is such an honour. They&rsquo;re all incredibly distinguished photographers, they put so much time and effort into their work and honestly it is just, as I said before, an honour to be recognised and to be a part of it.
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<h4>Photography aside, what was your favourite moment of the World Championships this year?</h4>
There were so many great moments so this is tough, but because I do have an affinity for the long jump, seeing Brittney Reece win another title in long jump, overcoming adversity and the death of her grandfather, I think that was truly a magical moment.
Mo Farah winning on the opening night, the decibel level on that night was incredible. I mean for a 10,000m, it&rsquo;s not often that you get that kind of fan engagement. Every lap was electric. Also seeing Emma Coburn and Courtney Frerichs go one-two (in the women&rsquo;s 3000m steeplechase). That gave me chills being a spectator and also being there to capture that moment.
<h4>Do you have a favourite athletics moment of the season?</h4>
Again this is so tough, so many incredible performances this year. I&rsquo;ve got to go back to the World Championships again with Tori Bowie. Elaine Thompson was a nailed on favourite, but Bowie overcame it. We thought the same in men&rsquo;s with Bolt, but it shows how nothing is ever certain in athletics. Seeing Barshim be so successful this year has been great to watch, along with Sam Kendricks in the pole vault. He&rsquo;s been undefeated this year, how often does that happen in pole vault? - or even in the history of athletics? It was just outstanding, with pole vault there are so many things you need to think about.
<h4>Is there anything else you would like to add?</h4>
I just love the sport of athletics, I&rsquo;m constantly reading and studying as a coach, and getting involved in sports photography this year has been truly brilliant.
Ben Harlow for the IAAF

As a four-time world champion and the 2004 Olympic gold medallist, most fans recognise Dwight Phillips as a legend of the long jump. These days, the Georgia native, now retired from the sport, is directing his passion for athletics into his work as a coach and aspiring photographer. 

Phillips: from long jump legend to aspiring photographer

The latest episode in the Legends of athletics, signature edition series is now online and features four-time world long jump champion Dwight Phillips.
<iframe src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/5WduSast9WI?rel=0&amp;showinfo=0" width="500" height="281" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen">&amp;lt;br class="k-br" /&amp;gt;</iframe>

The latest episode in the Legends of athletics, signature edition series is now online and features four-time world long jump champion Dwight Phillips.

Legends of athletics, signature edition – Dwight Phillips

The second episode of the fourth season of IAAF Inside Athletics is available to <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d4THo8WERmw" target="_blank">watch online now</a> and features an exclusive interview with four-time world long jump champion Dwight Phillips of the USA.In addition to his four world titles, Phillips won Olympic gold in 2004, the world indoor title in 2003 and the bronze medal at the 2007 IAAF World Championships.<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="280" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/d4THo8WERmw?rel=0&amp;showinfo=0" width="500">&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;br class="k-br" </iframe>IAAF Inside Athletics is hosted by Trinidad and Tobago&rsquo;s 1997 world 200m champion Ato Boldon. To watch episodes of IAAF Inside Athletics as soon as they are released, follow the <a href="https://www.facebook.com/WorldAthleticsClub" target="_blank">IAAF World Athletics Club Facebook page</a>.

The second episode of the fourth season of IAAF Inside Athletics is available to watch online now and features an exclusive interview with four-time world long jump champion Dwight Phillips of the USA.

IAAF Inside Athletics – Dwight Phillips

Some 200 metres above the Olympic Green, 246 metres according to the GPS device on his phone, Dwight Phillips is a little queasy. And Allen Johnson is needling Phillips playfully. &ldquo;Doesn&rsquo;t bother me a bit,&rdquo; said the former hurdler. The difference? Johnson is looking at Phillips, not down through the glass floor at the drop to the base of the Olympic Tower. When he hops up and down playfully a few times, a guard steps in to stop him.Phillips and Johnson are here, along with marathon runner Paula Radcliffe, in their roles as IAAF ambassadors. It&rsquo;s a photo opportunity, and a good one as the tower provides sweeping views of the Chinese capital, involves some talking to a few reporters, and a chance for the three to make their forecasts for the IAAF World Championships, Beijing 2015.Johnson is a four-time world 110m hurdles champion and 1996 Olympic champion, with a major championship career that stretched from 1994 to 2008. He has visited Beijing already in the build up to the championships, delivering tickets and building interest. When the manager of the tower presents a guest book for signatures, his is already there.After dissecting Usain Bolt&rsquo;s record-setting doubles in Beijing and Berlin, Phillips, himself a four-time world champion in the long jump and 2004 Olympic champion, joined Johnson in a whirlwind tour of their anticipated highlights of the championships, among them the men&rsquo;s 100m final.&ldquo;We&rsquo;ll know by 70 metres whose it is,&rdquo; suggested Johnson.The women&rsquo;s 1500m and whether Genzebe Dibaba, with no pacemakers, would force the pace or rely on her kick, was also a topic for discussion.<h3>Taylor tipped</h3>Phillips calls out the potential triple jump duel between Cuba&rsquo;s Pedro Pablo Pichardo and the USA&rsquo;s Christian Taylor. He admits to favouring Taylor; like both men, a native of Atlanta. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s like my little nephew,&rdquo; he said.Johnson spotlighted his own event: &ldquo;We&rsquo;ve had five different champions since 2003,&rdquo; he says. &ldquo;It will be interesting to see if David Oliver can be the first to repeat. Nobody,&rdquo; he added poignantly, &ldquo;has run 12.9 in a World Championships final and not won.&rdquo;Phillips commented: &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t think I&rsquo;ve seen many jumpers with the talent of Marquis Dendy,&rdquo; referring to the US collegian but, he added, &ldquo;(USA&rsquo;s) Jeff Henderson has the three best jumps in the world. It&rsquo;s his champs to lose.&rdquo;Both men see Allyson Felix as the favourite in the women&rsquo;s 400m. &ldquo;She knows how to win&rdquo; - but then speculation breaks down in hilarity as the two try to wrap their mouths around the correct pronunciation of the flying Frenchman Renaud Lavillienie. Radcliffe, the women&rsquo;s marathon world record-holder, is a bit more analytical, citing the heat and potential team tactics from the African teams, particularly the Kenyans, as major factors in both marathons. &ldquo;The course is a fast one, but the conditions are going to be a factor.&rdquo;The Briton casts the women&rsquo;s race in particular as a team competition between the Kenyans, including two-time defending champion Edna Kiplagat, and the Ethiopian team led by Tigist Tufa.Radcliffe also, for the record, has the best pronunciation of &ldquo;Lavillenie.&rdquo; But then, perhaps, you would expect it as she has a degree in French.Parker Morse for the IAAF

Some 200 metres above the Olympic Green, 246 metres according to the GPS device on his phone, Dwight Phillips is a little queasy. 

IAAF ambassadors Phillips, Johnson and Radcliffe make their predictions

– Read on for English and French language versions of this story – La traduction française suit le texte anglaisThe International Olympic Committee (IOC) today announced the list of 37 Athlete Role Models (ARMs) who will attend the 2nd Summer Youth Olympic Games from 16-28 August in Nanjing, China; the names include athletics legends Kajsa Bergqvist, Liu Xiang and Dwight Phillips.Athletics has the second greatest representation of ARMs among the 28 sports that will be contested in Nanjing.In Nanjing, they will play a key role in supporting, mentoring and offering advice to the 3800 young sportsmen and women – and not just in athletics – who will be participating in the Games. The ARMs will be accessible to the athletes both in the Youth Olympic Village and during a series of educational activities and workshops that will focus on areas such as skills development, how to lead healthy lifestyles, environment and social responsibility and Olympism. Athletes at the Youth Olympic Games will get to engage in conversations with the ARMs throughout the Games. They will be behind the scenes during competition and will also be available for informal chats in the ARM lounge that will be open to all participants. The athletes can also learn valuable lessons from the ARMs during 'Chat with Champions' sessions, which will also be accessible to people around the world on the IOC’s digital platforms. Fans of the YOG will have the opportunity to put their questions directly to the ARMs during informal chat sessions on the IOC’s social media channels.The main goal behind making the ARMs as accessible as possible is so they can share their experiences and inspire the young athletes to be the best they can be both on and off the field of play. Claudia Bokel, chair of the IOC Athletes’ Commission and Olympic silver medallist in fencing, said: “The Athlete Role Model programme is a unique element of the Youth Olympic Games. The ARMs have so much valuable information to pass on to the younger generation. They will really inspire and empower the athletes long after the Games conclude to not only be great ‘Youth Olympians’, but to share the skills and values learnt at the YOG with their communities and peers.”Also in attendance will be the IOC Athletes’ Commission – which includes Sweden’s 2004 Olympic high jump champion Stefan Holm – which will play a key role in the educational activities and workshops for athletes off the field of play.IAAF *****Bergqvist,
Liu et Phillips seront des athlètes mondiaux lors des Jeux olympiques de la Jeunesse
de Nanjing Le Comité international olympique (CIO) a
publié aujourd'hui la liste des 37 athlètes modèles qui seront présents aux 2es
Jeux olympiques de la Jeunesse d’été (JOJ), du 16 au 28 août, à Nanjing, Chine.
Sur cette liste on relève notamment les noms des légendes de l'athlétisme que
sont Kajsa Bergqvist, Liu Xiang et Dwight Phillips.L'athlétisme a la seconde plus importante
représentation en total d'athlètes modèles parmi les 28 sports inscrits au
programme de Nanjing.À Nanjing, ces athlètes modèles joueront un
rôle clé en soutenant et conseillant les 3800 jeunes – et pas uniquement en
athlétisme – qui participeront aux Jeux.Les participants aux JOJ pourront rencontrer
ces athlètes modèles aussi bien dans le village olympique de la jeunesse que
lors de diverses activités éducatives et d'ateliers qui porteront sur des
domaines tels que le développement des compétences, les styles de vie sains,
l’environnement, la responsabilité sociale et l'olympisme.Les participants aux JOJ pourront dialoguer
avec les athlètes modèles tout au long des Jeux. Ces derniers se tiendront dans les coulisses
durant les compétitions et seront également à disposition pour des discussions
informelles dans le salon des athlètes modèles, lequel sera ouvert à tous les
participants. Les jeunes sportifs pourront aussi tirer de précieux
enseignements des athlètes modèles lors des séances de "rencontres avec les
champions" qui seront diffusées sur les plateformes numériques du CIO et
donc accessibles aux personnes du monde entier.Les fans des JOJ pourront quant à eux poser
leurs questions directement aux athlètes modèles lors de séances de discussion
informelles sur les réseaux sociaux.Le principal objectif des athlètes modèles est
de partager autant que possible leur expérience et d’inciter les jeunes
athlètes à donner le meilleur d’eux-mêmes, aussi bien sur l’aire de compétition
qu’en dehors de celle-ci.Claudia Bokel, présidente de la Commission des
athlètes du CIO et médaillée olympique d’argent en escrime, a déclaré: "Le
programme des athlètes modèles est un élément unique des Jeux olympiques de la
Jeunesse. Les athlètes modèles ont tant d’informations précieuses à transmettre
à la jeune génération. Ils seront une source d’inspiration longtemps encore
après la fin des Jeux et encourageront les jeunes athlètes non seulement à
devenir de grands "jeunes olympiens", mais aussi à transmettre les connaissances
et valeurs qu’ils auront apprises durant les JOJ à leur communauté et à leurs
pairs." La Commission des athlètes du CIO – qui
comprend notamment le Suédois Stefan Holm, champion olympique du saut en
hauteur en 2004 – jouera un rôle clé en ce qui concerne les activités
éducatives et les ateliers proposés aux athlètes en dehors des compétitions.IAAF

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) today announced the list of 37 Athlete Role Models (ARMs) who will attend the 2nd Summer Youth Olympic Games from 16-28 August in Nanjing, China; the names include athletics legends Kajsa Bergqvist, Liu Xiang and Dwight Phillips.

Bergqvist, Liu and Phillips to be Athlete Role Models at Youth Olympic Games in Nanjing 

Ahead of the 2013 World Athletics Gala in Monaco, three-time World 100m champion Maurice Greene, four-time World Long Jump champion Dwight Phillips and four-time World 110m Hurdles champion Allen Johnson spoke to Ato Boldon about their careers and the 2013 World Athlete of the Year awards. Ato Boldon: Maurice, tell us a bit about your memories of your athletics career and is there anything you think the sport should be doing differently now?Maurice Greene: I have a lot of tremendous memories, especially from Monaco. I was just talking about the time when we were here for the Golden League meeting. We had just got off the bus and we were heading to our hotel when we saw a guy sitting outside with a blue Lamborghini. The dude just threw us the keys and told us to take it for a drive, so we did.This sport has given me so much and I&rsquo;ve put so much into it. Our era really had a lot of passion and really worked hard for the sport. I think the current athletes should give the people what they really want to see and that&rsquo;s personality and competition. AB: Dwight, you&rsquo;re the most recent retiree here; was it a difficult decision to retire?Dwight Phillips: Being an athlete, we do this our entire lives and we feel as though we can do this for ever. I really wanted to retire after 2012, but I tore my achilles that year which was a sour moment because I had been No.1 in the world for the two previous years. Luckily I had the opportunity to compete at the World Championships because I had the bye, so I told myself that I want to go out fighting and that&rsquo;s what I did. I came into the sport fighting and I went out fighting. AB: Allen, how do you assess the current health of the 110m Hurdles and where were you when Aries Merritt broke the World record last year?Allen Johnson: I can&rsquo;t remember where I was but I knew Aries had been running well and I knew that Brussels was his last race. He&rsquo;d been running 12.92 and 12.93. I had the meeting record for Brussels (12.92), so selfishly I was hoping he wouldn&rsquo;t break it. I thought &lsquo;it&rsquo;s the end of the year, he&rsquo;s probably tired&rsquo;.I didn&rsquo;t see the race but I got a text from Darrell Smith, saying &lsquo;wow did you see that?!&rsquo; My heart immediately started racing so I went online and saw that he ran 12.80. I just thought &lsquo;woah, that&rsquo;s amazing&rsquo;.He smashed it. To see someone break the world record by 0.07 and almost get into the 12.7s, that&rsquo;s a tremendous moment for the event and for Aries.I&rsquo;d had conversations in the past with other hurdlers like Tony Dees and Renaldo Nehemiah and we all felt that a time in the 12.7s was definitely possible. It was just a matter of time. As far as human capabilities go, 12.7 is definitely within reason; I&rsquo;ve felt that since 1996. My personal goal was to run 12.78.The event is in pretty good shape right now. There&rsquo;s Aries Merritt and David Oliver. Dayron Robles is still around, Liu Xiang may yet come back. It&rsquo;s an event where we always see head-to-head competition, which is good from a spectator&rsquo;s standpoint. AB: Now all of you are retired, what are you doing now?DP: Currently I own a production company. I also do some work for Leap of Faith Community Outreach, where I work with adults and kids who struggle with substance abuse and behavioural problems. I&rsquo;m also coaching; one of the athletes I train is Damar Forbes of Jamaica.MG: I&rsquo;ve been working for Eurosport, which is a lot of fun. I&rsquo;m also working with kids in California and I&rsquo;m still coaching.AJ: I&rsquo;m a sprint coach at the US Air Force Academy. There are 30 athletes in my group, which &ndash; as any other coach will tell you &ndash; is too many, but I enjoy it and I get to work with a bunch of hard-working classy young adults who&rsquo;ll represent the USA in the armed forces. AB: Who do you think should win the men&rsquo;s and women&rsquo;s IAAF Athlete of the Year awards?MG: When I got the email with the shortlist, I thought &lsquo;man this is tough&rsquo;. On the men&rsquo;s side, I was very excited to see what Mo Farah did. Don&rsquo;t get wrong, what Usain Bolt has done is great, but no one is shocked by what he does any more. What Mo Farah is doing is more unexpected, like when he broke the British 1500m record. The things he&rsquo;s been doing for the past two years have been phenomenal.On the women&rsquo;s side, I&rsquo;m probably biased but I think what Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce did was tremendous and her year was phenomenal, so I&rsquo;d lean towards her.DP: I think we could make an argument for Valerie Adams in the Shot Put. She has been very dominant and has won one championship after another, so at some point she should be awarded for doing that.Mo Farah had a great showing at home last year and replicated that in Moscow, so I think it will be a toss-up between him and Bolt.AJ: Bolt has been setting the world on fire since 2008. That said, he&rsquo;s so good now that whatever he does, whenever I see it, I&rsquo;m like &lsquo;oh, okay&rsquo;. Even if he runs 9.4, I&rsquo;d be like &lsquo;oh, he ran 9.4&rsquo;. So with that said, it makes me lean towards Mo Farah; it would be good to see a new face win it. But if it&rsquo;s about athlete of the year, then Usain Bolt.On the women&rsquo;s side, perhaps I&rsquo;m biased but I think it should be Brianna Rollins. I know she&rsquo;s not shortlisted, but watching her compete this year, I was extremely impressed with how she ran at the World Championships, more so than her 12.26. She is a young athlete who was competing at her first World Championships and she got left in the blocks, but she had the composure to stay focused on her race, not panic, clear each barrier and win the race.Of the people on the shortlist, I&rsquo;d go with Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce. AB: What about Bohdan Bondarenko? Have we all been overlooking a genuine contender?AJ: It&rsquo;s difficult to be a one-event athlete going up against people who can double up, like sprinters and distance runners. A lot of field event athletes only have their specialist event with no other events to complement it.None of us four athletes here have won the IAAF Athlete of the Year award, which shows how difficult it is to win. To be the single most outstanding athlete of the year is incredible. Jon Mulkeen for the IAAF

Ahead of the 2013 World Athletics Gala in Monaco, Maurice Greene, Dwight Phillips and Allen Johnson spoke to Ato Boldon about their careers and the 2013 World Athlete of the Year awards.

Monaco press points – Maurice Greene, Dwight Phillips and Allen Johnson

The Long Jump seems to have more than its fair share of iconic figures in the sport. Think of the likes of Jesse Owens, Bob Beamon, Carl Lewis, Mike Powell – coincidently all US athletes – and the latest in that line has been Dwight Phillips.Phillips’ final international meeting was the IAAF Diamond League final in Zurich last Thursday (29) and although the four-time World champion will have mixed memories of his last competition, he was honoured with a special presentation by IAAF President Lamine Diack, himself a former long jumper.Phillips’ distance of 7.53m in Zurich was a long, long way from his personal best of 8.74m from 2009 which places him equal fifth on the all-time list with only Powell, Beamon, Lewis and Armenia’s Robert Emmiyan ahead of him.For a man who legally jumped farther than 8.20m in no less than 70 competitions during a senior international career that stretched back 14 years, it was not the way he would have liked to have bowed out, but Phillips will be remembered not as eighth place in his last competition but for his triumphs at the 2003, 2005, 2009 and 2011 World Championships – only Sergey Bubka and Lars Riedel have won more gold medals in the same individual event – as well as victories at the 2004 Olympic Games and 2003 IAAF World Indoor Championships. &nbsp;&nbsp;“I would have liked to have had a better result but, never mind, I enjoyed my last competition and Zurich is an appropriate place to end my career,” reflected Phillips on Thursday night.“What will I do after athletics? I live in Atlanta and I have a video production company. We do photography, videography and commercials and I'm really involved in that when I'm not training. We work with recognisable brands in the entertainment and corporate arenas.”More time for family life also beckons for Phillips, who has two sons aged six and seven. “I do want to spend a lot more time with my boys. There are just a lot of sacrifices you have to make (to be an elite athlete). I also work with The Leap of Faith Community Outreach which is an organisation with the purpose of helping people live in the community.” It was good to see Phillips competing at all in 2013 after suffering a serious Achilles problems last year, which saw him have surgery and miss the entire 2012 season.Many athletes in a similar situation would have hung up their spikes last summer but that wasn’t what Phillips wanted to do. “After my injury last year it was a blessing for me to make it to the (World Championships) final in Moscow. It was devastating not going to London for the Olympics,” he added. <div class="quote">“I actually wanted 2012 to be my last year in the sport but after tearing my Achilles, I knew that I wanted to go out competing rather than when I was injured.</div> "Due to the fact I tore my Achilles and I knew I had an automatic place for the World Champs this year, I just decided in my mind that I wanted to go out of the sport on my own terms: competing and not injured.”Moscow was the seventh consecutive World Championships for Phillips, who made his first appearance in Edmonton 2001 and won a bronze medal in Osaka 2007. Along with 800m runner Khadevis Robinson, that makes him the most prolific US male athlete in this respect.“What’s kept me going for so long is that I absolutely love track and field. I’ve been doing it since I was eight.”A hiatus to his early career came when he was hit by a motorcycle, driven by a friend of his brother, while playing in the street in his home town of Decatur at age 14 and broke both of his legs.Phillips spent many months in casts, eight months in rehabilitation and it was almost two years before he recovered fully. "My legs were very weak. I guess just overcoming adversity, that's how I've been my entire life,” he joked in an interview with USA Today last year.Once back on his feet, he showed enough talent as a sprinter and triple jumper – he can boast of a 100m best of 10.06 and a Triple Jump best of 16.41m, and finished third in the latter event at the 1996 US Junior Championships as an 18-year-old – to earn a scholarship to the University of Kentucky, where he spent the first two years of his college career before switching to Arizona State University.The rest, as they say, is history, with Phillips first coming to international attention when he made the final of the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney, where he finished seventh.Phillips' only regret about his career is that he never got closer to Mike Powell’s World record of 8.95m, although it was something that he knew was beyond him this summer. “I've accomplished all the major accolades in winning the Olympics and World Championships. The only thing I'm really missing is the World record,” added the ever-smiling Phillips when asked to look back on his career.“I’ve had the opportunity to watch the greats like Sebastian Coe, Carl Lewis and Edwin Moses. They really inspired me with their longevity to be the best I could possibly be. Hopefully I’ve inspired many people too, who can follow in my footsteps.“Hopefully, I left a great legacy and will be remembered like other big long jumpers like Carl Lewis,” commented Phillips. And it is highly likely he will.Phil Minshull for the IAAF

Goodbye Dwight, and thank you

Long jumpers usually don’t like morning qualifying rounds and so quite a few had problems getting their motors started on Wednesday as only three men went over the automatic qualifying distance of 8.10m.Of those, only one, Spain’s Eusebio Caceres, managed it on his first attempt when he flew out to 8.25m.Hopefully, Caceres will do better than another memorable occasion when he led the qualifiers, setting what was then a European junior record of 8.27m in the preliminary round of the 2010 European Championships, only to wind up eighth in the final.South Africa’s 2008 Olympic silver medallist Godfrey Mokoena and local favourite Aleksandr Menkov had problems getting their run ups quite right but eventually jumped 8.16m and 8.11m with their third and final attempts to also secure their place in the final by right, although the latter admitted that he was struggling with some slight back twinges.The other nine men who will contest Friday’s final all went through as non-automatic qualifiers.Three other men went over eight metres: Germany’s 2010 European champion Christian Reif reached 8.09m with his first attempt and astutely passed his final two attempts, reckoning correctly that it would be enough to see him through.By contrast, there were nerve-wracking times for the other eight-metre men on Wednesday. Mexico’s 2013 world leader Luis Rivera had a modest 7.78m followed by a foul before finally getting it right and going out to 8.04m while Greece’s Louis Tsatoumas, a man with a personal best of 8.66m but also a reputation for crashing out in qualifying rounds, had two fouls before finally jumping 8.00m.USA’s defending champion Dwight Phillips has had injury problems in the last 18 months but showed the battling spirit that has taken him to four IAAF World Championships gold medals by digging deep and hitting a season’s best of 7.95m with his first jump to take his place in the final.Also going through, albeit not in the manner he would have liked, was Brazil’s 2012 World indoor champion Mauro Vinicius da Silva, who could only jump 7.92m and scraped into the final in 11th place.Inevitably with 29 men trying to make the final, there were likely to be some big name casualties in the qualifying rounds and none were bigger than Great Britain’s London 2012 Olympic Games champion Greg Rutherford.Just a year on from his triumph in front of his home fans, Rutherford had been struggling to bounce back from a hamstring injury sustained at the IAAF Diamond League meeting in Paris last month and managed a best of just 7.87m, well shy of the 8.35m personal best set last year, although he was just two centimetres shy of making the final.“The season wasn't going too badly up until Paris, when I ruptured a hamstring. I broke all the rules, really, in rehabbing quicker than I think anybody has in history from a ruptured hamstring,” reflected Rutherford.“Training has been going really well and I woke up today and thought: 'This is going to be good day'. But I knew after the final jump when I saw 7.87m come up that it wouldn't be enough and, even if it was enough, it's not really competitive,” he added.Australia’s Fabrice Lapierre, the 2010 World Indoor Championships and Commonwealth Games gold medallist, fared even worse and could not even register a valid jump.Phil Minshull for the IAAF &nbsp;

Report: Men's Long Jump qualifying – Moscow 2013

The IAAF Ambassadors press conference on Saturday (10) began with a question to Sebastian Coe about being back in Moscow, where his Olympic career as an athlete began in 1980.&nbsp;“It seems like a different era, but it was a big moment in my career.“This stadium defined what I did in my career, and afterwards as well. It was the start of a lifelong involvement in the Olympic movement.“The Moscow Games were a terrific Games with many World records. It was a very difficult time politically as well but I believe it was the right thing to be here then.”Asked how his Olympic experiences as an athlete had informed him in his role as chair of the London 2012 Olympic Games Organising Committee, Coe replied: “I’ve always thought that within an organising committee you need to have enough people who can see the Games through the eyes of an athlete.“You have to know how things affect the athlete – the facilities, the warm-up facilities, the integration of services. Athletes spend more time training than competing and you need certainty in timing. You need the transport will get you to training on time, being able to set that time in your day.“Your whole day needs to be based on certainty. It even goes back to being able to get out of bed at a particular time.“I think that knowledge helped me as LOC chair. I said from the start that we were putting on the Games for the athletes and I believed that if the athletes went home happy, then I would be happy.”What are his expectations of Moscow 2013?“The year after an Olympics is always a big year. People can find it difficult to stay up and we have lost a few big names along the way (to Moscow). When I came out of the ’84 Games, my father (Peter Coe), who was my coach, described coaching me in 1985 as like treading on eggshells.“We have many great athletes here, we have some very strong head-to-heads. I expect a strong Championships.”On the impact Mo Farah might have on the British team: “In my era, our touchstone tended to be (400m hurdler) Kriss Akabusi. If he got a medal, it got us off to a good start.“With a 3:28 for 1500 now in his skill-set, I think he could have nicked a medal here in that event. It is difficult to know how to tackle him.“Mo is very confident. He’s in that mode, and it doesn’t last long in your career, where he doesn’t think he’s going to lose and his opponents think they’re not going to win: that doesn’t mean he won’t get a tough race, but he believes he can win.”&nbsp; Dwight Phillips, four-time World champion in the men’s Long Jump and the defending champion, who is competing in his seventh IAAF World Championships, was asked about his chances.“My expectation is always to represent my country to the best of my ability. In the past that has always been a gold medal, so I can’t imagine any other result. But this is definitely my last championships, after here it’s time to hang up the spikes. I will do a couple of meetings afterwards, but it’s my last year.“Missing last year’s Olympic Games after I tore my Achilles tendon was devastating because I wanted to end there, but I wanted to go out on my own terms, not through injury, so I’m here.“I’m very excited and motivated that I can go past Allen Johnson and Michael Johnson here. We all have four gold medals in our individual event. I can have five.”“I love track and field. I’ve been doing it since I was eight years-old. Athletes like Carl Lewis and Edwin Moses inspired me and I hope I can inspire others to follow my footsteps.”On his forthcoming competition: “I don’t worry about others. There are several in good form, Aleksandr Menkov, for example, but anyone can pop out that big jump. Although I’m not the favourite, in my own eyes I am.“The level of the event has not been so good the past one-two years, but I was criticised early in my career for not jumping far and I elevated my marks over time. We’re in a transition period, we will see some big marks again soon.”Len Johnson for the IAAF

IAAF Ambassadors Press Conference 10 August: Sebastian Coe, Tegla Lorupe and Dwight Phillips

He is already in the Ethiopean team for the IAAF World Championships in Moscow this summer but Kenenisa Bekele wants more at the Fanny Blankers-Koen Games, and IAAF World Challenge meeting, in the Dutch town Hengelo on Saturday (8).After winning the 10000m&nbsp; at the IAAF Diamond League meeting in Eugene last Saturday, he will hunt for a 5000m qualifying time at the annual meeting given a global profile by his compatriot Haile Gebrselassie but where Bekele himself set the current World record for the distance of 12:37.35 nine years ago.“I want both world titles back, that I won in Berlin in 2009,” said Bekele on Wednesday.Bekele admitted that he is still suffering from the disappointing experience of only fourth in the London 2012 Olympic Games 10000m race. At the 2011 World Championships, he wasn’t even able to finish that race, although he bounced back that summer to run the fastest time in the world in 2011 at the end of the season in Brussels. “Both last years were just a disaster,” he refected at a press conference in Nijmegen, where is staying with his manager Jos Hermens for a couple of days.Tonight he will take watch the IAAF Diamond League meeting in Rome on television to see hwo some of the other Ethiopeans over 5000m. When they are finished, Bekele knows what he will have to do in the FBK stadium on Saturday.He won the 10.000m in Eugene in 27:12.08 but was dismissive about his performnace.“It was just an average race. I’m not in a top-shape at the moment but I think I can deliver on Saturday,” commented Bekele.<div class="quote">“In fact, I have had troubles since the Olympic Games in Beijing (where he won both the 5000m and 10000m titles). In November 2008, I ran a 15k race here in Nijmegen and, ever since, I have had to fight all kinds of injuries.</div>“My body didn’t respond well to the training programme. I didn’t have the speed and the strength that I had before; but I think this season will be better.”Moscow could well be his last World Championships on the track. Bekele is now thinking about making his marathon debut next year. It’s not a final decission yet, but the 31-year-old is concerned time is running out. “It will not be easy to run a 42k, nor to do the right things to prepare for it. But, just like Haile, I want the world record for the marathon.I don’t guarentee you that I will do it, but it’s not impossible.”However, he doesn’t want to move over to just racing on the roads right now. “That wouldn’t make me happy after what happened last year. You shouldn’t leave the track because you lost.”Bekele gave his warm support to the meeting organisers in Hengelo and asked the local authorities for their support. The future of stadium that bears the name of the famous Dutch ‘flying housewife’ Fanny Blankers Koen, who was voted the Female Athlete of the Century by the IAAF in 1999, is in danger. There are doubts about its future after a local football club said it planned to buy the stadium and remove the track.“That would be a very sad decission. Nolt only because I run one of my world records here. I can do that everywhere; but the youth in Holland deserves a good stadium and a great meet, like the FBK Games. That gives them inspiration,” said Bekele.His main rivals on Sunday will be the Kenyan pair of Augustine Choge and David Bett as well as Ethiopia’s Muktar Edris.The Dutch audience will also have their own hero to cheer for, Churandy Martina, who will run the 200m in Hengelo. The always-smiling sprinter became a very popular and entertaining star during the Olympic Games. The reigning European 200m champion will meet Jamaica’s Marvin Anderson,Bahamas' Ramon Miller and also some of his Dutch 4x100m Relay colleague. The Netherlands, with Martina running a crucial second leg, also won a gold medal at last summer’s European Athletics Championships in Helsinki.Kenya’s Silas Kiplagat is the man to beat in the 1500m. He won the mile in Eugene in 3:49.48 and can boast of a best over the metric distance of 3.29.27. He has as his target the 2013 world leading time of 3:31.39 by his friend and rival Asbel Kiprop at the IAAF Diamond League meeting in Doha last month.Germany's World
and Olympic Discus champion Robert Harting will also throw in Hengelo. He was supposed to throw at a German meeting of Schonebeck this weekend but that was cancelled due to flooding after heavy rains across much of central Europe. Sweden's Abeba Aregawi will fly straight from Rome, where she races over 1500m on Thursday night, to race in the 800m, where she
might be able to attack the national record of 1:59.44 that has stood to Malin Ewerlof since 1998. In the 110m Hurdles, Bahamas'&nbsp; 2009
World champion Ryan Brathwaite will face South Africa's Lehan Fourie and
US Olympian Jeff Porter. In the 400m Hurdles, South Africa's LJ Van Zyl will
duel with run with the US 2011 champion Jeshua Anderson and Great Britain's 2012 European champion Rhys
Williams. There will be an interesting battle, from a Dutch point-of-view, in the Pole Vault, with Rens Blom and Eelco Sintnicolaas in action. Blom is the 2005 World champion, who gave up his promising coaching career to return as an athlete last year and has battled back from injury. Sintnicolaas won the 2013 European Athletics Indoor Championships Heptathlon and is an international standard pole vaulter.The women’s Pole Vault sees Cuba’s London 2012 Olympic Games silver medallist Yarisley Silva face Germany’s Silke Spiegelburg and Russia’s former World champion and World record holder Svetlana Feofanova.In the Long Jump, Panama’s 2008 Olympic champion Irving Saladino returns to the track where he jumped a meeting and stadium record of 8.73m just a few months before his Beijing triumph. He will battle with Germany’s 2012 European champion Sabastian Bayer.Cors van den Brink for the IAAF

Bekele now turns his attention to 5000m in Hengelo - IAAF World Challenge