Edwards cherishes his world record more than the gold

By Mikhil Bhat/Doha

With an experience so vast and varied, one better sit up and listen to this 48-year-old when he shares words of wisdom. And Doha GOALS 2014 will give that opportunity.

Edwards will be speaking at Doha GOALS 2014. This annual sports forum is aimed at driving social and economic change through sport and will take place November 3-5, 2014 in Qatar.

“One of the aims of Doha GOALS is to drive social change and economic progress. My initial involvement with the forum was with London 2012 in mind. Our aim was to put up a great Olympic and Paralympic games, and we never lost sight of that. But the objective was also to use sport as a catalyst for social change and economic progress,” Edwards told Gulf Times yesterday.

“The Olympic Park hosted the Invictus Games, which was Prince Harry’s idea for wounded service-men and –women to compete, recently. The Olympic Park now is a living, breathing part of East London. When I look back at 2003, it was basically a wasteland for most part, but now it hosts major events, and it has seen some profound change. It is amazing. I think governments are coming to understand the power of sport more and more. So much more can be done, within education, within health. I think Doha GOALS is really important to bring together key decision makers and show the kind of impact sport can have on society.”

Doha GOALS will also give the Brit an opportunity to deal with old scores of his own. “I will be interviewing Jackie Joyner-Kersee this year and her husband [Bob Kersee] coached Kenny Harrison [of United States] to beat me in the Atlanta Games in 1996. So I will have to give her a gentle ribbing about that,” Edwards joked.

Apart from Edwards and Harrison, only one other athlete — Teddy Tamgho of France — has been able to go past the 18m barrier in triple jump.

While Edwards jumped 18.29m in the Gothenburg World Championships in 1995, Harrison beat Edwards in Atlanta for an 18.09m jump for gold. Tamgho jumped 18.04m in Moscow World Championships last year.

“It’s a great feeling, absolutely,” Edwards said about his two-decade old record still holding good. “I mean lots of world record holders say that they look forward to the day when their record is broken, and I certainly look forward to that day, but I think I am privileged to be a world record holder, and I am extremely proud of it. It is very special. Probably more special than the gold medals, to be honest,” he said.

“He (Tamgho) has been injured and has also been serving a one-year doping ban [for three whereabouts failures within an 18-month period]. It would be interesting to see how he comes back from that.”

Why does his record still stand strong? “There are a few records from that era which have stayed. There is one by Mike Powell (USA) in long jump (1991), Jan Železný (CZE) in javelin (1996), Michael Johnson (USA) in 400m (1999),” Edwards, who has also been Commonwealth and European champion in his days, said.

“I think there are more opportunities for talented young men and women in other sports these days. When I look back, after football, athletics was probably the no.1 sport in the world, at least one of them. But now sports like professional rugby have become attractive, extreme sports have become attractive for youngsters. So I would say the talent pool is less now than earlier.”

Having been part of London 2012 organising committee, what should Qatar focus on in the run-up to the 2022 FIFA World Cup?

“A lot of what we did in London 2012 was about creating the best environment and condition for the athletes. And I think, if you want to host a brilliant sporting event, think about the athletes. I mean make the spectators comfortable and that’s an added thing, but how players feel is important,” he said.

For more information, visit www.dohagoals.com or @DohaGOALS.