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Olympic Long Jumper Dwight Phillips RetiresPublished by
An All-Time Great Hangs ’Em UpPublished by Track & Field News on November 20, 2013 Reflecting on an elite career spanning 16 years that saw him capture every major gold medal, Dwight Phillips most remembers two measurements totaling just 5 centimeters. Those 2¼ inches, the Arizona State alum acknowledges, “made my career. They changed my life.” Newly turned 36, the Georgia native explains, “I never won a state high school title or an NCAA title. I got 8th in my first Olympics in Sydney in ’00. ”By the winter of ’03 Phillips made it to his first and only World Indoor, taking the title by a slim half-inch—1 centimeter—from Spain’s Yago Lamela. At that summer’s outdoor Worlds, he took the first of his four global golds, edging Jamaican James Beckford by 4 centimeters (1¾ inches). “Those two wins were the most satisfying of my career, but especially the World Indoor in Birmingham, England,” he explains. “At that meet, I taught myself to be a champion. “Since Sydney, I had become a student of the long jump; I had become an expert in the event as it applied to me. I knew exactly what I needed to do from the first step of my approach all the way through the landing Read the full article at: www.trackandfieldnews.com
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