Teddy Tamgho

DOB: 15/6/1989 Event: Triple Jump PB: 17.98m Flag: FRA

The enigmatic Teddy Tamgho is the third best triple jumper ever on pure length of jumps, but a lack of consistency and major injury means he will still have something to prove in London. The former World Junior champion powered out to a mammoth jump of 17.98 metres at the Adidas Grand Prix in New York in June 2010. Such a leap means that although Tamgho has no major senior outdoor titles to his name, he will head to London knowing that only American Kenny Harrison and Britain's Jonathan Edwards have ever jumped further than him. Tamgho suffered a broken ankle in July 2011 though, which required surgery and ruled him out of the World Championship, and he will need to get right back to his best quickly with the injury coming less than a year to go until the Olympics. How Tamgho recovers from his injury will be the major question, as his quality is undoubted both indoors and outdoors with his fine record of jumping long distances. Only sporadic big jumps had come for Tamgho when he finished 11th in the triple jump final at the 2009 World Championships in Berlin, but 2010 saw a great improvement and a lot more consistency. On his final jump of the 2010 World Indoors in Doha Tamgho jumped 17.90 to clear the world record by seven centimetres and take the gold, which he followed up with a first major outdoor medal with bronze at the European Championships. 2011 started with Tamgho twice improving his own world record by a centimetre each time to leave 17.92 as the standard and give Tamgho the three biggest indoor triple jumps ever. Those leaps gave him victory in the French national championships and gold at the European Indoor Championships in Paris and made him a joint favourite with Phillips Idowu for the world title in Daegu. Injury meant that battle could not take place, but that will just add to the spice when the two come face-to-face in London with Olympic gold on the line.