Nelson Évora GCIH (born 20 April 1984) is an Ivory Coast-born Portuguese track and field athlete of Cape Verdean descent who specializes in the triple jump.
Évora is a former outdoor Olympic, World, and European triple jump champion. He has also won a European indoor title and the World indoor tour in triple jump. Évora competes at national level for Portugal and at club level for FC Barcelona. He represented Cape Verde until 2002, when he got Portuguese citizenship in June of that year.
Biography Born in Ouragahio, Ivory Coast, where his parents had come to live from Cape Verde, Évora and his family moved to Portugal when he was five years old.Top sportsmen find support in faith. Baha'i World News Service. 11 August 2004 He still holds the Cape Verdean records in both the long jump (7.57 m) and the triple jump (16.15 m).Cape Verdean athletics record. athlerecords.net
Évora's family settled in Odivelas, on the floor above João Ganço's—a former Portugal record-holder and the first Portuguese to pass over 2 meters in the high jump. Davide Ganço, one of João Ganço's three sons and one year older than Évora, became his best friend. One day, João Ganço, seeing them playing in the street, suggested that Évora started practising athletics, following Davide's example, and, just like that, Évora's athletic career started. João then became his coach.
Évora is a member of the Baháʼí Faith.
Sports career He competed in the triple jump in the 2004 Olympics, without progressing from his pool, and finished sixth at the 2006 IAAF World Indoor Championships. He finished fourth in the triple jump final and sixth in the long jump final at the 2006 European Athletics Championships in Gothenburg, having set a Portuguese triple jump record of 17.23 metres during the qualification. At the 2007 European Athletics Indoor Championships he came in fifth place.
On 27 August 2007, Évora became the triple jump world champion at the 2007 World Championships, in Osaka, Japan, establishing his personal best (Portuguese national record until May 2018) and second best world mark of the year at 17.74 metres.Nélson Évora campeão do mundo do triplo salto. ultimahora.publico.clix.pt. 27 August 2007 (Portuguese)
On 9 March 2008, Évora placed third in the triple jump competition at the 2008 IAAF World Indoor Championships, in Valencia, by jumping 17.27 metres.
On 21 August 2008, he edged out Phillips Idowu of Great Britain and Leevan Sands of the Bahamas to take an Olympic gold medal with a 17.67 metres jump.
Évora set the world leading mark at the Grande Prêmio Brasil Caixa in May 2009, winning with 17.66 m. He was pleased with the jump (his third best performance ever) and stated his intention to surpass the 18 metre mark at the forthcoming 2009 World Championships.Biscayart, Eduardo (25 May 2009). Belém spectacular produces five world season leads – IAAF World Athletics Tour. IAAF. Retrieved on 2009-05-30. In mid-2009, he won the triple jump gold at the Universiade and another at the 2009 Lusophony Games.Fernandes, António Manuel (14 July 2009). Évora, another title in Lisbon. IAAF. Retrieved on 2009-07-23.
However he was unable to replicate his winning form at the 2009 World Championships in Berlin, being relegated to second place. After leading with a first round jump of 17.55 m, the man he beat in the Olympics, Phillips Idowu, was able to take the gold with a third round jump of 17.73 m, the longest in the world for that year.
Évora represented FC Porto from 2002 to 2004, SL Benfica from 2004 to 2016 and Sporting Clube de Portugal from 2016 to 2020. Since 2020 he is an athlete of FC Barcelona.Nélson Évora contratado pelo Barcelona, Diário de Notícias (31 December 2020) https://www.dn.pt/desporto/nelson-evora-contratado-pelo-barcelona-13186729.html
Personal bests
High jump – 2.07 m (2005) Long jump – 8.10 m (2007) Triple jump – 17.74 m (2007)
International competitions Representing 2001European Youth Olympic FestivalMurcia, Spain1stLong jump7.49 m2002World Junior ChampionshipsKingston, Jamaica18th (q)Long jump7.28 m (+0.7 m/s)6thTriple jump15.87 m (-0.2 m/s)2003European Junior ChampionshipsTampere, Finland1stLong jump7.83 m6thTriple jump16.43 m2004World Indoor ChampionshipsBudapest, Hungary10th (q)Triple jump16.30 mIbero-American ChampionshipsHuelva, Spain7thTriple jump15.56 mOlympic GamesAthens, Greece23rd (q)Triple jump15.72 m2005European U23 ChampionshipsErfurt, Germany3rdTriple jump16.89 m (+1.9 m/s)World ChampionshipsHelsinki, Finland14th (q)Triple jump16.60 m2006World Indoor ChampionshipsMoscow, Russia6thTriple jump17.14 mEuropean Cup First LeagueThessaloniki, Greece1stLong jump8.05 m (0.0 m/s)2ndTriple jump17.03 m w (+2.5 m/s)European ChampionshipsGothenburg, Sweden6thLong jump7.91 m4thTriple jump17.07 mLusophony GamesMacau, China1stTriple jump16.30 m2007European Indoor ChampionshipsBirmingham, United Kingdom5thTriple jump16.97 mEuropean Cup First LeagueMilan, Italy1stLong jump8.10 m (-0.9 m/s)1stTriple jump17.35 m w (+2.4 m/s)World ChampionshipsOsaka, Japan1stTriple jump17.74 m World Athletics FinalStuttgart, Germany3rdTriple jump17.30 m2008World Indoor ChampionshipsValencia, Spain3rdTriple jump17.27 mEuropean Cup First LeagueLeiria, Portugal1stLong jump7.88 m (0.0 m/s)1stTriple jump16.91 m (+0.8 m/s)Olympic GamesBeijing, China1stTriple jump17.67 mWorld Athletics FinalStuttgart, Germany1stTriple jump17.24 m2009European Team ChampionshipsLeiria, Portugal2ndLong jump7.94 m1stTriple jump17.59 mUniversiadeBelgrade, Serbia1stTriple jump17.22 mLusophony GamesLisbon, Portugal1stTriple jump17.15 mWorld ChampionshipsBerlin, Germany2ndTriple jump17.55 m2011European Team ChampionshipsStockholm, Sweden6thTriple jump16.33 mUniversiadeShenzhen, China1stTriple jump17.31 mWorld ChampionshipsDaegu, South Korea5thTriple jump17.35 m2014European ChampionshipsZurich, Switzerland6thTriple jump16.78 m2015European Indoor ChampionshipsPrague, Czech Republic1stTriple jump17.21 mWorld ChampionshipsBeijing, China3rdTriple jump17.52 m2016World Indoor ChampionshipsPortland, United States4thTriple jump16.89 mEuropean ChampionshipsAmsterdam, Netherlands17th (q)Triple jump16.27 mOlympic GamesRio de Janeiro, Brazil6thTriple jump17.03 m 2017European Indoor ChampionshipsBelgrade, Serbia1stTriple jump17.20 mWorld ChampionshipsLondon, United Kingdom3rdTriple jump17.19 m2018World Indoor ChampionshipsBirmingham, United Kingdom3rdTriple jump17.40 mEuropean ChampionshipsBerlin, Germany1stTriple jump17.10 m2019European Indoor ChampionshipsGlasgow, United Kingdom2ndTriple jump17.11 mWorld ChampionshipsDoha, Qatar15th (q)Triple jump16.80 m2021Olympic GamesTokyo, Japan27th (q)Triple jump15.39 m
Orders Grand Cross of the Order of Prince Henry (Portugal, 27 May 2015) Grand Cross of the Order of Merit (Portugal, 30 August 2018)
References
External links