Portuguese has long been the language of triple jumpers, but the tradition has tended to be Brazilian, through the likes of world record-holders Nelson Prudencio, Adhemer da Silva and Joao Carlos de Oliveira.

Tonight though, Nelson Evora did his bit for Portugal itself, as the country’s first ever World Championships finalist in this event won the gold medal with his 17.74m third-round effort besting the rest of the world.

Not that Brazil was entirely left out, as Jadel Gregorio produced his best performance outside his homeland, with 17.59 in the penultimate round, to secure the silver medal. Defending champion Walter Davis, of the United States, with his best jump of the year in the opening round, 17.33, took the bronze medal this time.

Evora and Gregorio might try to share a few vinho verdes tonight, although as the Portuguese will be competing in the Long Jump later this week, the 23-year-old new champion may opt for sobriety.

Evora is wonderfully versatile as an athlete, with a long jump personal best of 8.10m; he is a former Portuguese junior High Jump champion, too.

Two days ago, Phillips Idowu, one of the medal contenders, had predicted that "just one good jump will win it". And so it was.

Evora, the leading qualifier, dominated the final proceedings from the off. The second man to jump, he cleared 17.41, with Davis the only other man to go beyond 17m in that first round. In the next round, Evora  produced a similar distanced foul, as Idowu, his hair dyed blond for the occasion, then leapt 17.07 to move into third, temporarily, as the American, Aarik Wilson, then leap-frogged him with 17.21. Gregorio also moved into 17m territory in this round.

At the start of the third round, Osniel Tosca, of Cuba, moved into third place with a jump just 1cm less than Davis. Then Evora produced his "one good jump" in the third round, with a 1.4m/s following wind.

That helped to spark the competition into life. Gregorio, who came to these championships with a world-leading 17.90, out-jumped the lead mark by a clear distance, only to be red-flagged for a foot foul. Wilson, too, had his best jump of the night but was denied measurement by a fault on the board.

And that was very nearly it, as only Gregorio managed to improve his position significantly, going from seventh place to second thanks to his fifth-round 17.59.

Idowu, who has missed much of the season through injury, lacked any real fluency in his jumping, but nothing in effort. His last-round 17.09 did nothing to alter his finishing position.

At 23, one can only imagine what sort of future Evora might have. Originally from the Cape Verde Island – like Portugal’s leading heptathlete-long jumper, Naide Gomes – Evora has lived in Portugal since he was five. He was European Youth Triple Jump champion in 2001 and took out full Portuguese nationality in 2002. Tonight’s was his sixth national Triple Jump record in two years.

There is clearly more to come.

Osaka 2007 News Team/sd