Dwight Phillips, Olympic champion donates spikes to IAAF

LAUSANNE, Switzerland –  Dwight Phillips a 4 times US  Olympic champion has donated a pair of spikes to the IAAF Heritage Collection which is currently on public display in Qatar ahead of the IAAF World Athletics Championships Doha 2019.

Phillips, the 2004 Olympic and 4-time World long jump champion, has given the shoes which he wore when leaping to bronze at the 2007 IAAF World Athletics Championships in Osaka.

The spikes were symbolically handed over to the collection in Doha via the safe hands of Qatar’s best young long jumper, 18-year-old Rasheed Abdullah Al-Suwaidi who trains in Aspire under the guidance of coach Al Walid Abdullah.

“My donation of these shoes is all about ‘giving-back’ to the sport which has given me so much,” said Dwight Phillips, who retired in 2013 with a personal best of 8.74m (2009).

“I’m really pleased that my Osaka spikes will now sit in the IAAF Heritage Collection alongside the kit of Jesse Owens, Carl Lewis and Mike Powell to name but a few.”

“I hope the spikes will be an added attraction for fans and help motivate young athletes like Rasheed to aim high in their careers,” confirmed Phillips, who also took gold at the 2003 IAAF World Indoor Championships.

The spikes will be on show until the 7 October in the IAAF Heritage World Athletics Championships Exhibition which was opened last month by IAAF President Seb Coe and Dahlan Al Hamad, IAAF Vice President and Director General of the IAAF World Athletics Championships Doha 2019 Local Organising Committee. The exhibition is situated in the City Center Doha, the largest shopping mall in Qatar.