The Homestretch w/Adrian Durant #10 - Olympic Gold Medalist and 5 x World Champion - Dwight Phillips

Today’s guest on The Homestretch w/Adrian Durant, is one of the most inspiring Track and Field Athlete in the World, Olympic Gold Medalist, 4 times World Long Jump Champion and National Track and Field Hall of Famer, none other than, Dwight Phillips. Phillips was a promising sprinter from his early days. He started competing in international events in 2003 but didn't win a medal. He came to prominence in 2003, when he won both the IAAF indoor and outdoor World Championships at Birmingham and Paris respectively. From there it was no stopping him. Just a year after, in 2004 Athens Olympics, Phillips was ranked number one in the world, and he won the gold medal by a margin of 12 cm over his compatriot John Moffitt. His winning jump of 8.59 meters was the fourth biggest in Olympic history. He kept on repeating the feat till 2011 and in 2013 Philips finally said goodbye to track and field as an athlete and started serving as athlete role model and In September 2020, SPIRE Institute and Academy signed Phillips to become an international track and field ambassador.

In this video, Dwight will talk about his early days into track and field and how he started his career as a triple jumper but ended up as a Long Jump star. He shares his life story and what his childhood was like. We talk about journey from running at Arizona State University to serving in US national team. But all this success wasn't didn't come easy for Phillips; he earned every bit of it with struggle, hard work and perseverance. He suffered multiple severe injuries during his career but it didn't stop him from becoming a track & field star. Phillips also share the incidents when he suffered from severe back and neck injuries just before 2012 London Olympics and how he overcame it.