“I owe everything to my mother” - Howe blasts into senior career

The young Italian star Andrew Howe kicked off his 2005 outdoor season with a confidence-boosting 20.57 (wind +1.1 m/s) in the 200 metres in a low-key meeting in Rieti, Italy despite a cramp in his left hamstring. “I felt my muscle pulling. I could not really push because of a cramp in the final 100 metres,” said Howe who celebrated his 20th birthday yesterday (12 May).

“I am confident for the rest of the season. Running 20.57 at the start... is very good. Last year I clocked 21 seconds in my first race and some weeks later 20.28 in Grosseto. This year I think I can run faster.”

Following in Mennea’s path

The 20.57 clocking marks the third fastest time in his young career. Howe only ran faster last summer at the IAAF World Junior Championships in Grosseto where he clinched the World Junior gold medal and smashed his PB with 20.28 (a championships record, European Junior record, and ninth on the World Junior All-time list) followed one month later by 20.55 in the morning heats of the Olympic Games in Athens.

With his fabulous 20.28 on Grosseto’s blue track, Howe climbed to second place in the Italian all-time list behind sprint legend Pietro Mennea who held the 200 metres World record from 9 September 1979 until 23 June 1996 with a time of 19.72, and was Olympic champion in 1980.

"After seeing 20.28 on the scoreboard I was without words. I could not believe it. I would not have believed that I could run so fast in the weeks before Grosseto, especially after running 21.17 at the Italian Junior Championships. The podium was my goal but the gold was not on my mind after a very tiring Long Jump final. After equalling the national junior record in the semi-finals with 20.72, without pushing I began to think what I could do giving 100 percent in the final.”

Second round Incident

In the Tuscan resort, the Italian all-round talent became the star of a memorable edition of the World Junior Championships. He also won the Long Jump title with a national junior record of 8.11 after a dramatic battle with the South Africa’s Godfrey Khotso Mokoena, the Triple jump gold medallist. During this final Howe showed a competive spirit uncommon to many youngsters of his age when a very long jump in his second attempt above the 8 metres barrier could not be measured due to a technical problem. He was already in the lead after the first round with 7.94, and was given the chance to repeat the jump at the end of the second round but failed to reproduce his previous effort, with the jump measured at 7.74.

"At the beginning (of the incident about the technical problem) I struggled to remain focused. I feared I would lose the gold medal which I had dreamt of for many months. Ironically, a similar thing happened at the World Youth Championships in Debrecen 2001 where I finished third with 7.61. Now what happened in Grosseto belongs to the past and I am no longer bothered by this episode.”

Initially, Howe did not seem to recover from this shock and was overhauled by Mokoena who leapt to 8.00m but in response the Italian star produced a magnificent 8.11 effort.  The drama continued until the final attempts when Mokoena improved his national junior record to 8.09 before leaping 8.06 in the last round. But the gold was Howe’s.

“Ten months after the World Juniors I remember Grosseto as the place where everything was perfect from the magic atmosphere in the stadium to the excellent weather conditions. The support I received from the crowd was fantastic. I peaked at the right moment of the year.”

Coach Mum

In Grosseto, Howe thanked his mother Renée Felton, a former 100 metres hurdler who was guided by Tommie Smith, the former World recordholder for 200m and the 1968 Olympic champion. Renèe is the personal coach and physiotherapist of Howe and helped his son to bounce back from a 2003 season ravaged by a stress microfracture. “I owe everything to my mother. I will never change her with any other coach in the world, although we have sometimes some disagreements but I think it is normal in the relationship between a mother and a son.”

The double win in Grosseto opened the doors to the Olympic Games in Athens for Howe, with the expectations of Italian fans tremendously high. Pictures of him with the Italian flag after his World Junior gold medals or titles like "Howe, the Italian Carl Lewis" appeared on the front-page of many national newspapers in the days between the World Junior Championships and the Olympic Games in Athens.

Injury occurs in Athens

Unfortunately, the Olympic Games did not go exactly as he had hoped. After qualifying with a promising 20.55 in the morning heats of the 200m, the Los Angeles-born athlete suffered from pains in his right foot and ran the quarter finals clocking 21.17 limping in the final metres. He felt again the old pain caused by the stress microfracture which had forced him to miss most of the 2003 outdoor season after the 4x100m relay race at the European Junior Championships in Tampere.

The injury dashed his dream to reach an Olympic final at the age of 19 but the outgoing and optimistic Italian guy is looking ahead to his next challenges brimming full of confidence: “For me Athens was a great learning experience. My first Olympic Games have made me a more mature athlete. I have learnt how to keep the focus before such an important race. I was totally focused on my race. After the injury I was so disappointed that I could not really enjoy the magic atmosphere in the Olympic Village. I will have other chances to compete at the Olympic Games.”

In the Greek capital, Howe received the support from his grandfather Curtis (also a good long jumper with a PB of 7.45 at the age of 16) who had booked the tickets many months in advance to attend the biggest sports spectacle on earth.

“I have a special relationship with my Grandfather. He is the first person who passed the passion for athletics on to me. He has always hoped to see one of his Grandchildren competing at the Olympics. He comforted me after the injury saying that this can happen in athletics.”

9m in his ambitious sights

Howe now lives and trains in Vigna di Valle on Lake of Bracciano near Rome where he moved in 2003, after having joined the strong Italian military squad, “Interforze Aeronautica”.

“This winter I worked very hard lifting weights in the gym to increase my strength. All my efforts are focused on peaking for the World Championships in Helsinki where I want to reach the 200 metres final. The European Cup in Florence and the European Under-23 Championships in Erfurt are also two important goals for this season. I will try again the Long Jump which is my first love. I have always liked the event because it makes me feel like flying. My dream is to reach the 9 metres barrier.”

In the last two years injury problems have been a reason for concern. “I have to be careful. I was planning to run a leg in the 4x400m relay in the first stage of the Italian Club Championships in Rome next Sunday before tackling my first Long Jump competition on 3 June at the Italian Under-23 Championships in Grosseto but after the test in Rieti my competitive schedule is still to be decided.”

Diego Sampaolo for the IAAF