Team GB Star discusses his tough childhood in Hackney

Former Hackney resident and the 2008 Olympics triple jump silver medallist, Phillips Idowu, recently took the time to discuss his rough childhood growing up and other obstacles he has overcome. http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/standard-sport/interviews/article-24019272-phillips-idowu-at-peace-with-olympic-ambition.do Is his view of 1980s Hackney fair? ‘The reasons (for his past violent outbursts) are a bit more deep rooted than simply frustration and anger, and lend themselves to his upbringing in Hackney, a time in his life he is only partially willing to discuss…..\Seeing the stuff I saw growing up on the estate in Hackney didn’t seem that big a deal at the time the crime and that sort of stuff as I thought that was normal” he says candidly. “For me that was every day life and I didn’t know any differently. That’s what people had to do to survive there.”It wasn’t until I started travelling with the junior athletics team that I saw things could be different.” ‘”