De Zordo is starting to make a habit of upsetting the odds and beating Norway’s reigning Olympic and European champion Andreas Thorkildsen when it counts.

He did it at the 2010 SPAR European Team Championships and the 2010 European Athletics Championships silver medallist did it again on the global stage in Daegu.

The 23-year-old hurled his spear out to season’s best of 86.27m in the opening round, a nobody could get near it, adding to the German hegemony in the men’s throws at this World Championships, following on from victories by shot putter David Storl and discus thrower Robert Harting.

“My coach (two-time World Championships medallist Boris Henry) told me to hit it hard on the first attempt and I am glad I was able to do so, I am really happy that it was enough to win. I do not know what was wrong with Andreas Thorkildsen today, why he was not able to attack,” said De Zordo.

"I didn't expect it," said Henry, Because I saw other throwers out on the warmup area throwing really far and I was [just] hoping he could make a medal. But I thought the gold medal was reserved for Andreas Thorkildsen."

“I injured my ankle on my second attempt and got some treatment after the fourth round. They (the stadium medical staff) gave me some pain relief and it really helped because even until now I do not feel any pain again,” he added, explaining why he also passed his third and fourth attempts despite the various threats to his lead.

Thorkildsen struggled in the first three rounds and only just made the cut in eighth place but found a modicum of form in round four to reach 84.78m and take the silver medal after mining gold in Berlin two years ago.

“For me, the silver medal is just that, second place. It means, I lost the competition but when it comes to statistics, this is my worst result since the World Championships in Paris (in 2003). Still, this is my eighth consecutive medal from big competitions.

I know that gold was reachable but my technique today was just bad. I have thrown 86 metres many times this season, so today it was just a bad day to me,” commented a disappointed Thorkildsen.

“Nevertheless, the victory of De Zordo is not a surprise because he was a guy who has already managed to beat me in the past,” added the Norwegian.

De Zordo said he was expecting someone to come up with a big throw at any minute.

"The other throwers are good throwers with bests of over 85 metres," he said. "I had a fear until the last throw. But I'm really happy to make it."

By winning a unified Germany's first gold medal in the event (Detlef Michel won for East Germany in Helsinki in 1983), De Zordo also added to the country's amazing haul of golds in the weight events in Daegu.  Robert Harting won the discus on Tuesday and David Storl followed suit three days later in the Shot Put.

"That was really good motivation for me," he said of Storl's equally surprising win. "Because he's young, he's talented. I knew I wanted to do the same as he did."

De Zordo has shown natural talent ever since he was introduced to the sport by an elementary school teacher when he was 11 - "I was always good at throwing balls and things" - in the southwest German village of Bad Kreuznach. His grandparents moved from Italy to Germany, which accounts for his unique name, which has no meaning in Italian.

The knock on him since developing into a world-class thrower has been a less-than-positive work ethic. Getting him to train hard is like trying to get Usain Bolt to slow down.

"Maybe lazy is not the right word," Henry replied when asked about it. "Different exercises he likes, other exercises he doesn't like. He's always trying to sneak around."

De Zordo particularly finds weight training distasteful.

"As soon as he feels some tension, he's like, 'Maybe I [will] hurt myself'," Henry said. "Maybe that's a good thing, maybe it's a bad thing. Right now I would say it's probably a good thing."

Henry said part of the credit for De Zordo's success was a one-week camp prior to the championships that the weight team held on the Korean resort island of Jeju, where "the food was excellent, sushi every day. Everything was high class."

A two-time German champion, De Zordo did not come into Daegu without credentials as a medal candidate. He won the Oslo Samsung Diamond League meet, which Thorkildsen missed, before placing third in Lausanne and second at Birmingham and Stockholm.

Asked at the medalists' press conference if he now considered himself the best thrower in the world, De Zordo replied: "No, not really." After prompting from Thorkildsen sitting beside him, he conceded, "Yeah...today. Andreas threw this yearover 90 metres, so he's the first one on the list. I had luck today that he was not in good form, not good shape."

While luck was with him in the competition, De Zordo was unfortunate in the timing of its conclusion. The start of the women's 4x400m Relay final made getting across the track all but impossible.

While De Zordo managed to slip across for a quick hug with Henry, he wasn't as fortunate going back to pick up a German flag from him. When he finally could grab it, he posed for a few photos, then was ushered down into the mixed zone before having a chance to make a round of the track.

"I think for World Championships, it is common [to take a lap]," De Zordo said. "I'm a little bit sad."

He'll just have to win again. Stranger things have happened.

source: european-athletics.org / iaaf.org