In-depth: Greg Rutherford joins pantheon of greats and silences critics

Updated 26/08/2015 at 09:06 GMT

Greg Rutherford confirmed his status as rock-solid championship performer by winning long jump gold at the IAAF World Championships, writing himself into British athletics folklore in the process.

Greg Rutherford of Britain celebrates after winning gold in the men's long jump

Image credit: Reuters

The 28-year-old became only the fifth British athlete to hold all four major titles concurrently – Olympic, world, European and Commonwealth – joining an elite club containing Daley Thompson, Linford Christie, Sally Gunnell and Jonathan Edwards.

On a lightning Beijing runway, Rutherford set the early target with a second-round jump of 8.29 metres. A mark comfortably within the talents of event favourite Jeff Henderson yet, when it mattered, the American failed to produce and bowed out after three jumps.

[REPORT: Rutherford completes 'grand slam' of major titles with long jump gold]

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Rutherford improved again in round four, unleashing a battle cry as the white flag was raised – his leap confirmed at 8.41m, the second longest jump of his life. Such was his confidence, he insisted he was ready to respond had his mark been bettered, but he simply watched as his rivals fouled or fell short.

Perhaps even more incredibly, Rutherford admitted later that he feared he would be unable to compete after an intense headache invaded before the final.

"By 2 o'clock this afternoon, I thought, 'Flipping heck, I'm not going to be able to jump, I feel so rough'," he told reporters.

However, all that changed when he emerged for the final as he blew away the competition to win by 17cm ahead of Australia’s Fabrice Lapierre (8.24m) and China’s Jianan Wang (8.18m).

"Adrenalin's a wonderful thing," he said. "Here I am and I've finally won a world title. Fifth time lucky. Finally got what I wanted."

Britain's Greg Rutherford competes to win the men's long jump

Image credit: Reuters

WHY HAS IT TAKEN SO LONG FOR RUTHERFORD TO BE ACCLAIMED?

Despite being integral to ‘Super Saturday’ – when GB won six gold medals on Day 8 of the London 2012 Olympics, including three in athletics – his performance was considered a fluke in some quarters. Where was the monster winning mark expected to clinch major honours? 8.31m was hardly ground-breaking.

And yet no one else could surpass it. Without Rutherford, GB’s finest hour in track and field wouldn’t exist. The attention may have been fixed on golden girl Jessica Ennis (now Ennis-Hill) confirming her heptathlon crown over two laps and Mo Farah’s 10,000m coronation, but each time the cameras flickered to the long jump pit – admittedly, not that often – Rutherford was doing his bit too. Indeed, in remarkable symmetry to his Beijing triumph, his second jump was good enough to win the competition, but he then extended his lead in round four.

While Ennis-Hill and Farah have reaped the rewards of their Olympic triumph, the enthroning of Rutherford never really materialised. Instead drawn into spats with the governing body UK Athletics, criticised for speaking his mind and continually dismissed despite adding Commonwealth and European honours to his haul, the nation finally received a shuddering reminder of his world-class status three years on from his London triumph.

[THE PODIUM: Why is Greg Rutherford criticised for having an opinion?]

Now it’s time to label Rutherford an athletics great. He may not have the distances to rival the event legends, but he’s outperformed his rivals consistently on the biggest stage. And when you reach the end of your career, gold medals are all that count.

"I'm hoping 8.41 is acceptable to some people this time," he said afterwards. "I'm pretty sure it's a stadium record, that's not so bad, I'll take that. I'm not too bad a long jumper."

Mission accomplished, judging by the reaction on Wednesday morning…

PRESS LAUD RUTHERFORD

The press went into overdrive to celebrate Rutherford's triumph, with the Independent declaring that he had joined the pantheon of British greats.

The Guardian's Owen Gibson said his victory was the ideal riposte to disapproval and adversity:

Criticism from the BBC’s Michael Johnson, his run-in with British Athletics, the crashing lows that followed his London 2012 high, a bout of dehydration on the morning of his final here, even the bittersweet taste of missing his son’s first steps. All became fuel to prove his critics wrong one more time.

The Times also led on how Rutherford had defied his critics, announcing that he had arrived in GB's hall of fame.

BBC Sport's Tom Fordyce said the debate was finally over about Rutherford's champion class:

When he added the Commonwealth title last summer, it attracted the usual asterisk: it's only the Commonwealths. When he won European gold a few weeks later, the critiques shifted only slightly: wait until you're up against the real big boys. Maybe now, after completing the grand slam of major titles in three years, having beaten everyone there is to beat, on different days, on different tracks, in different conditions, the equivocating will come to an end.