The 31-year-old Londoner set a new personal best of 17.81 metres in to beat Romania's Marian Oprea and France's Teddy Tamgho to the title.

Idowu now holds the World, European and Commonwealth titles, with Portugal's Nelson Evora only denying him the Olympic title in Beijing in 2008 by five centimetres.

Idowu led from start to finish with jumps of 17.46m, 17.47m and 17.40m followed by 17.81m in the fourth round, eclipsing his previous personal best of 17.73m set in winning the world title in Berlin last year.

Tamgho was expected to be the major threat after jumping a world-leading 17.98m in New York in June, but the 21-year-old had to settle for bronze with a best of 17.45m, Oprea taking a surprise silver with 17.51m in the fifth round.

Idowu admitted the Olympics in his home city in 2012 were now foremost in his mind.

"There's one more medal in my career I need to win and that's in a couple of years' time," he said.

"I just want to get home to my babies and my family.

"My job in Barcelona is done.

"I came here to win the medal, I won the medal and now I want to go home and celebrate with my friends and family and look forward to the end of the season and preparation towards 2012."

A bold tactical decision earnt Britain's Martyn Bernard (pictured) a bronze medal in the high jump at the European Championships in Barcelona.

Despite the final starting in heavy rain, Bernard passed the opening height of 2.19 metres and almost paid the price with two failures before clearing 2.23m.

After a first-time failure at 2.26m, the 25-year-old from Wakefield then gambled again by passing at that height and moving up to 2.29m, which he cleared for a season's best at the first attempt.

That put the 2006 Commonwealth silver medallist in the gold medal position, a position he held until Russian duo Ivan Ukhov and Aleksander Shustov cleared 2.31m at their second and third attempts respectively.

Bernard was unable to follow suit as Shustov took gold by clearing 2.33m, but said: "I love being at the championships.

"Last year I missed the World Championships in Berlin because I was injured and had an ankle operation.

"This year I wasn't expecting to get here with my ankle, it was looking like a pin cushion at one point with all the acupuncture, so to come here and do okay is brilliant."

Shustov added: "From the beginning it was not going well because of the rain but then I found the courage to jump higher.

"When Ukhov cleared 2.31 I was thinking of skipping my third attempt but my coach insisted I did it.

"It was the right decision because I cleared that and then jumped 2.33 first."

German sprinter Verena Sailer produced the race of her life to win 100 metres after a photo-finish with France's Veronique Mang.

The event saw the surprise elimination of the fastest woman in Europe this season, Belarus's Alena Neumiarzhytskaya, in the first round of qualifying.

It set the stage for Sailer, who won the German national championships and set a European medal as her goal for the season.

She flew to a personal best of 11.10sec while Mang, clocked at 11.11sec, gave her fastest ever performance as well. France were also celebrating with Myriam Soumare winning bronze.

"It is amazing to think that I am European champion," said Sailer.

"It was an incredible race and I am still coming to terms with it."

Mang was also delighted.

"I felt good during the run. When you are here in Barcelona at the European Championships you only want to give your best which I did," she said.

"This has all been like a dream to me."

France's Roman Barras also won gold in the decathlon with fifth place in the final event, the 1500m, enough to give him first place with a total number of 8,453 points.

In the absence of the world record holder Roman Sebrle through injury, Barras was one of the favourites to succeed the Czech as European champion having been in good form coming into the event.

Behind him Eelco Sintnicolaas, of Holland, and Andrei Krauchanka, of Belarus, took silver and bronze respectively.

Germany completed a double in the women's javelin as Linda Stahl and Christina Obergfoll won gold and silver, respectively. Barbora Spotakova, of the Czech Republic, took bronze.


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September 2009: Exclusive - Idowu can transcend the sport like Bolt, predicts Edwards
August 2008: Idowu wins silver but upset at missed gold medal opportunity