World Indoor Athletics Championships: Cuban-born Yamile Aldama wins triple jump gold for Britain in Istanbul But, in many ways, Aldama's British credentials are more persuasive than some of her dual-national team-mates who have been the target of so much mud-slinging by certain sections of the media. She is married to a Scotsman, emigrated to Britain 11 years ago and has lived in west London ever since. Her two children were born in the UK, she has paid British tax for a decade and is a long-standing member of the Barnet Copthall club, where she is also a volunteer coach. She is also a woman of extraordinary, single-minded determination. Not long after settling in Britain, her new husband was convicted of trafficking heroine and sentenced to 15 years" jail, of which he served half. Police accepted that Aldama was entirely innocent and ignorant of her husband's activities but she was left to bring up her first child as a single mother until her husband's release. The couple have since been reunited and they now have a second child. "Some people have it easier, some people have it difficult like I did, but that's what I had to do and I am here," she said yesterday. I hope the kids have been watching, especially the oldest, who is 10. Before I came to the track he told me, "Mummy, you have to win."" Her family problems contributed to the decision to switch allegiance to Sudan in 2004 because her husband's conviction left her application for a UK passport mired in red tape. With the Cuban authorities washing their hands of her, she was effectively stateless, and therefore ineligible to compete at the 2004 Athens Olympics. Sudan, which offered fast-track passports for athletes, offered the solution. But Aldama insists she has always felt British in her heart and, without the knowledge of UK Athletics, she applied again for a UK passport in 2009. It finally arrived last summer, just in time for her to be selected for the outdoor World Championships in Daegu, where she showed she was still a world-class performer by placing fifth. "I'm British," she said, thumping her heart after a lap of honour draped in a Union Flag. I have been in the country for 11 years. What more could you ask? I do everything I have to as a British citizen, my kids are British, most of my friends are British. Britain is home. Her victory was achieved with her second-round leap, though she faced an anxious wait to discover whether it would be enough after a hamstring problem forced her to pass on her final three attempts. But it proved too good for her key rival, Kazakhstan's defending champion, Olga Rypakova, who took silver with a jump of 14.63m. Cuba's Mabel Gay was third with 14.29m. Porter's silver came despite a poor start, though she powered through in the latter stages to cross the line in 7.94sec. Pearson, who added the indoor world crown to her outdoor world title, won decisively in 7.73sec. Dwain Chambers was also slow out of his blocks before winning bronze in 6.60sec. Given his desire to put his drug-tainted past behind him, it was ironic that gold went to American former Olympic champion Justin Gatlin, who served a four-year ban for a second drug offence.