[2] Tamgho also mentors fellow French triple jumper Rouguy Diallo, who won the gold medal at the 2014 World Junior Championships in Athletics in Eugene, Oregon.
[3] Born in Paris, France, Teddy Tamgho became interested in athletics as a young boy growing up in the commune of Sevran.
Tamgho stated that his run-up speed was his strong point and that his success was a result of working with his coach, Jean-Hervé Stievenart, and training partners Karl Taillepierre and Benjamin Compaoré.
[6] Going into the 2008 outdoor season, Tamgho achieved the Olympic qualifying mark (17.10 m) but the tailwind of 2.1 m/s was slightly too strong to make his jump valid.
Tamgho won the 2008 World Junior Championships gold medal with a jump of 17.33 m in the final, but the mark was wind-aided (2.1 m/s), just outside the legal limit of 2.0 m/s.
[7][8] He failed to repeat his form at the French national outdoor championships, and was fourth in 16.79 m—far behind the event winner Jules Lechanga.
[13][14] At the start of the 2009 outdoor season he lined up against the 2008 Olympics silver medallist Phillips Idowu at the Meeting Areva in Paris.
[20] He said he thought his previous season had been flawed, but that he had now grown stronger and matured, following advice from fellow competitors Jadel Gregório and Phillips Idowu to take part in competitions in a calmer manner.
Having already secured victory, he pushed even further with his final attempt to jump 17.98 m, making himself the third best triple jumper outdoors on the all-time list behind Jonathan Edwards and Kenny Harrison.
[24] He won the 2010 French National Outdoor Championships senior triple jump title for the second time, but had to contend with a right calf cramp en route to victory.
He announced a change of coach at the end of the season, starting work with four-time long jump world champion Iván Pedroso.
[28] On 30 June 2011, Tamgho achieved an outdoor jump of 17.91 m at the 2011 IAAF Diamond League Athletissima athletics meeting in Lausanne.
He thus missed the chance to defend his triple jump title at the 2012 IAAF World Indoor Championships in March but would be eligible to participle in the 2012 Olympics in London.
[36] On 13 December 2013 at a press conference in Paris, Tamgho announced that he would miss the entire 2014 athletics season in order to recover fully from his left tibia surgery.
Tamgho returned to competition with a jump of 16.78 m in a meeting held in a northern suburb of Paris after an absence of 18 months due to injury and the IAAF suspension.
On 15 May 2015, Tamgho ruptured his Achilles tendon during the Diamond League meeting in Doha, forcing him to miss the upcoming 2015 World Championships in Beijing.