OLYMPIC champion Jonathan Edwards was given a hero's welcome when he returned to the North-East yesterday with the first individual gold medal won by one of the region's athletes.

And after the Gateshead Harrier was given the freedom of the borough, he declared the "pressure is off and I am going to relax".

The veteran competitor, who clinched victory with a 17.71m triple jump, was joined (right) by his wife Alison and sons Sam, seven, and Nathan, five, at Gateshead International Stadium, where they were cheered by 100 well-wishers.

But one of his first jobs, he revealed, had been to show off his glittering medal at his sons' school, Askham House, in Gosforth.

Edwards, 34, said: "The pressure is now off. It will never be quite as tense and intense as it has been for the last five to six years.

"I feel our life is going to start a fresh chapter and it is going to be a little more relaxed and enjoyable.