Phillips Idowu: I'm fit and will prove doubters wrong

Exclusive: Triple jumper says injury worries have been 'blown out of proportion'
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24 July 2012

Phillips Idowu insists he will be fit to jump for gold at the Olympics and that fears over a nerve complaint affecting his left hip and knee have been blown out of proportion.

The triple jumper opted not fly to the holding camp in Portugal on Sunday, instead preferring to remain in London to train and work with his own physio on the neural issue.

His absence from the pre-Olympic camp led to fresh fears that the 33-year-old will not be fit in time to compete in front of his home crowd in triple jump qualifying in 14 days time.

But Idowu said: "I'm fine, I'm ok. Things are being blown out of proportion. The season's goal is still the same - to come away with the Olympic gold medal. That's what I've been looking for since the heartbreak of Beijing.

"Even if the build-up to the Games hasn't been what I wanted, I'll always come out and jump a season's best. I'll do everything I can to make sure I'm pain free for the competition so that I can jump to the best of my abilities. That's the plan."

The Beijing silver medallist has not competed since the start of June but had been scheduled to jump at the London Grand Prix earlier this month only to pull out with what he described on Twitter as "a slight bit of muscle tightness".

The current complaint is a trapped nerve running from his hip to his knee which the Londoner insists is enabling him to still train fully but requires constant physio treatment.

"I made the decision to stay in the UK for another week just so I can work with the physio," he said. "We're trying to get the nerve along the hip and back just to loosen.

"Before Crystal Palace I jarred my hip slightly doing a weights session so that was a bit irritated but going into Crystal Palace I was in really good shape. I was warming up and running really well, doing everything really well. Some of the other triple jump guys in the warm-up area at Crystal Palace were like 'it looks like you're hitting the feeling'. I felt really sprightly."

Following that niggle, he immediately returned to training and claims to have been squatting near to his best in his gym sessions.

"I know I've been low key but this is a niggly issue I have to deal with," he said. "It's not a big one. I'm training fully with it. My shape is physically the best it's ever been. My power is there, my speed is there and I'm jumping well. Within a couple of days I'm confident we can loosen out the nerve and carry on with the plan. It's about ticking the boxes."

Idowu insists that such setbacks are nothing new. "I've jumped in pain and with injuries in the past - in triple jump that's just part and parcel of the sport," he added.

As news filtered out of his decision not to travel to Portugal where the likes of Jessica Ennis and Dai Greene are finetuning their Olympic preparations, Idowu tweeted: "I will not give up."

He still hopes to travel out to Portugal in due course, saying "I want to go out there and be a part of the team."

Idowu's Olympic ambitions were further fuelled at the weekend by carrying the Olympic torch through his home city.

Of the torch relay, he said: "It was a massive buzz with such a good turnout and I got a bit emotional as being inside the Olympic Stadium will be on a whole new level. It's difficult to describe, it's almost like my Olympics started in that exact moment."

It is the second Olympic relay torch in the Idowu household, taking pride of place alongside his daughter D'Karma's homemade effort - "she wasn't that impressed by the real thing at all!" jokes her father.

Now, the target is to get in the best possible shape to pick up a gold medal to go alongside the silver from four years ago.

Phillips Idowu carried the Olympic flame on behalf of Samsung, a presenting partner of the London 2012 Olympic Torch Relay. Samsung are giving away two pairs of Olympic tickets until Friday. To take part, download the free Samsung Hope Relay app at www.samsung.com/hoperelay and compete at least one mile for a chance to win

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