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Idowu happy to live in Ennis' shadow

Phillips Idowu likes to have all eyes on him in a stadium, but is happy to spend the build-up in Jessica Ennis' shadow © Getty Images

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Great Britain's Olympic triple jump gold medal hopeful Phillips Idowu is more than happy to continue his preparations for the 2012 Games in the shadow of heptathlete Jessica Ennis.

Idowu, a silver medallist in Beijing in 2008, is one of the host nation's brightest medal prospects for next summer's Games in London. But despite having a reputation as a showman - with his frequently dyed hair and various piercings - the 32-year-old maintains he is happy to let Ennis attract all the attention in the build-up to what will be the biggest sporting occasion of both their careers.

"I think this works for me," Idowu told The Times. "Going into the previous Olympics you would have seen me, naked, on the billboards. I've done that and I don't need it.

"[The athlete people see at events is] a different me. When I go out, I wear a hat and pull my coat around me. People might think that's strange when they see me competing, with the loud hair. But that's me on the runway, that's me showing off what I've been working so hard for."

Despite a storied career which has seen him add Commonwealth, European and even World Championship gold to his Olympic near-miss, Idowu maintains that he rarely reflects on what he has achieved so far in his career - but admits he does use past experiences to inspire him to continue pushing forward.

"I don't have any medals around the house. I don't know where my Olympic silver is," he said. "I don't feel any pressure at all looking to 2012. I've been to three Olympic Games and I don't know how many World Championships. I've won everything, everything but that Olympic [gold] medal.

"The gold medal is one of my goals because I feel I am capable. But I'm not going to make rash predictions and with me it's about winning. That's the thrill. I've never cried in this sport apart from when I've won gold medals. Jumping huge distances, that doesn't do it."

Idowu, who will compete at the Indoor Grand Prix in Birmingham this weekend, believes he can improve on his finish in China - despite an obvious increase in strength of competition in recent seasons - because he is finally enjoying a sustained period of full fitness.

""The last time I was badly injured was 2007," he said. "That was when they discovered five of the lower six vertebrae were fractured. The doctors looked at the scan and said, 'How have you been jumping with a spine like that?' I said I was a triple jumper. It hurts. I thought it was normal."

Despite being in his thirties, Idowu believes he is still improving - and aims only to retire after the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro.

"I've unfinished business in London," he said. "I had this conversation with my coach the other day and he was laughing. He said he could remember when I'd open with something like 16.90. Now I want to open with 17.50 and get close to 18 metres. Times have changed."

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