Phillips Idowu

DOB: 30/12/1978 Event: Triple Jump Medals: 1 silver Flag: GBR

Triple jumper Phillips Idowu is one of Great Britain's best bets for an athletics gold medal after coming up just short in Beijing when taking silver. With eye-catching piercings in his tongue and face and sporting an array of colourful hairstyles, you certainly cannot miss the giant Idowu as he bounds down the runway. Always charismatic, sometimes brilliant, but also crucially sloppy and below-par at times, Idowu put his Beijing disappointment behind him when he jumped to World Championship gold in Berlin a year later. However, the Olympic gold is the one he really wants, and there can be no greater motivation for the Hackney-born jumper then performing in his home town in front of his home fans - and he is sure to be one of the stars of the show. That experience in Beijing seems to have ironed out Idowu's inconsistency, as he has since also jumped to European Championship gold. Previously overshadowed by Jonathan Edwards, Idowu made his breakthrough by making the Sydney final in 200, but came sixth as Edwards landed gold. A Commonwealth Games silver behind Edwards in Manchester added to his growing CV, as did a 5th place in the European Championships, but a knee injury forced him to miss the entire season in 2003. With no Edwards, and in great form, hopes were high for Idowu in Athens as gold was well within his grasp - but he failed, and in spectacular fashion after an official wrongly called Idowu's first effort in the final a no-jump, the Briton fell apart and failed to register a legitimate jump from then on. Now battle-hardened, and with gold medals at the Commonwealth Games and World and European Indoor Championships, there is just one medal missing to complete the set - a gold which he hopes to pick up in London.