TRIPLE JUMP: Why Phillips Idowu feels he's fit to reach the gold standard

It is a rare year when the man with the red-rinsed hair is the last man standing. Customarily he leads the queue for the treatment couch.

A career c.v. that should list a host of world and Olympic titles reads like a medical bulletin.

Last year, he was ordered to rest for two months in mid-season when scans on his back found old or new stress fractures existed in five of his six lower vertebrae.

He could not bend, or twist, or sit in a car in comfort. He pulled out after two jumps at the British Championships and, still hurting, finished sixth at the World Championships.

Pierce dividend: Idowu hoping to add gold to his facial decorations

This year, when the medics have given up on Jessica Ennis, Mark Lewis-Francis and Tim Benjamin and time is running out on Paula Radcliffe, Idowu is the man.

'I'm bullet-proof,' he says with one of his raucous giggles.

On the day the Aviva British Championships, which double as Olympic trials, started in Birmingham - 35 days before the athletics begin at Beijing's Bird's Nest Stadium - Idowu was the only British athlete ranked on this year's performances in a podium position.

Not that the podium is the height of Idowu's ambitions.

'My expectations are a lot higher than everybody else's are for me,' he said.

So what's higher than gold?

'Interpret it how you like. It could be breaking the world record. It could be jumping 18metres. Or a personal best. I have a personal achievement as my goal. I want to be the greatest triple-jumper in the world and whatever it takes to get there, that's what I am working towards,' he said.

Idowu may have enough facial studs and pins to cause meltdown in an airport scanner but there has not been as much metal around his neck as he would like.

Or as he and his admirers expected of one with the attributes to leap as far as the man Idowu respectfully always refers to as Mr Edwards - Britain's retired world recordholder, Jonathan.

'I've had too many years coming off the major championships and hearing: "Phillips has under-performed", and it's true. Being the athlete I am, I have underperformed,' he admits.

High flyer: Idowu has his mind set on gold in Beijing

So this year he set about putting it right, following medical advice on what he could and could not do in training. His injuries were blamed on poor technique and incorrect training and, more dramatically, leaving the north London training group of John Herbert, a coach who had guided him for 10 years.

'I had thought about it before but it was never the right time. I was always hurt and always thinking: "Well, give it another go, when I'm fit it may work out". But 10 years later I hadn't achieved what I wanted to achieved.'

The clock was ticking. He will be 30 by the end of this year.

'I hated going to Golden Leagues and Grands Prix and finishing second, third, fourth, fifth, having to struggle to get those places. When I looked around, I realised there was nobody there more talented than I was.

'At the start of my career if I wasn't winning I wasn't happy, even if it was against Mr Edwards. I had lost that in the last few years.'

Idowu asked for coaching from Aston Moore, performance manager for UK Athletics based in Birmingham. And what was the first thing Moore said to Idowu?

'You've underperformed,' he admits, letting out another of his wonderful giggles. And those factors - 'plus I'm highly talented' - have contributed to the best year of his life.

Indoors, he broke Edwards' British record. He won the world indoors with a jump only 8cm off the world record. And not only does he lead the world outdoor rankings but the consistency of performance that used to be absent has been there.

Many experts believe the five medals UK Sport has set as a target for the Beijing team to be named on Monday is optimistic.

They do not demur that, for perhaps the first time in his life, Idowu can be relied upon for one.