Seb Coe suggested recently that " big sporting moments" were more important than Olympic medal tables in charging public enthusiasm for sport. "For instance, from Athens people don't remember if the British team finished 10th, 15th or 20th," he said. "What they do remember is Kelly Holmes."

It is a truism we would do well to keep in mind when the Olympic athletics trials start in Birmingham tonight.

Yes, the three-day event will only highlight the present dearth of medal-challenging, world-class talent in British track and field but there will be some terrific scraps for Beijing places, sightings of prospective future winners and by Sunday night, hopefully, a riveting glimpse of those equipped to deliver Coe's marquee moments in the Bird's Nest stadium.

We are not talking here about Dwain Chambers, whose profile will effortlessly dominate these championships even though, if he does make it to Beijing via the law courts, he has no chance of a 100metres medal. Neither, sadly, are we talking about Paula Radcliffe, an absent friend who, despite now being back in training following her stress fracture, can surely not be considered a serious marathon contender after such severely truncated preparation.

No, we are talking of only five athletes on view this weekend with a realistic expectation of an individual gong in Beijing, led by Kelly Sotherton, the last of a dying breed of serial medallists who tests herself in four of her seven heptathlon events.

There are also Christine Ohuruogu and Nicola Sanders, one-two in last year's world championship 400m, who have opted to avoid each other this weekend; the former plumping to sharpen her speed in the 200m while the latter seeks a serious marker in the one-lap event.

And there is Andy Baddeley, running the 800m at the trials, who is a 1500m contender after his Dream Mile win in Oslo.

Yet none of this quartet could remotely be considered favourites for gold. Sotherton, great competitor though she is, has had preparations interrupted by a kidney complaint and has not competed in a heptathlon all year while 20-year-old Russian Tatyana Chernova comfortably surpassed the Birchfield woman's lifetime best in Gotzis last month.

As for the 400m pair, both must recognise American Sanya Richards as the one to beat, while it takes a stretch of the imagination to think Baddeley will beat Kenyan-turned-American Bernard Lagat.

So, step forward - no, make that hop, step and jump forward - Phillips Idowu. With 27 days to go to the Games, the Hackney triple-jumper is the only British athlete who can be properly considered the favourite for individual gold after seven victories in an unbeaten year, including world indoor and European Cup triumphs.

An aura has begun to develop around him as he has chosen the age of 29, just as Jonathan Edwards once did, to leap from a fine athlete to a potentially great one.

Having won his first world title in Valencia with a jump of 17.75m and then switching coaches from John Herbert to Aston Moore, Idowu's new-found confidence has been evident as he has turned thoughts towards clearing 18m and then eclipsing Edwards's world record of 18.29m. Moore believes he could one day give the event its Beamon moment by taking the record to 18.80m.

"Everything's clicked into place. If I'm injury free then I feel am unbeatable," said Idowu before his European Cup triumph.

Having discovered he had been jumping in previous seasons in this most demanding of disciplines while suffering from a network of lower-back stress fractures, no wonder a consistency of excellence seems to have been achieved.

"I think Phillips is capable of gold," said Coe. On Sunday, hopefully the sight of the crimson-haired lad jangling with body piercings and bounding to victory will qualify as a suitably dramatic preview of one of Seb's big Beijing moments.