• Name: Phillips Idowu MBE
• Birth Date: 30/12/1978
• Born: Hackney, London
• Trains: HIPAC, Birmingham, UK
• Lives: Birmingham

Phillips Idowu is one of the most recognisable sporting personalities stemming from Britain and with World, European and Commonwealth titles to his name; he is firmly established as a leading figure of athletics.

Growing up in East London, Phillips was a talented sportsman at school, playing basketball and American football. However he was most successful in athletics. In 1997 at the age of 17 his talent for triple jump shone through when he won the English Schools Championships and the under-20s AAA title, as well as coming fourth in the European Junior Championships.

Continuing to improve, 2000 saw Phillips head to his first Olympic Games to finished sixth in Sydney. Two years later, Phillips won his first major international medal when he won silver at the 2002 Commonwealth Games. An unfortunate knee injury then ruled Phillips out for the whole of 2003 and much of 2004, although he returned in time to make the final of the Athens Olympic Games. Returning to full fitness, Phillips found his stride again at the 2006 Commonwealth Games in Melbourne where he claimed Gold which was to be the start of a long and successful period. European and World Indoor crowns followed before heading to the 2008 Beijing Olympics as the favourite having been unbeaten all year after a scintillating season. Unfortunately he narrowly missed out on the Gold Medal but a year later once again confirmed his status as the world’s finest being crowned World Champion in Berlin with a personal best and Gold Medal to match.

Fast forward one year and Phillips repeated this success, claiming European Gold and setting a new lifetime best of 17.81m. 2011 saw Phillips again prove he was the man to beat as his consistancy secured him the Diamond League title and only a remarkable jump denied him another World Championship title as he returned home from the World Championships in Daegu with a Silver Medal. This made him more determined ahead of London 2012 but devastatingly, the fairytale story for the man who hails from Hackney was not to be as injury disruptions in his preparation meant that he was to be denied the chance to compete in the final and win the Gold Medal which he was again a favourite for. Being the true champion that he is, Phillips has vowed to come back stronger in 2013 and reclaim his place as the world’s leading field athlete after overcoming rapids, hippos and crocodiles along the Zambezi River in aid of Comic Relief.