Triple-jumper Idowu called to account over injury

LONDON (AFP) –

Britain’s Phillips Idowu competes in the men’s triple jump at last year’s world championships in South Korea. Idowu has been called to account over the injury which has clouded his Olympic Games build-up.

British triple jumper Phillips Idowu has been called to account over the injury which has clouded his Olympic Games build-up.

The 33-year-old Idowu, a silver medallist in Beijing in 2008, failed to travel to a pre-Games training camp in Portugal on Monday.

That has led to the British Olympic Association (BOA) to ask him to explain why he missed the trip and to clarify the details of the injury.

BOA spokesman Darryl Seibel told the Press Association: “Our chief medical officer Dr Ian McCurdie wrote to Phillips and his agent yesterday asking that he provide to Dr McCurdie the relevant medical records relating to his injury and the treatment he is currently receiving.”

“Those should be provided to our chief medical officer on a confidential basis. The basis for doing this is a clause in our team members’ agreement that says athletes are required to provide details of any injury or illness that may impact on their performance during the Games.”

Idowu is continuing to receive treatment on the hip injury that saw him pull out from this month’s London Grand Prix just 25 minutes before his event was due to start.

In a statement on Monday, Idowu’s coach Aston Moore said: “In training recently Phillips has had an ongoing injury problem and we have not been able to go at things 100 percent.

“At the weekend Phillips told me he would continue to seek treatment from a private physio in London and would not travel to prepare in Portugal, although he may join us here later.

“He is an experienced athlete who I have worked with for more than four years and we will assess the situation again in the coming days.”

Idowu has not jumped competitively since a meeting in Oregon in the United States on June 1, when he took three jumps before sitting out the remainder of the meet.

He subsequently withdrew from meetings in Oslo and Paris and the British Olympic trials in Birmingham.

Idowu said before the London Grand Prix he had never mentioned an injury and was happy to let the “rumour mill stir itself,” but pulled out of the competition at Crystal Palace with a hip problem he felt while warming up.