Idowu not fazed by favourite tag

Britain's Phillips Idowu is at ease with being overwhelming favourite for Olympic triple jump gold following the withdrawal of rival Christian Olsson.

"I'm upset for him, but whether he was there or not, I would still have stuck to my plan," said Idowu of the absence of the injured defending champion.

"I'm in a different situation to anything I've been in before.

"I'm cool with that, I don't mind being called favourite. But I won't have it all my own way - it won't be easy."

The 28-year-old Olsson, who pulled a thigh muscle at Tuesday's IAAF Super Grand Prix meeting in Stockholm, said Idowu would probably be the "biggest favourite in Beijing".

I just want to do what I've been doing all year, which is compete well and win Phillips Idowu

Idowu, the current Commonwealth Games champion, and World and European Indoor champion, is undoubtedly Britain's best hope of a gold medal in the athletics arena.

But the 29-year-old, who has jumped the furthest in the world this year with a 17.58m leap at July's British trials, admitted he would have preferred to win gold with his great rival among the competitors.

"I've been saying all year that it would be nice if he could be there in Beijing to defend his Olympic title," said Idowu.

"I didn't want him to win it, because that's my goal, but I wanted him to have the chance to defend it. It'll be hard for him to sit at home and watch his title going to someone else.

"I just hope he recovers well enough to compete next year. He's struggled with injuries for a long time, and it seems that whenever I'm in great shape he's injured and vice-versa.

"I know what it's like to be injured and I wouldn't wish it on anyone."

It will be Idowu's third attempt to win an Olympic medal after disappointing performances in Sydney and Athens.

He qualified comfortably for the triple jump final in Athens four years ago only to record three no jumps, while in Sydney in 2000 he came sixth behind Britain's Jonathan Edwards who won gold.

BBC OLYMPICS BLOG Lounging around at the Metropolitan Hotel on London's Old Park Lane, Idowu looks as relaxed as a snoozing leopard BBC Sport's Tom Fordyce

However, Idowu said he felt "pretty cool" ahead of Beijing and was confident of returning home with gold.

"I just want to do what I've been doing all year, which is compete well and win," he said.

"It's nice to hear that people have belief in you, but it's an Olympic Games - it's not that easy.

"I am generally pretty cool about what I need to do and what my goals are for this year.

"There will be shocks and surprises. I just hope I go in as favourite and come out as champion."