‘Invisible man’ turns up only to vanish from the Games

Phillips Idowu’s fitness and whereabouts had fascinated fans and frustrated coaches since the start of the Games.

Yesterday he pulled off his headband in disgust as he walked away from the pit, having finished two places outside the top 12.

The triple jumper had insisted he spent the last few weeks in his home city of London “as planned months ago”.

But UK Athletics head coach Charles van Commenee said he was perplexed that Idowu had turned his back on UKA and his own coach Aston Moore, who had only received a brief text before Idowu cut off contact.

The Beijing silver medallist struggled to make an impact, failing to qualify as he slipped to 14th place.

The so-called “Invisible Man” of British athletics faced a struggle to be fully fit following his late withdrawal from the Olympic trials and last month’s London Grand Prix, when he pulled out just 25 minutes before the competition was due to start.

Idowu, who is suffering from a trapped nerve, arrived at the athletes’ village on Sunday and proved very popular with the home crowd as a huge roar went round the stadium when he appeared on the big screen which got louder when he was introduced to the crowd. But he looked out of sorts on all three of his jumps.

He appeared annoyed at his 16.47m first jump – short of the 17.10m needed to qualify automatically for Thursday’s final.

His second ended in a no jump and he managed only a marginal improvement on his third jump, measuring 16.53m.

The 33-year-old world champion has competed just three times in 2012 but, if fit and on form, had been seen as a gold medal contender. He missed out on gold in Beijing by 5cm.

Idowu seemed dejected as he spoke to journalists after the event but said: “You’ve not seen the best of me”.

He added: “Not good, that was not good. I was supposed to qualify and I didn’t. I thought the calibre of athlete I am, if I could come here pain-free, I could compete.

“My preparation was fine – I’ve been training every day. I was pain-free but it comes down to a lack of competition and a lack of timing.

“It hasn’t sunk in yet but this was my home Olympics and I haven’t performed.”