By Phil Ravitz PHILLIPS Idowu got the victory he wanted, at the weekend s Aviva London Grand Prix at Crystal Palace, to take to the Olympic Games in Beijing, that begin tomorrow (Friday) week. The Tower Hamlets educated triple jumper – Britain s only red

By Phil Ravitz

PHILLIPS Idowu got the victory he wanted, at the weekend's Aviva London Grand Prix at Crystal Palace, to take to the Olympic Games in Beijing, that begin tomorrow (Friday) week.

The Tower Hamlets educated triple jumper - Britain's only red hot favourite for an Olympic athletics gold - if the pundits are to be believed, took a little time to get going on Friday evening, but eventually nailed another victory with his fourth round jump of 17.41 metres.

It was way down on the 17.58 that he jumped at the British Olympic trials at Birmingham a fortnight earlier, but still sufficient to win the Crystal Palace event, again by a distance.

His British teammates at Beijing - Nathan Douglas, 17.14 and Larry Achike, 17.09, filled the minor places at the Grand Prix.

The other East London representation at the meet, sprinters Rikki Fifton and Leevan Yearwood, were both eliminated in the heats of the 100 metres.

Fifton ran the faster, 10.40 in his heat won by Trinidad's Richard Thompson, but finished eighth and last, while Yearwood finished one place better, seventh, in a slower heat won by Jamaican medal hopeful Asafa Powell, finishing in 10.46.

Phillips Idowu is one of 20 athletes chosen by the Great Britain kit suppliers adidas to feature in an open air photography exhibition that is to be unveiled tomorrow (Friday) on London's South Bank.

The exhibition entitled 'Britain United' is an open air event that will be on show until Wednesday, September 17.

For the exhibition, photographer Jude Edginton took Phillips, former pupil of De Beauvoir Primary School, Tottenham Road, N1 and the Raine's Foundation School, Bethnal Green, back to his roots.

Like many East London youngsters of his generation, the 29-year-old Phillips was a mustard-keen basketball player before the athletics bug got him, originally at his local club, Victoria Park & Tower Hamlets AC, Mile End.

He played on Hackney Downs park and Jude Edginton took him back there to photograph him swinging on a hoop (pictured above) in an outstanding piece of imagery.

Another little known fact is that Olympic participation runs in the Idowu family. His elder sister Oluyinka represented Britain in the 1992 Olympics in Barcelona, in the long jump.

Further information on the 'Britain United' exhibition is available on the website www.london2012.com/adidas