The man who took Phillips Idowu's world triple jump title is not writing off the Brit's Olympic chances, despite his lack of competition this year.
Idowu has competed just three times in 2012 - the last of them coming on June 1 - and withdrew from the London Grand Prix on Saturday just 25 minutes before his event was due to start with a hip injury.
The 33-year-old had previously insisted that his long lay-off had not been due to an injury, but whether Saturday's problem was new or ongoing, it remains a worrying time for the Beijing silver medallist with triple jump qualifying at the Olympics taking place on August 7.
However, American Christian Taylor, who succeeded Idowu as world champion in Daegu last year, is not taking anything for granted, even with the likes of defending champion Nelson Evora, former Olympic champion Christian Olsson and world indoor champion Teddy Tamgho already ruled out of the Games through injury.
Asked if could discount Idowu, Taylor said: "Absolutely not. This guy's been jumping for a long time, he's experienced, he's been here before. I have great respect for him, as I have for all the other competitors, so I don't count him out at all.
"Unfortunately here (Crystal Palace) would have been a nice little preview to see where he is, but maybe he's keeping that a secret and I just keep my mindset and stay positive and get ready for the Games.
"I saw him bounding back there (in the warm-up area) and I thought he was fine and I was looking forward to it. I came here to compete, I always look to compete with the best to raise my level, so it was unfortunate that I saw him pull out but I wish the best for him.
"Can he cope with not competing? Absolutely, he's experienced, I'm new to the game. I've seen him jump many times through different elements, through it all, so I'm not counting him out one bit."
Taylor was just 21 when he won gold in Daegu with a massive new personal best of 17.96m, but the former world youth champion already has his eyes set on Jonathan Edwards' world record of 18.29m.
"This is a learning experience so things can always be better, I'm just fine tuning to go for this world record," Taylor added.
"That's on my mind now. That's what I'm going for, I wouldn't be out here if I didn't believe I had the strength and the talent to do it."
