AT the turn of the year Iwan Thomas was dreaming of winning gold in Seville.

Now the prospect of visiting the jewel of southern Spain has taken on nightmarish proportions for Southampton's injured European and Commonwealth 400 metres champion.

Thomas has little option but to go to Andalucia. His sponsors Asics intend to fly him out there from August 21 to 23 as a figurehead for their 50th anniversary celebrations.

But, given the choice, the 25-year-old Welshman would rather stay at home in Netley than suffer the painful withdrawal symptoms that hit him like a punch in the stomach every time he steps near an athletics stadium.

"To be honest I don't enjoy watching athletics - it hurts my feelings too much," admits Thomas, whose season has been wrecked by an ankle injury picked up while warm-weather training in South Africa earlier this year.

What sickens him most is that, with the mighty Michael Johnson fighting injury, the gold medal could be there for the taking for anyone good enough and gutsy enough to take on the best of the rest of the Americans.

Thomas "The Tank" would have fitted the bill perfectly but, in his absence, it's his big rival Mark Richardson from Windsor who is the man most likely to break the US monopoly.

"If Michael Johnson is there and fully fit, then he'll win it," says Thomas. "If not, Mark has the best opportunity he'll ever have to become world champion and that makes me feel even sicker.

"Obviously it'd be great for Britain and great for Mark if he won, but personally I feel gutted. Even with Johnson there, I know I could have gone to Seville and given him a run for his money. Without him I could have got gold.

"Apart from Jerome Young, who I've beaten more often than he's beaten me, the Americans are running rubbish. It could have been as easy as winning the Commonwealth Games last summer."

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