THE chances of catching Iwan Thomas luxuriating at his Netley home are decreasing by the day.

Southampton's injured athlete-of-the-year may be temporarily unemployed on the track, but such is his popularity off it that he barely has a free moment to call his own.

Since conquering Europe and the Commonwealth over 400 metres last summer, the 25-year-old has been catapulted from sporting superstar to national celebrity status.

He has a date at Buckingham Palace pending to collect an MBE, is being immortalised in wax at Madame Tussaud's and is currently filming a series of Southern Ways on the BBC's early-evening South Today programme.

"I'm getting to the stage where I'm having to turn things down," confesses the busy Thomas. "I've had something on every day for the last two weeks, including trips to Scotland and Gateshead, and it's all getting a bit much for me."

The Madam Tussaud's model is due to be unveiled in three months' time and Thomas, who this week saw the clay head for the first time, is still coming to terms with the idea of joining the world-famous line-up of dummies.

"I didn't realise what a big honour it was until I discovered that the model is costing £25,000 to make and will be on display for a minimum of ten years," he says.

"If they're prepared to invest that much in me, I'd better make sure that I'm running again soon! But to be honest, I don't need that incentive because I'm already missing the track so much it hurts."

His first shooting of the Southern Ways series took Thomas back to his old school in Lincolnshire yesterday and a chance to interview his teachers.

Showing not a hint of nerves, he smiles: "If there's one good thing to have come out of this injury, it's that it's opened up other opportunities for me.

"Television work is the sort of thing I'd like to get in to seven years from now. I feel very comfortable in front of the cameras and I think people relate to me.

"There's got to be a reason for everything, but I still wish I was out there running. There's no substitute for the real thing."

Read more of Wendy Gee's look at the career of Southampton's Iwan Thomas in tonight's Daily Echo.

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