One of the world's most decorated triple jumpers ever, Christian Olsson is back.

European Triple Jump champion Christian Olsson, 30, has suffered three injury ravaged seasons, missing a raft of major championships. European Athletics caught up with the super Swede in late February at the athletes' hotel ahead of the Aviva Indoor Grand Prix in Birmingham, England, where he shared his plans for defending his title in Barcelona and the season ahead.

European Athletics: You have suffered a plethora of hamstring and ankle injuries over the past three seasons, how are you feeling at the moment?
Christian Olsson: I've had to deal with the injuries coming and going, mostly coming, so it's been tough to be able to believe that I could come back again. I guess I gave it one last try when I saw Dr. Hans Muller-Wohlfahrt (the leading sports injury doctor in Germany). He worked on my hamstring and back and I felt something changed in 2008. I didn't know if it was a positive or a negative thing, but (after I had the treatment in late 2008) I found that I was gradually getting faster and faster week after week.

How did you become aware of Muller-Wohlfahrt?
I ruptured my hamstring for a fifth time in Stockholm ahead of Beijing. It was devastating to not be able to defend my Olympic gold. I wanted to be able to at least stand on the runway and defend my title. I felt like there was nothing else I could do without it rupturing again and again. I then started talking with other athletes who had similar problems, not only in track and field but football players in Sweden, and all of them recommended Dr Muller-Wohlfahrt.

I had nothing to lose, even though I was very skeptical of alternative treatments. His treatments are considered homeopathic. I went along and I remember the first day I got about 15 needle shots in my hamstring. I got this explained to me because as an athlete I was very suspicious of getting needles because of (the risk of) doping. I remember the first day after this treatment going to dinner at the restaurant and it felt like I had a new rupture because I was so sore in the hamstring and I thought, okay something is happening. What is it? I continued this treatment for five days and when I went home I felt something had happened. Two or three days later, I then started to train normally and I've never since had an injury in the hamstring.

How close were you to quitting after rupturing a hamstring for the fifth time?
I would say it was the flip of a coin. Some things pushed me back in the right direction again. Although I knew I wasn't going to take part in the Olympic Games, I was asked to carry the Swedish flag at the Olympics in Beijing. To be the flag bearer, was a great moment.

What was the lowest point?
I would say the lowest point was (after the fifth rupture) and I spent about 12 days in Monaco. I didn't do anything other than hang about the swimming pool and have a few beers. I had made up my mind to just shut out the Games. I didn't want to look at it or even read about it. Then I got a call from the Swedish Olympic committee and all of sudden I was on a plane to the Olympic Games (to be flag bearer). I had a room in the village, I was enjoying myself. I then went back home before the athletics started but I didn't feel as hostile against athletics anymore.

Olsson, after winning the European title in front of his home crowd in Goteborg.

What have you learned about yourself over the past three years?
I always wondered how strong mentally I was. People always said I was strong because I could handle the pressure of being favourite (at major championships) but it is always easy to be mentally strong as long as everything is pointing up. I guess I learned you can kick me down a number of times but I'll keep coming back up. I also learned that I don't feel like athletics is my whole life anymore. I was a little bit scared, because I didn't know what to do. Was I going back to school or to another job?

Has your confidence taken a dent with what's happened over the last few years?
No doubt my confidence has been down. It's been like night and day compared to when I was winning Olympic Games. Then I was very confident of my abilities and now I'm just building my confidence again. I still feel I can challenge the best triple jumpers in the world, but the self-confidence has definitely not been as it has been.

Who has been a big help over the past three or four years?
I have had a small army trying to help me and get me back. Of course, my wife has always been there through everything. She has had to handle me when I'm annoyed, had a bad session and when I've been scared. I was probably tough to be around, but she's always been very supportive. My coach has also helped, my agent has always been there to push me in the right direction, my physio, my mother and father and friends have all helped inspire me.

How have you viewed the standard and quality of the Triple Jump in your absence?
I think it's definitely gone up a level. I think no-one could challenge 17.70m when I was winning, but both Phillips (Idowu) and Nelson (Evora) are up there at that level. It has been a little bit frustrating being at home. I feel that if these competitors were around when I was competing, it would have helped. The lack of competition made me a bit stagnant. It is hard when the opposition are jumping 17.25m. It is hard to push on for a longer jump. It's definitely now at a higher level. Phillips won (the 2009 World Championships) with 17.73m and when I won (the world title) in Paris it was with 17.72m.


Are you confident of reaching your pre-injury standards?
It is hard to say if I am going to reach the level of winning gold medals again, but I feel confident I can be a 17m-plus jumper again and to be in top shape for World Championships and European Athletics Championships and so on. I still think I can challenge Phillips. This indoor season could go either way. I could challenge in the World Championship or maybe not. Then I hope outdoors I can be up there with Phillips and hopefully Evora will be fit to jump.

How are you feeling about the sport at the moment?
I have a different view on it now. I think I now enjoy myself more and I'm not trying to take the competition too seriously. In Stockholm (indoor meet in February) Phillips and I sat around laughing about things and I was relaxed. That's the way I like it. I don't want it to be hostile or anything like that. I want to feel like I want to be able to enjoy myself and compete at the highest level.

Is the injury still in the back of your mind?
Definitely. It is something I have to work on. In my mind I have phantom feelings in my hamstring and I feel like it is a little bit numb, but as soon as I step on to the track it starts to disappear, I'm okay. My hamstring is okay.

Any there any areas you believe you are stronger in than before?
My hamstrings are stronger, definitely, because I have devoted many hours working on that area. I weigh a little bit more, but that is because of the volume of muscles I've put on around my hamstrings. I've put on about 3kg and now I'm about 79k. This is nothing I'm worried about because I always had a good balance between power and weight and I don't feel any problem with that.

Olsson with Triple Jump legend and world record holder Jonathan Edwards.

Are the European Team Championships a big motivation this year?
I hope to help bring Sweden back to the highest league again. We will have a better team than this indoor season because we will have a lot of guys coming back. Alhaji Jeng will be coming back in the Pole Vault after having had a small fracture. Our high jumper Linus Thornblad is on his way back and we have a good eight-metre long jumper, so I think we can get back to the highest league. We belong among the top 12 teams. A few times (in the SPAR European Cup) we got up to the top league and a few times we got kicked down again. I think we are about ninth or tenth in Europe, so I think we belong there (editor's note: the Swedish city of Stockholm will host the SPAR European Team Championships in 2011).

How much of a motivation are the European Athletics Championships in Barcelona?
I have had too many injuries to look too far ahead, but if I can stay fit I am very motivated to try and take a third successive European title.

What would it mean to you to win?
To me, it would mean being the reigning (European) champion pretty much all of my career way through to 2014. If, by then, I'm not already retired, I will be retiring.

Sweden enjoyed a glorious period during the early to mid-noughties but because of retirements and injury standards have fallen. Do you feel you have a duty to return to past glories to help boost Swedish athletics?
I definitely think it would be a positive thing if I could do something for Swedish athletics. We still have a lot of great athletes coming back. Carolina Kluft is back training, Susanna Kallur is on her way back, maybe this indoor season there is more spotlight on me, but if I can win medals that can only be positive for athletics.