Greg Rutherford: Listening to The Streets helped me win Olympic gold
GREG Rutherford was thrown in to the spotlight after he won a gold medal in this summer's London Olympics.
The Team GB long jumper bagged himself gold when he jumped an impressive 8.31m in the finals of the event.
The 26-year-old athlete has admitted that he got in the zone to bring home the medal by listening to one of his favourite artists - The Streets.
He said: "I have quite an interesting mix of different music that I listen to on my warm ups, so I have things from more upbeat r'n'b and hip hop stuff to house or trance music and even the odd Phil Collins tune.
"But probably the one that I listened to most this summer was The Streets - Blinded By The Lights. Nero did a dubstep remix of that as well and it was quite good for just zoning and getting my concentration levels right.
"That was the last track I listened to of my warm up, so you have that going around in your head, and it's good to have something you can memorise."
Inspiration ... The Streets
Greg also admitted to being a big fan of dutch house DJ Tiesto and says he almost always features on any playlist he makes.
He added: "My favourite artsits always change and adapt. I went through a long period from my early to mid-teens of being a hard house-trance kind of guy.
"I went to Ibiza in 2007 for the closing parties and saw Tiesto live. It was amazing.
"For a long time for me he was one of the biggest house artists by a long way, so he still always appears in my playlists now. "
Greg also confessed that since being plunged in to the spotlight by his Olympic success he's found it hard to cope with being called a "celebrity."
He said: "It's been interesting to say the least - being invited here there and everywhere and getting photographed all over the place.
"I think the term celebrity is thrown around really easily, I wouldn't see myself as one at all. I just do track and field and I'm fortunate enough to do it to a very high level."
Going for gold ... Greg grins with his Olympic medal
Greg will be taking part in a life art class on December 8 that will see him strip off to raise money for the Male Cancer Awareness Charity.
Deals site Groupon are offering members of the public the opportunity to attened the exclusive class by visiting their website and bidding for a chance to take part, with all of the proceeds going to the cause.
Talking about the event Greg joked: "There might be some form of small trunks hiding my dignity but we'll see, I might whip them off."
He added that he isn't nervous about fans meeting him in all his glory because athletes can't have any hang-ups.
Team GB hero ... Greg
He said: "It's quite interesting because as an athlete you can't really have any hang ups or be shy or anything so it's not that disimiliar.
"There's been many an occasion when I've been at the track and had to have certain parts of my body checked. I can't really be shy or hiding away."
And Greg revealed that taking part is important to him because the cause is close to his heart.
He added: "One of my close friends has just recently got over cancer, he's only 33, so it's a cause that's close to my heart and I'm very happy to get involved."
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For your chance to be a part of Greg's life art class place your bids here.
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