I AM JUMPING
Laura sits out jive with ankle injury
OLYMPIC hero Greg Rutherford has a secret weapon that might just give him a cha cha chance of winning Strictly Come Dancing.
For while the hit show is pushing Greg way out of his comfort zone, his little son Milo quickly brings him back down to earth and calms his nerves.
Long jumper Greg performed the cha cha with Natalie Lowe last night – calling it his “hardest dance by a long way”.
BBC1 viewers will learn his fate in the results show this evening. But in Milo’s eyes he’s already a winner.
Greg, 29, gushed about his son, his desire for more kids with “incredible” partner Susie, 28, and even talked about his muchcommented on backside in an exclusive chat with the Sunday Mirror.
He said ahead of last night’s performance: “Some people on the show have meltdown Mondays. I have meltdown Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays because I’ve never had any dance training.
“A new week starts and I think ‘oh my goodness, this is hard’. Fortunately I’m a massive try- hard and Natalie has the patience of a saint. I’m sure others would have buried me by now.
“We have a lot of fun but even if I have a bad day trying to get the moves, my mood changes pretty instantly when I get home.
“Things will be playing on my mind about the dances but as soon as I step through that door I haven’t got time to worry about footwork.
“I’ll get really involved with Milo, we’ll play rough and tumble and have fun. You forget anything that’s stressed you out – playing with him is a really nice way of switching off.
“As an athlete, before when it was just me, I was very focused on myself. But the things I used to worry about become much less important now that I’m a dad.”
CELEBRATED
Milo turned two on Wednesday and Greg took time off from rehearsals so they could share a birthday treat visit to a farm. He and partner Susie Verrill – an author and blogger – also celebrated last weekend with friends.
But Greg admits his little boy considers him more of a dancer than an athlete these days.
Greg – who won bronze at this year’s Rio Olympics and gold at London 2012 – said: “Before, if you asked him what I do, he’d say ‘run and jump.’
“Now he says: ‘Dancing with Natty’. He’ll watch me on the TV, get up and have a dance too. He loves it.”
Greg is keen to have more kids and jokes that he hasn’t imposed a sex ban during the dance show. He said: “I think I’d go out of my mind if I took the show as seriously as I take my athletics. I’m trying to have fun right now. We originally said we’d like to have five kids, then we cut it down to four after Milo, but who knows?
“Before the Rio Olympics I seriously considered having my sperm frozen because of concerns over the Zika virus. I never went ahead with it, but it is something I want to do at some point.
“I don’t see that as a bizarre thing. You never know what is going to happen in life and me and Susie having more children is very important to us. We’ll Devastated Laura Whitmore was forced to miss this weekend’s show due to an ankle injury.
Laura, 31, was told she could not perform the jive with dance partner Giovanni Pernice, 26, less than three hours before the show was to air last night.
Strictly medics feared the TV presenter would suffer “permanent damage” to her right foot after injuring her ankle earlier in the week. An insider said: “She is absolutely gutted.”
Laura and Giovanni got a bye through to next week’s show. Brendan Cole was also out due to a chest infection. Pro dancer Gorka Marquez partnered Anastacia instead.