By Ian Gordon, PA Sport

Few Olympic victories in Sydney would be greeted with greater delight than if Wales' high hurdles prince Colin Jackson finally tasted the glory of Games gold.

Jackson has been ranked in the world's top 10 in his event every year since 1986, an incredible span for an athlete.

The 33-year-old's long career has brought him undoubted wealth, 22 major championship medals - 12 of them gold - and no-one in history has run the 110 metre hurdles faster.

Yet Jackson will be making his fourth Olympic quest, one which began with silver in Seoul in 1988 when he was just 21, still searching for that elusive crown.

The Games of 1992 were wrecked by injury when he was red-hot favourite and 1996 saw him battling back from a series of operations when he should have been at his prime. So Jackson has consequently missed out on the sport's greatest honour.

Sydney will be the veteran's final crack at emulating countryman Lynn 'The Leap' Davies, who brought home long jump gold for Wales from Tokyo in 1964.

Even if he fails, Jackson knows that as he winds his career down with a farewell tour he can look back on his life at the top with pride.

"There was a time when I'd be a little bit bitter and think why haven't I won Olympic gold," said Jackson.

"But I wouldn't swap anything I've won or achieved in this sport just for an Olympic title.

"The two world titles I have were just as difficult to win as an Olympic title.

"I have spoken to many of my friends and family about the Olympics, how important it is and they are all pretty cool telling me not to put pressure on myself.

"But I do want that Olympic title. If you've got the credentials to do something then it's a terrible waste if you don't achieve it. But we will just have to wait and see what happens on the day."

Unfortunately Jackson, who became the first Briton to regain a world title in Seville last summer six years after winning his first in Stuttgart in a world record 12.91 seconds, has seen the injury bug strike again this season.

The Bath-based hurdler has been restricted to just four races - he still won all of them - in a stop-go summer after aggravating a hamstring injury he sustained weight training in Australia last March and then being hit by a thigh problem.

Jackson made a belated decision to run in Britain's Olympic trials, clocking a comfortable 13.54secs as he won a record 10th AAA Championships, which were incorporated into the event in Birmingham.

"Time was running out and it was important that I tested myself in a race," said Jackson, who made light of the slippery conditions at the Alexander Stadium.

"I've hardly done any training. I couldn't train or run. Every time I put my foot on the track I felt a spasm."

Now he will be looking to discover the race sharpness he will need in Sydney when the battle for the gold is likely to be between him and America's defending champion, Allen Johnson, who missed out in Seville through injury.

Johnson, the man who ended Jackson's 44-race winning streak in 1995 and went on to win two world golds as well as the Olympic crown in Atlanta, announced his return with a victory in 12.97secs in balmy conditions at the US trails in California.

"I think it will be out of me and Allen because, though men like Mark Crear and Anier Garcia are the attackers, it is only us two who have delivered in the championships," added Jackson, whose final gold medal bid will be masterminded by Malcolm Arnold, the man who has coached him since he was a teenager.

The high hurdles rivals are set to clash in Gateshead at the end of this month in what could be a significant pointer to the Games, but it is the meeting in Sydney on September 25 when Jackson's Olympic dreams will be finally decided.