Olympic gold medal winner Greg Rutherford has revealed that he tried to leave Strictly Come Dancing after suffering a crisis of confidence.

The long-jump star, 29, worried when he discovered so many of the other contestants had a dance background.

Greg, who won gold in London 2012, told The Sun: “On our first group training day, I had a complete meltdown.

“Everyone else was doing so great, picking everything up.”

Greg told the newspaper that he called up his agent and his girlfriend to see if he could leave.

But pro dancer Natalie Lowe, who would later be paired as his partner, dragged him back in.

“Natalie found me hiding in another room and literally hauled me back to the dance class,” he said.

Greg will take to the ­studio dancefloor for the first time with Natalie to perform a salsa on Friday night’s live BBC1 show.