Olsson ponders triple jump retirement - now the high jump?

May 8, 2006, 12:47 GMT

Stockholm - Swedish triple jump Olympic champion Christian Olsson has to delay his start into the season and may even be forced to retire from the discipline, news reports said Monday.

Olsson said his right, foot which kept him out of action throughout the 2005 season, started to bother him again on the weekend after an earlier training camp in Qatar went fine.

Olsson, who has gone through four operations on the troubled foot, said he will have to indefinitely delay the start into the season, with the European championships in August at home in Gothenburg doubtful and not even retirement out of the question.

'It is tough trying to fight back all the time. You go and wait for an operation and yet the same results come back,' Olsson told commercial broadcaster TV4.

The Swede won the world championship title in 2003 and then got Olympic gold at the 2004 Games in Athens. He is also the world indoor record holder with 17.83 metres.

Swedish athletics team boss Thomas Engdahl, meanwhile, suggested in an interview with the Aftonbladed daily that Olsson should switch to high jump. In his younger days Olsson trained for and competed in both disciplines before choosing the triple jump.

Olsson's manager Daniel Wessfeldt said that Olsson recently easily cleared 2.15m in training. The high jump is an option for Olsson because he jumps off with his left foot.