Czech Republic's Jan Zelezny competes in the men's javelin throw (Photo by James Davis/Allsports)

Zelezny plans to retire at the end of the season
Monday February 13, 2006

PRAGUE, Czech Republic - Czech Republic's three-time world and Olympic javelin champion Jan Zelezny has announced that he will retire at the end of the season.

Zelezny, 39, holds the world record at 98.48m, and said it was not a difficult decision, seeing that the years are slowly creeping up on him.

"It was not a difficult decision (retiring)," said Zelezny. "The years are passing and you can not prevent that. You cannot stay at the top of a sport all your life.

"I have been fortunate to continue for so long - I had a gift from God."

Zelezny, who won consecutive titles at the Olympic Games in Barcelona (92), Atlanta (96) and Sydney (2000) as well as taking world titles at Stuttgart in 1993 and Edmonton, Canada, in 2001, plans to wind up a career that has spanned two decades after August's European Championships in Gothenburg.

"I'd like to finish where I started," the veteran thrower, whose first appearance at the European Championships dated back in Stuttgart in 1986.

"If I am healthy, there is a chance that this would be a successful year for me," he said at a media conference, prior to travelling for training camp in South Africa.

Zelezny, who missed last season's 10th IAAF World Championships, because of an Achilles tendon problem, plans to continue to work for the International Olympic Committee (IOC) as well as assisting young athletes at a local club in Prague.

Gary Smith - World-Track Sports Media