Electronic Telegraph Friday 15 September 2000 Tom Knight DECATHLETE Dean Macey was a surprise silver medallist at last year's world championships and is eager to prove he is no one-hit wonder. Macey's performance in Seville proved a life-changing experience for the 22-year-old from Canvey Island, in Essex. Prize money and sponsorship have enabled him to move out of his parents' house to set up home with his fiancée and, as a full-time athlete, he no longer has to work as a lifeguard at his local leisure centre. It also means he has arrived here as one of the favourites to challenge the Czech world record holder, Tomas Dvorak, for the gold medal. But, like so many of Britain's athletes, Macey has come to the Olympics after overcoming numerous injuries and his main wish is that he does himself justice. He said: "It's been a difficult year but I know I'm in shape to score well. Everything has gone well in training but nothing compares with competition, especially when it is in front of 110,000 people or more. "But the fact that I've not completed a decathlon this year makes me nervous. It means I have to do everything right in Sydney. But I did it last year in Seville and I can do it here. After the injuries I've had, I'm just happy to be here and I reckon I have a half decent chance of doing well." Macey, training this week at the British Olympic Association holding camp before moving into the city where he won a world junior championship silver medal four years ago, is lucky to still be in one piece. In the 12 months since his amazing performance in finishing second behind Dvorak in Seville, where he scored five personal bests in his 8,556 points, Macey has had two operations on his elbow, snapped one hamstring and pulled another and suffered injuries to his back and groin. There was even a period, earlier in the summer, when he lost all sense of feeling in his throwing arm. It was beginning to look as if the gentle giant was not going to make it in time and rumours of his demise were sweeping the sport. "Luckily, none of the injuries are a problem now, but then I wouldn't have come here if I wasn't in good shape," Macey said. "I didn't want to come here and make a fool of myself. I don't want people saying after Seville that I was a one-hit wonder. "I want a personal best. I'll accept 8,500 points, which could put me fourth or fifth. Having said that, I think I can score 8,700, which would probably give me the silver medal. I could even win it with that, if Tomas doesn't clear a height in high jump or mucks up in the pole vault. "But I'll walk away with my head high whatever happens because I'll have given my best." Jonathan Edwards' chances of winning the triple jump title improved yesterday when Charles Friedek, the German world champion, was reported to be suffering from a knee ligament injury. Germany's Dieter Baumann, meanwhile, might have to wait until next week to hear if the International Amateur Athletic Federation will allow him to run in the 5,000 metres. The IAAF opened their arbitration hearing into Baumann's positive dope test for nandrolone yesterday in Sydney and spokesman Giorgio Reineri said the panel may not announce their decision until Tuesday. Baumann, the 5,000m champion in Barcelona in 1992, faces a two-year ban if he is found guilty of a doping offence. He has always protested his innocence, claiming the drug had been injected into his toothpaste although a police investigation failed to find any evidence of sabotage. Jamaican sprinter Merlene Ottey will not learn whether she will participate in the 100m until Sept 20, two days before the heats. Warren Ulett, a Jamaican selector, said that Ottey, 40, winner of 34 medals at major championships since her Olympic debut in Moscow in 1980, could make it into the event if one of the three athletes who beat her at the trials did not meet their standards in training. "If any of them turn up in worse shape than at the trials we have the right to replace them," Ulett said. Eamonn Condon WWW.RunnersGoal.com
