Kelly Sotherton ready to quit heptathlon after Beijing

Leap year: Kelly Sotherton says she may stick to doing the long jump after next month's Olympic Games in Beijing

13 April 2012

Kelly Sotherton has revealed that she may be competing in her last heptathlon in the Olympic Games. Yet if it is to be her farewell to the seven-event discipline, then Britain's top athletics all-rounder believes she is ready to bring down the curtain in Beijing with the gold medal her battling career merits.

The Birchfield multi-eventer, whose six major championship medals rank her behind only Paula Radcliffe as the most successful Beijing-bound British track and field athlete, explained after a dramatic weekend's action at Crystal Palace featuring farce, injury and triumph that the constant physical battering her body is taking may persuade her to give up the heptathlon after the Games and concentrate on the long jump.

"It may be my last one," the 31-year-old, who remains one of Britain's best athletics hopes in Beijing, told Standard Sport. "It's a consideration because I'm constantly injured by the work I have to do. I'll still always train for this event but I could specialise in the long jump."

On Saturday at the Aviva London Grand Prix, Sotherton's best-ever long jump of 6.79 metres, just 11cm short of Bev Kinch's 25-year-old British record, demonstrated again that she could be a serious long-jump player if she concentrated on the event.

Yet for the moment, her outstanding leap at the Palace, Sotherton's premier performance of the weekend en route to winning a special four-event challenge, has done enough to persuade her that, despite a weekend marred by the bizarre hurdles blunder by officials which exacerbated an adductor problem, she is peaking for Beijing.

"I'm in good shape, better than I thought," said Sotherton, who has suffered her most injury-prone year." Definitely good enough shape to challenge for the gold in Beijing. That jump just showed me there's much more to come."

Sotherton reckons she has put behind her the appalling error by track officials who had incorrectly positioned one of the barriers in the 100m hurdles race, causing havoc for the runners and prompting her to overstretch and "tweak" an adductor-muscle problem.

On Saturday, against doctor's orders, she decided to risk running the 200m, knowing that her Olympics could be over if she gambled on sprinting too hard on the bend.

"I think the people who sometimes take a risk are the ones who come out the other side with a medal," she said. "But the sport can't afford to have this hurdles mistake happen again. When it happened, I was as mad as hell but it's done now, let's move on."

Sotherton, who is part of the first wave of British athletes flying off to Team GB's Macau preparation camp this week, was not the only one ready to leave in high spirits.

Christine Ohuruogu was a comprehensive victor over Nicola Sanders in the 400m, though not in a great time (50.80sec), while Phillips Idowu, fresh from making it nine triple jump wins from nine this year, reckons he is still feeling "bullet-proof ". The best domestic performance of the weekend, though, was the 800m breakthrough of Marilyn Okoro, the ever-improving half-miler who trains in the same Lee Valley Centre as Idowu.

Her front-running triumph in a lifetime best 1min 58.45sec not only transported her to fourth on the UK all-time list but also rocketed her into the fastest half-dozen Olympic entrants.

Nobody was about to pretend the 23-year-old from Harlesden was now suddenly about to successfully defend the two-lap title won by Kelly Holmes in Athens but the double champion, watching among the Crystal Palace crowd, could recognise an athlete who will give it a real go.

"Kelly is definitely a great role model for me. What massive shoes I've got to follow in," said Okoro.

The 800m gold in Beijing looks to be fought between teenage Kenyan sensation Pamela Jelimo and Russian world indoor 1500m champ Yelena Soboleva, who've both run four seconds quicker than Okoro.

"I do envisage there'll be a bit of a tear up between the 1:54 girls but hopefully I can sneak in there," said Okoro. "I can do great things this year."

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Kelly Sotherton ready to quit heptathlon after Beijing

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