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12 June 2008
Deakes won't defend 50km walk
Nathan Deakes' mind says he can be Olympic champion, but a failing body is ripping his heart out.
Australia's reigning world 50km walk champion says he can't defend his title at the Berlin world athletics championships in August.
Deakes suffered a setback this week in his comeback from hamstring surgery which forced him to watch last year's Beijing Olympics when he was world champ and gold-medal favourite.
"Last year was absolutely devastating," Deakes said on Friday.
"It was my heart just being ripped out by the fact that I couldn't go and try to race when I felt I had such a good chance to win."
"Whilst the mind is willing, it's probably up to my body at this stage.".
Deakes, who won Olympic bronze at Athens in 2004, said his hamstring was holding up following surgery, but a series of minor ailments - the latest a "tight hip" - had forced his withdrawal from the world championships.
"I am not at the level I need to be or want to be at," he said.
Deakes, a four-time Commonwealth champion, won 50km gold at the 2007 world titles in Osaka, Japan.
© 2009 AAP
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