PARIS – Four-time Olympian Damian Warner says withdrawing from the Olympic men’s decathlon competition in Paris was like a “worst nightmare come true.”
The 34-year-old from London, Ont., fell out of contention in the decathlon’s third-to-last event on Saturday when he failed to clear the bar on any of his three attempts in the pole vault.
Warner says he warmed up well, but that a change in winds and a wrong choice of pole dashed his hopes of defending the gold medal he won in the event at the Tokyo 2020 Games.
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He said he considered finishing the competition but decided to drop out because that’s the decision most likely to help him grow.
Warner was looking to become just the fourth two-time Olympic gold medallist in the men’s decathlon. He would have joined the company of American Bob Mathias (1948, 1952), Britain’s Daley Thompson (1980, 1984) and American Ashton Eaton (2012, 2016).
Warner says he hopes to learn from the experience and be better in the future, including at next year’s world athletic championships in Japan.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Aug. 4, 2024.
© 2024 The Canadian Press