Drechsler dreams of bidding goodbye on a high note

Triple medallist at the 1988 Seoul Games, she won the long jump gold in Barcelona in 1992 but missed the 1996 Atlanta Games with a knee injury.

“It will be my last Olympics and (just) being there is not good enough,” Drechsler said. “I want a medal.”

While Jones will enter both sprints, two relays and the long jump in her bid for a record haul in Olympic track and field, Drechsler will concentrate on the long jump.

The gifted American has few rivals on the track but several athletes, including the veteran German, could deprive her of the long jump title.

“What she’s going for is very courageous and very American but it’s also very dangerous,” Drechsler said.

“When you compete in so many events there is a great risk you might get injured. The long jump will be especially tricky for her because her technique is not that great, which means she can easily get hurt.”

Drechsler, who missed the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics because of the Soviet bloc boycott, knows all about multiple medal challenges.

At the 1988 Seoul Olympics, competing for East Germany, she was also a prolific sprinter with a profile similar to that of Jones today.

Drechsler left Seoul with silver from the long jump and bronzes from the two sprints but could not help thinking she might have won gold had she been less greedy.

TOO HECTIC: “It was nice to get three medals but may be I could have had a gold if I had entered one single event,” she said. “I was a good jumper and a good sprinter but the programme just proved too hectic.”

While several women have jumped further than seven metres this year, Drechsler, who has a personal best of 7.48 metres, has failed to do it so far.

She came close at the weekend in the eastern German town of Chemnitz with a jump of 6.93 metres in her first competition after a five-week break with a damaged knee ligament.

“That was encouraging,” said Drechsler, who has jumped seven metres more than 400 times in a career spanning nearly 20 years.

“Physically I feel fine. Seven metres is still a psychological barrier but I know I can do it again.”

Coming back from injuries is nothing new to Drechsler, who underwent surgery on both achilles tendons after the 1997 season. But she reclaimed top form in 1998 and was the only athlete to beat Jones all year.

Watching others perform well this season failed to dent her motivation.

“What you have done before doesn’t count at Olympics,” she said. “It’s just a matter of giving your best on the day and I believe my experience can help me do that.”

But she is fully aware she has a long way to go.

“I reckon that to win in Sydney you will have to jump 7.20 metres,” she said. “Marion can do it. In fact if she betters her technique she can jump 7.40. I don’t know if I can.”

BUSY SCHEDULE: Drechsler was just 18 when she became the youngest world champion, taking the long jump gold under her maiden name of Daute at the inaugural world championships in Helsinki in 1983.

One of the most accomplished athletes of the past two decades, she looks set to collect more silverware at the German championships this weekend in Braunschweig, where she seeks her 15th National title.

She will keep busy after that, entering golden league meetings in Oslo, Zurich, Brussels and Berlin on the road to Sydney.

“I should meet top competitors like Marion Jones and Fiona may in those meetings and doing well would boost my confidence ahead of the games,” she said.

Already an Olympic, World and European champion, the friendly, youthful-looking Drechsler might well feel she has done it all. But her enthusiasm is undiminished.

“The Olympics are something special,” she said. “It’s a kid’s dream and finding motivation for the Games is never a problem.”

One thing she did wrong over all those years, she admitted, was not to listen to warnings sent by her body.

“I always want to give my best and show what I’m capable of,” she said. “When something hurts I ignore the signal and keep giving it everything. That’s probably why I got injured so often.”

The 2004 Olympics may be an unreasonable goal but she made it clear she would carry on after Sydney.

“I will probably compete less and concentrate on heptathlon but I’ll still be around,” she said, looking forward to spending more time with her 10-year-old son Tony and her partner, former French decathlete Alain Blondel.