Lorraine Fenton bids track goodbye

[MdmeX]

<TABLE class=ath_bio cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width=550 border=0><TBODY><TR><TD class=ath_bio_left vAlign=top width=150 rowSpan=7></TD><TD vAlign=top width=506><SPAN class="style2 style3">FANTASTIC FENTON BIDS FAREWELL</SPAN></TD></TR><TR><TD vAlign=top></TD></TR><TR><TD vAlign=top>October 18th, 2006</TD></TR><TR><TD vAlign=top></TD></TR><TR><TD vAlign=top><P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN lang=EN-GB style="FONT-FAMILY: Verdana; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB">Lorraine Fenton, the Jamaican national 400m record holder and one of the dominant women in the world over one lap of the track in the last decade has decided to hang up her spikes.<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-comfficeffice" /><o></o></SPAN><P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN lang=EN-GB style="FONT-FAMILY: Verdana; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB"><o></o></SPAN><P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN lang=EN-GB style="FONT-FAMILY: Verdana; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB">“I celebrated my 33<SUP>rd</SUP> birthday last month and that was an appropriate time for reflection coming, as it did, at the end of the season. I have had a very good career, some wonderful moments, but I’m a competitiveperson and realised that it was unlikely that I was going to be in contention again for an individualmedal at the very highest levels.”<o></o></SPAN><P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN lang=EN-GB style="FONT-FAMILY: Verdana; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB"><o></o></SPAN><P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN lang=EN-GB style="FONT-FAMILY: Verdana; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB">“With the World Championships next summer in Japan, I had to look seriously at what I believed I was capable of achieving there and so this is the right time to say goodbye to the track, although not to the sport which I loved since I was in high school.<o></o></SPAN><P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN lang=EN-GB style="FONT-FAMILY: Verdana; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB"><o></o></SPAN><P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN lang=EN-GB style="FONT-FAMILY: Verdana; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB">“I ran under 50 seconds, I think that’s the barrier every top 400m runner looks to break, for five consecutive years between 1999 and 2003 but I missed the whole of 2004 through injury and have never quite been able to get back to the same level again even though I am proud of what I have been able to do in the last two years.”<o></o></SPAN><P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN lang=EN-GB style="FONT-FAMILY: Verdana; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB"><o></o></SPAN><P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN lang=EN-GB style="FONT-FAMILY: Verdana; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB">“I think it is now time to look forward and pass on my best wishes to the current generation of 400m runners especially my fellow Jamaicans. My national record of 49.30 seconds (which she set in 2002) gives them something to strive for,” commented </SPAN><?xml:namespace prefix = st1 ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-comffice:smarttags" /><st1:State><st1lace><SPAN lang=EN-GB style="FONT-FAMILY: Verdana; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB">Lorraine</SPAN></st1lace></st1:State><SPAN lang=EN-GB style="FONT-FAMILY: Verdana; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB">.<o></o></SPAN><P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN lang=EN-GB style="FONT-FAMILY: Verdana; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB"><o></o></SPAN><P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><st1:State><st1lace><SPAN lang=EN-GB style="FONT-FAMILY: Verdana; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB">Lorraine</SPAN></st1lace></st1:State><SPAN lang=EN-GB style="FONT-FAMILY: Verdana; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB"> took time out to look back on her career now that she is thinking about the future.<o></o></SPAN><P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0

[Sickko]

RE: Lorraine Fenton bids track goodbye

Great competitor but one whose legacy will be tained by her seeming lack of commitment to team cause.