Athletics: Elliott bows out of Games

PETER ELLIOTT announced yesterday that he will not be fit to run in the Olympic Games following the recurrence of a hamstring injury. The news had a horrible air of predictability given the middle- distance runner's almost unparalleled record of bad luck before or during major championships.

The 29-year-old Yorkshire athlete had been given until 21 July to demonstrate his 'competitive fitness' to Britain's selectors after his Olympic preparations had been disrupted by a knee and hamstring problem four weeks ago, but his recovery appeared to be going smoothly as he laid plans to complete a time-trial.

As recently as last Tuesday his coach, Kim McDonald, said: 'He has no problems whatsoever. And I have no doubts that if he has no problems between now and Barcelona he will line up and win a gold medal.'

Alas, with Elliott there is always likely to be a further problem. His injury flared up again this week and on Friday he consulted a specialist who advised him to have an X-ray of his back to see if it was the root cause of the trouble. 'Because the specialist thinks the problem won't go away in the next week, I thought it was only fair to pull out,' Elliott said. 'I had to be honest for my own sake and for the sake of the team.'

Steve Crabb, the reserve, will now take Elliott's place alongside the Olympic trial winner Kevin McKay. But if the third nominated runner, Matthew Yates, fails to complete his recovery from a recent viral infection, no other runner will be called up - a sorry reflection of the state of the distance in Britain. Yates, who finished last in the 800 metres B race at Crystal Palace on Friday, plans to run tomorrow in Salamanca and in Nice on Wednesday.

Perhaps the worst aspect for Elliott is that, with the world champion, Noureddine Morceli, hampered by a hip injury, there has been a similar sag in the worldwide standard of 1500m running.

'It will be so wide open in Barcelona that I would have been a contender for gold,' Elliott, who took a silver at the last Games in Seoul, said. 'I beat Gennaro di Napoli in a road race earlier this year and now it looks as though he will be favourite.

'The Olympics has meant such a lot to me since I was a kid and even if I can compete in the world championships next year it will be no substitute for Barcelona. This week, briefly, I did think about my future. But I love the sport too much to consider retiring. I'll be back,' Elliott said.

He may indeed be back in time to race on the grand prix circuit after the Games. Which would be a bittersweet achievement.