Olympic champion Nafissatou Thiam withdraws from world race

Triple Olympic heptathlon champion Nafissatou Thiam has dropped out of the event after five of the seven disciplines at the world championships in Tokyo.

Thiam dropped out of the race on Saturday.

Her representative Helena Van der Plaetsen confirmed she would not carry on, and her coach Michael Van Der Plaetsen later told Belgian media: “It makes no sense for her to continue.”

Thiam, 31, was aiming to break Carolina Kluft’s European heptathlon record of 7,032 points in Tokyo, but almost nothing went to plan, and after four events, she was only in sixth place, notably after a poor 200 metres.

On Saturday morning, she dropped another two places in the rankings after a disappointing long jump, in which she was 11th with 5.99m.

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“I think beyond the performances, really, the hardest thing for me is telling myself that I wanted to come here and have fun, and that wasn’t the case at all,” a tearful Thiam said.

Thiam, who has won gold at the last three Olympics, has been at loggerheads with the Belgian athletics federation because she has refused to sign a code of conduct imposed by the federation about her image rights.

Thiam claimed as a result the federation had failed to reserve a bedroom for her in the pre-world championships training camp and that it had refused to accredit her physiotherapist.

Belgian Athletics said her accusations were false.

Michael Van Der Plaetsen said: “We have tried to protect her over the last few weeks but in the end it has had a big impact on her performances. I am ashamed of being Belgian.”

The Star