Christian Olsson sailing to 2004 Olympic gold (© Getty Images)
" I have decided to hang up my Triple Jump spikes – not because I want to, but because I have to. My ankle simply is no longer capable of handling world class triple jumping!"
That was Christian Olsson’s opening statement at a hastily assembled press conference on Monday (14) in his hometown of Gothenburg. What - when it happened in his opening jump in the Olympic final in Athens 2004 – was "just another minor sprain" had turned out to be an injury that despite seven operations had persisted to hamper him for almost eight years until it now brought the definitive end to the career.
A career that despite being very much of an "on-off" character for the last two Olympic cycles still must be ranked as one of the all-time great ones in the history of the Triple Jump. Because after bursting onto the world scene in 2001 at age 21 finishing second to legend Jonathan Edwards in the Edmonton World Championships Olsson more or less ruled the event the following years.
During that period he achieved the "Grand Slam" of gold medals – Olympic, World, World Indoors (twice), European (twice) and European Indoors – a feat that regardless of event very, very few athletes have managed to accomplish. To that list of triumphs you can add European Junior and U23 titles, three wins at the IAAF Grand Prix Final/World Athletics Final and a Golden League jackpot win in 2004.
Olsson was an athlete that really thrived in the championship atmosphere: Between 2001 and 2010 he always got the pre-set standard on his first attempt in the qualifying rounds and more often than not he killed off all opposition by his first jump in the finals. The triumphs were emphatic to say the least: His winning margin in those seven major championships varied between 20 and 46 centimetres!
What turned out to be his final career bests – 17.83m indoors and 17.79m outdoors – were of course both set on the largest stage possible: At the 2004 World Indoors Championships and at the Olympics the same year!
The other outstanding characteristic of his career was a remarkable consistency that deservedly earned him the epithet "The 17-metre machine". Since first breaking that "barrier" in June 2001 (in the process defeating Edwards for the first time!) Olsson surpassed it in all but nine of his 117 competitions! At one stage he had a streak of 58 meets at 17 metres-plus!
Not bad for someone who had planned a future as a high jumper – coming from the same club as Patrik Sjöberg – and who more or less inadvertently became a triple jumper instead. It should however be remembered that in the 1999 European Juniors Olsson won the High Jump (Yaroslav Rybakov finished third) and finished second in the Triple Jump.
After more than decade as a – when healthy – very much major player in international athletics it was of course not easy to call it quits.
"I didn’t want to let go of my dream, to let go of what had been very much my identity from age 18 onwards. I have really loved what I have been doing, I have loved the Triple Jump and I have loved the whole athletics 'circus’!"
But when the body says "no" you just have to accept that. And Olsson does not intend to leave our sport completely just because the Triple Jump is a thing of the past. At the press conference he hinted playing with the idea of returning to his first love the High Jump. Only on a national level, of course. But he is still missing a Swedish High Jump title on his CV...
A. Lennart Julin for the IAAF
That was Christian Olsson’s opening statement at a hastily assembled press conference on Monday (14) in his hometown of Gothenburg. What - when it happened in his opening jump in the Olympic final in Athens 2004 – was "just another minor sprain" had turned out to be an injury that despite seven operations had persisted to hamper him for almost eight years until it now brought the definitive end to the career.
A career that despite being very much of an "on-off" character for the last two Olympic cycles still must be ranked as one of the all-time great ones in the history of the Triple Jump. Because after bursting onto the world scene in 2001 at age 21 finishing second to legend Jonathan Edwards in the Edmonton World Championships Olsson more or less ruled the event the following years.
During that period he achieved the "Grand Slam" of gold medals – Olympic, World, World Indoors (twice), European (twice) and European Indoors – a feat that regardless of event very, very few athletes have managed to accomplish. To that list of triumphs you can add European Junior and U23 titles, three wins at the IAAF Grand Prix Final/World Athletics Final and a Golden League jackpot win in 2004.
Olsson was an athlete that really thrived in the championship atmosphere: Between 2001 and 2010 he always got the pre-set standard on his first attempt in the qualifying rounds and more often than not he killed off all opposition by his first jump in the finals. The triumphs were emphatic to say the least: His winning margin in those seven major championships varied between 20 and 46 centimetres!
What turned out to be his final career bests – 17.83m indoors and 17.79m outdoors – were of course both set on the largest stage possible: At the 2004 World Indoors Championships and at the Olympics the same year!
The other outstanding characteristic of his career was a remarkable consistency that deservedly earned him the epithet "The 17-metre machine". Since first breaking that "barrier" in June 2001 (in the process defeating Edwards for the first time!) Olsson surpassed it in all but nine of his 117 competitions! At one stage he had a streak of 58 meets at 17 metres-plus!
Not bad for someone who had planned a future as a high jumper – coming from the same club as Patrik Sjöberg – and who more or less inadvertently became a triple jumper instead. It should however be remembered that in the 1999 European Juniors Olsson won the High Jump (Yaroslav Rybakov finished third) and finished second in the Triple Jump.
After more than decade as a – when healthy – very much major player in international athletics it was of course not easy to call it quits.
"I didn’t want to let go of my dream, to let go of what had been very much my identity from age 18 onwards. I have really loved what I have been doing, I have loved the Triple Jump and I have loved the whole athletics 'circus’!"
But when the body says "no" you just have to accept that. And Olsson does not intend to leave our sport completely just because the Triple Jump is a thing of the past. At the press conference he hinted playing with the idea of returning to his first love the High Jump. Only on a national level, of course. But he is still missing a Swedish High Jump title on his CV...
A. Lennart Julin for the IAAF
