Gabriela
Szabo puts an end to her 2001 season
Andrei
Nourescu for the IAAF
28
August 2001
- Bucharest -
One day
after her return in Romania after the Brussels GL meeting, where she finished
fifth in 3000 m, Gabriela Szabo announced that her 2001 competition season has
ended. The Sydney 5000 m Olympic champion and Edmonton's 1500 m World
Champion was supposed to compete in the Goodwill Games in Brisbane and in the
IAAF Grand Prix Final in Melbourne but she declared forfeit for both races.
She reported suffering strong sciatica, especially after the Brussels meeting and she said it is better for her not to force and to have a rest for a while. She is also considering not to compete in the 2002 indoor season. "I have had in the last years some very hard seasons with a lot of important and difficult competitions and it is not easy at all to maintain in top for such a long period. I feel a little bit tired and also this back pain stresses me so I will have a longer holiday then usual", Szabo said.
Since Monday 27, Gabriela Szabo and her coach and husband Zsolt Gyongyossy are in her town of birth Bistrita where Szabo's parents live, near to the Transylvanian Castle Dracula.