Dave Martin for the IAAF
9 January 2001 - Jonathan Edwards is one of several Olympic champions who later this month will pay tribute to the legendary world record breaking and gold medal winning career of Germany's Heike Drechsler.
Edwards winner of the triple jump in Sydney where the German star regained the long jump title she first won in Barcelona in 1992 begins his indoor season at the IHM Meeting in Karlsruhe on January 27.
Having after his Olympic success started full time training last November Edwards admitted he couldn't think of a more fitting occasion to begin a year in which his ultimate ambition is to regain the World outdoor crown he last captured when producing the longest legal jump ever witnessed of 18.29 metres in Gothenburg in 1995.
Not an avid indoor competitor Edwards has had the Karlsruhe date pencilled into his diary since last summer when arrangements were being made for what was expected to be the final farewell to Drechsler's magnificent career which began when in the royal blue vest of communist East Germany she won the 1983 World long jump title as a 17-year-old.
Edwards said: "I've been training since before Christmas to get back into the routine. I'll start in Karlsruhe which I've been told will be a bit of a farewell meeting to Heike. Whether she's still retiring after winning again at the Olympics I don't know. But her manager Alain Blondel was speaking last year about a "tribute to Heike meeting" and I'm a very good friend of hers so I'd like to do that. I'm absolutely delighted she won in Sydney - she's a lovely lady. They were talking there about Karlsruhe being her farewell meeting but who knows. I don't know if that's changed after her win. She jumped over seven metres which is the furthest she's cleared for the last three or four years. I knew she was in good form and I talked with her throughout the season. Even so, I guess I was probably surprised at her result. "
Drechsler 36, said she was delighted Edwards was making the trip to the German city where she now lives - and admitted currently thoughts of retirement are unlikely. She said: "When Alain invited Jonathan to compete that was the plan. But I will definitely be competing again throughout this year."
Edwards appearance will be the first of possibly four competitions although he is unlikely to participate at the World Championships in Lisbon at the beginning of March. The recently appointed CBE has other competitions planned in Dortmund (February 11), the Birmingham Indoor Grand Prix a week later and the international match at Glasgow's Kelvin Hall on March 18.
Outdoors however Edwards eyes remain firmly focused on the World Championships. The 34-year-old said: "I'd like to regain the world title again. It would be great to go to Edmonton and get it back. By the time it comes round I'm sure I'll have a burning ambition to do well."
