'My heart is there, but my body has finally given in,' says Macey

*ATHLETICS

Dean Macey, the Commonwealth decathlon champion, yesterday delivered the most predictable, and painful, news that British athletics is likely to hear for a very long time as he announced his retirement at the age of 30.

The Canvey Islander, who failed to earn enough points to qualify for the British Olympic team at Hexham on Sunday, said: "My heart is there, my mind is there, but my body has finally given in. I still believe I have what it takes to succeed at the highest level, but I no longer believe I can stay injury-free. I used to tell myself with every injury that this would be the last one, and I would be fine afterwards. But I can't say that to myself any more."

Macey, who required four injections to his groin on Sunday and finished with a thigh injury which would probably have prevented him competing in Beijing anyway, has carried physical problems of all kinds in an international career that began in startling fashion nine years ago when he won silver at the World Championships in Seville.

With his quiff of dyed blonde hair, and his Essex boy argot, Macey endeared himself to all and sundry, and two years later he took a bronze at the World Championships at Edmonton. However, he finished in the most frustrating position possible at the Olympics of 2000 and 2004 - fourth. At Sydney eight years ago he was effectively denied a medal by a controversial appeal which allowed eventual champion Erki Nool, who was ruled to have fouled on all three of his shot puts, to score with his last.

There was one reward for Macey in his last championship, a Commonwealth gold medal in Melbourne in 2006. Never has a title been more richly deserved.

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