Melbourne: Australian long jumper Fabrice Lapierre's flip-flop on his participation in the Delhi Commonwealth Games continues and after initial reluctance followed by a confirmation, the world indoor champion says he will not take a final decision until next month.
The World Indoor Championships gold-medallist was initially reluctant to participate but was persuaded to confirm himself by Athletics Australia. But now he is back to being undecided.
"If you're asking me right now if I'm going to Delhi, the answer is yes. But I cannot give any 100 per cent guarantees because I just don't know how my body is going to feel in another month from now," he told reporters.
"Obviously I want to compete because I've dreamt of winning a Commonwealth Games gold medal my whole life. Ever since I used to race home from school as a kid to watch the events on TV.”
"But I've also dreamt of winning world championships, winning at the Olympics ... and to be honest, the timing of these Games would be a backward step in terms of achieving that," he added.
Lapierre reiterated that the timing of the event does not suit his plans.
"If the Commonwealth Games were scheduled in August, fine. If they were scheduled in September, fine. But October is usually the month of the year I have off - none of my training has been about peaking for that period - so I'll just have to wait and see how I'm feeling," he said.
Lapierre has to his credit the longest leap in the world this year (8.78m) and will compete in the final round of the IAAF Diamond League in Zurich from Thursday before heading to Europe on September 4 and returning home a week later to compete in the Sydney All Stars blockbuster.
"And that will be the meet where my final decision is made - in Sydney," he said.
"I'm really hopeful my body will be up for it, that despite the extra month of competition there won't be any problems," he added.
PTI
First Published: Tuesday, August 17, 2010, 15:39