After winning five of the seven disciplines at the world championships in Tokyo on Saturday, three-time Olympic champion Nafissatou Thiam’s agent informed AFP.
Her coach, Michael Van Der Plaetsen, later told Belgian media: “It makes no sense for her to continue,” and her representative, Helena Van der Plaetsen, confirmed she would not continue.
After four events, Thiam, 31, was only in sixth place, especially after a subpar 200 meters, but nothing nearly broke Carolina Kluft’s European heptathlon record of 7, 032 points in Tokyo.
After a disappointing long jump, in which she placed 11th with a 5.99m, she dropped another two spots in the rankings on Saturday morning.
After that, a tearful Thiam said, “I think the hardest thing for me is telling myself that I wanted to come here and have fun, and that wasn’t the case at all.”
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Thiam, who has won gold at the last three Olympics, has been at odds with the Belgian athletics federation because she has refused to adhere to its code of conduct.
In the course of her contention, Thiam claimed that the federation had refused to accredit her physiotherapist and that it had not reserved a bedroom for her during the pre-world championships training camp.
Her accusations are false, according to Belgian Athletics.
We have tried to protect her over the past few weeks, according to Michael Van Der Plaetsen, but ultimately it has had a significant impact on her performances. I’m embarrassed for being Belgian.
Source: Channels TV
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