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Vanquished Backley wants one more tilt at Zelezny
SYDNEY, Sept 24 (AFP) - Britain's Olympic javelin silver medallist Steve Backley said Sunday he was already steeling himself for another duel with his nemesis and friend Jan Zelezny in the Athens Games in 2004. Backley once again had to settle for second best Saturday in Stadium Australia when the Czech Republic's Zelezny completed an unprecedented hat-trick of gold medals leaving the Briton again with the silver. But 31-year-old Backley believes he will still be in the gold hunt in Greece - and also revealed that he believed Zelezny would be there too in a bid to emulate American discus thrower Al Oerter's feat of being the only field athlete to win four consecutive Olympic golds in the same discipline. "Realistically I've got another cycle of championships left," said Backley. "Two worlds, a European and an Olympic." And he revealed that Zelezny had hinted that he too would be in the home of the Ancient Games in four years time even though he will then be 38. "He (Zelezny) didn't say no which I think means yes," said Backley who shared a beer with his friend and some-time training partner after Saturday's final. Backley adds silver to the one he won in Atlanta and the bronze in Barcelona behind Zelezny whose status as the greatest javelin thrower in history is now assured. Although Zelezny has now twice denied Backley that elusive gold the Englishman did not feel that he was unfortunate to be a contemporary of the legendary Czech. "I'm privileged (to be competing with Zelezny) no doubt about that. I excelled myself. I lost the battle yesterday but I excelled myself because of Jan." Backley believes that there is still room for improvement, saying: "I expect next year to be much better than this year. I still feel I can throw a lot further." But Backley believes that is true also for Zelezny, saying: "His learning curve never ends. He just flicks the javelin, flexes his muscles." Backley does not feel his Sydney campaign was seriously compromised by a series of injuries that have marred his build-up. "The preparation has been a bit unusual because it has been around rehabilitation. "(In the javelin) You don't need to prepare a lot for a major games." There were reports in javelin-crazy Finland earlier this year that Backley would not make Sydney and that injury would force him to quit the sport. But despite again proving his ability to compete at the highest level Backley was not offended by those claims. "The Finns love the event so much that there's all sorts of rumours that get passed on," said Backley.
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