Matthews wants one more chance
Paralympic legend Bob Matthews has flown back from New Zealand to pursue glory one more time - at the age of 47.
The blind distance runner has won eight Paralympic gold medals and holds 22 world records, a catalogue that puts him among the all-time greats of disabled sport.
He emigrated in 2006, married again and is now a father, but has returned to try and earn a place at the Beijing Games this summer.
"This is going to be my swan-song - being realistic it's my retirement year," he said.
"It's been tough coming back over here and leaving my wife and son but I was determined to do it - I want to see what I'm still capable of.
"I think I've still got a good chance."
Matthews, who celebrates his birthday next week, is staying in Lillington and training at the Ryton police college gym that bears his name.
He is back on the track with long-time guide runner Paul Harwood and is targeting a place in the T11 1,500m race for totally blind runners at the Beijing Games.
Matthews, who was widowed in 2003, met and married interior designer Sarah Kerr when holidaying in New Zealand. He decided to stay and is now the proud father of seven-month-old Thomas.
In a move that will surprise some, Matthews has decided to run for his adopted country if he qualifies for the 2008 games.
"I'm still English and I always will be English, it's just an opportunity for me to say 'thank you' to New Zealand," he said.
Matthews regularly competes for a marathon-running club in New Zealand, where he has established a motivational speaking company.
Matthews, won the veteran gold medal in the 1,500m at the recent Warwickshire AAA Championships in Leicester, clocking 4.30.8. That was almost 5sec faster than his previous effort at an International Paralympic Committee-sanctioned meeting in Nottingham.
If Matthews runs in Beijing it will cap a remarkable run stretching back to the 1984 Games in Long Island, New York, where he won gold at 800m, 1,500m and 5,000m.
He repeated that hat-trick in Seoul four years later and won a third 5,000m gold at Barcelona in 1992. Atlanta yielded a 1,500m silver and in Sydney in 2000 he took the 10,000m gold plus silver medals in the marathon and 5,000m.
Last time in Athens Matthews was fifth in the 10,000m and sixth over 5,000m.
Matthews' remarkable medal collection also includes six world championship golds and 15 at European level.
The 2008 Paralympics run from September 6 to 17 in China.
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Tuesday 22 May 2012
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