Athletics: Tendon dogs Donaldson

Sprinter Chris Donaldson may be about to pull out of the Olympic Games 100m, after an unhappy track workout in Sydney on Tuesday afternoon.

Donaldson, 25, has an achilles tendon injury in his left leg, which has not been responding to treatment.

Athletics manager Ken Simpson said medical staff were being consulted and a decision on Donalson's future at the Games would be announced on Wednesday.

Donaldson did not stretch out fully in spikes on Tuesday, just three days before he is due to take his place in the heats of the blue riband 100m.

He spent much of the session hands-on-hips, seeming anxious. It ended with him strapping an ice pack on his troublesome tendon.

He then sat in the centre of the track talking to personal coach Brent Ward, Olympic coach Steve Hollings and Simpson for several minutes.

Team doctor Chris Milne said Donaldson's injury had not responded to treatment as well as had been hoped. ``It's fair to say it has taken longer (to come right) than we originally anticipated, but the achilles can be pretty temperamental.''

Donaldson is more competitive in the 200m, which is next Wednesday, than over 100m but it would take huge efforts from him to reach either semifinal, even when fully fit.

In 1997, he made the 200m world championship semifinals, then the quarterfinals last year.

He was eliminated in the first round of the Olympic 100m and 200m at the Atlanta Olympic Games.

Meanwhile, injured high jumper Glenn Howard was to have a jumping session off a full run-up on Tuesday . He has had a tendon problem in his take-off foot.

``We'll be in a better position to assess his fitness tomorrow,'' Dr Milne said.

- NZPA