Olympics: Russian athlete in near disaster

By SUZANNE McFADDEN

World champion walker, Russian Ilya Markov, has had a lucky escape after a serious car accident near Wanganui just three weeks out from the Olympics.

Markov, visiting friends in New Zealand on route to Sydney, was a passenger in a car which collided with another near Lake Ellis on Wednesday night.

A trailer crashed through the back seat of the car Markov was in, narrowly missing the athlete.

Police said Markov, who received severe bruising, was fortunate not to be badly hurt in the crash and the accident could "knock him off his stride a bit" before the Olympics.

Markov, the 1999 world 20km walk champion and 1996 Olympic silver medallist, was admitted to Wanganui Hospital but later discharged with bruising.

He was unable to tell Marton police much about the accident - he does not speak English.

Markov had been in Wellington with his coach Aleksandr Semenov and was travelling with friends, a Russian couple who recently moved to live in Wanganui.

The news came as a shock to New Zealand athletics circles - no one knew the walking great was even in the country.

Even the Russian consulate in Wellington had no idea that Markov had been in town.

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