19th September 2013 04:04
After lifting the Olympic title in London to become the sixth fastest woman in history, Antyukh exited Moscow at the semi-final stage, prompting suggestions that she might now retire.
But at 32, the 400m hurdler is nowhere near hanging up her spikes and already looking forward to getting back to winning ways next year.
“What’s done is done,” the Russian said, referring to Moscow. “It’s the European championships next year. Time to look forward.”
That should give the opposition food for thought because there have been times in the last decade when it looked as though Antyukh was a spent force only to bounce back.
Antyukh’s early career came over the 400m flat and it was in 2001 that she made her first impression with a third place in the European Cup.
At the European championships the following year, she took her place in the 4x400m quartet that lifted silver.
Two years on she took an important step up in class when she grabbed bronze at the Athens Olympics. But it was the switch to the hurdles that proved a shot in the arm for her medals cabinet.
In the 2010 Barcelona European Athletics Championships her new direction bore fruit when she lifted gold, a feat she matched in London last year, which is why it was all the more surprising she should be so emphatically eclipsed this year.
“Yes, it was frustrating,” agreed Antyukh, “but nothing was broken. It wasn’t ideal, but that is sport and I am completely aware that we are athletes, not robots. What am I supposed to do? I am flesh and blood,” she told the Russian media.
It was failing to make any impression in Moscow (sixth in her semi-final) that prompted the questions of retirement, but she was emphatic in her reply.
“I am not even thinking of it,” she said. “There is next season, then the season after that (World Championships Beijing) and then it is the Olympics again in Rio. God willing. But for myself I have already made the decision. I will not retire,” she stressed.
After her sparkling run in London, Antyukh had seemed lacklustre all season in 2013, her fastest time a modest 55.20. Was there any special reason like injury effecting her times?
“Put simply, it just did not work out,” she answered philosophically. “It was not the track so I cannot blame that. Before I would have cried and been upset, but now I take it all very calmly.”
She can hardly complain. In an international career stretching over 12 years, apart from Olympic gold, two silvers and a bronze, she has won European titles indoors and out, World titles in both the 400m and the 400m hurdles and 4x400m indoors and out.
It is an impressive haul by anyone’s standards, but one thing seems sure: there won’t be any more relay medals: “There are plenty of girls for that so I am going take a rest,” she said.
No matter. Enjoying a low-key year after the Olympics has always been regarded an American speciality. In Zurich next year Antyukh plans her return to the big time.