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| Swedish multi-events legend Carolina Kluft has announced she will hang up her spikes after the 2012 Olympic Games in London. |
Sweden’s three-time world championships heptathlon gold medallist and European record holder Carolina Klüft recently announced that she will retire from international athletics after next year's 2012 Olympic Games in London.
Klüft was the 2004 Olympic heptathlon champion. She also won the heptathlon gold medals at the 2002 and 2006 European Athletics Championships, the former when she was still only 19 and a junior, as well as the pentathlon at the 2005 and 2007 European Athletics Indoor Championships.
She was the European Athlete of the Year in 2003 and 2006, and is one of only three women – along with Yelena Isinbayeva and Blanka Vlašić – to win the award twice.
Having decided to concentrate on individual events in early 2008, Klüft now primarily competes in the long jump.
This year she will compete at the SPAR European Team Championships home turf in Stockholm on 18-19 June and the IAAF World Championships in Daegu, South Korea, later this summer.
In an interview with Björn Forsgren in Swedish newspaper Aftonbladet (http://www.aftonbladet.se/sportbladet/friidrott/article13065976.ab), the Swedish legend spoke about her exit strategy and her plans for the future.
Aftonbladet: You have already announced your retirement after the London 2012 Olympic Games, is there any kind of panic gripping you that everything will soon be over?
CK: Absolutely not. In fact, it is quite the opposite. For me it has always been clear and I don’t have any panic attacks. I feel almost as if you have the last remaining bit of the cake you really want to enjoy. The taste of each bite is so clear because you know that this is the last thing you tasted. It becomes clearer, even more fun and more motivating in some way. It's just, just wonderful.
Are you enjoying life more now? You want to enjoy every moment, every workout?
Yes, I think so. I known the end of my sporting career is not far away. And I can plan my remaining days accordingly. I do remember how fruitful a journey this has been, I am going to enjoy it and really have fun in the year that is left now.
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| A champion loved and respected by all. |
How important is a good finish to your career?
It depends on how you define a good finish. For me, all I'm asking of myself is that I can compete and my body works till the day I hang up my spikes. It is not the outcome that is most important to me; I will finish my career with a smile no matter what, unless there is a bloody injury which forces me to do otherwise.
What will you do?
Afterwards? I do not really know exactly. I want to study. I want to do a three-year course in all likelihood, I have studied for only one-and-a-half years in the last ten years (laughs)!
You are very fond of children, any plans for a family?
Yes, but I'm not even close to thinking about it. I really like kids and it's really nice. But we'll see, it is not the first thing I will do when I get off. I also think it is something that perhaps is maturing, I have no idea.
Otherwise can you visualise yourself as the perfect mother?
(Laughs) I do not think I would be a bad mom! But there are a lot of things I want to do and children are not first on the list – yet. I probably still need a little curiosity and do some things other than sports.
Sports has taken up my entire life and I may need to live somewhere else, move around a little, see some other things. I want to complete my studies, work a bit, before I'm ready for the next step. It's probably the case that I am more selfish now and want to do a lot of things with my life.
You are an ambassador for the Swedish United Nations Association and you mentioned you are doing a major in peace and development. Is a foray into politics a likely option in the future?
It's a pretty broad subject. I am an ambassador for Swedish United Nations Association and I might develop this cooperation further and do more for them to reach out for global issues, it is important.
I have my own foundation that is not very active now that I can do more with, to run more projects and do great things. It might be something else also, I have no idea. But I'm studying it because I am interested; it's a completely different side of me.