JAPAN: Athlete Carolina Kluft set for world championship hat-trick bid

Swedish heptathlete Carolina Kluft begins her quest for an unprecedented third world title in Osaka. Swedish heptathlete Carolina Kluft is ready to embark on her quest for an unprecedented third straight world gold this weekend but the Olympic champion has yet to commit to defending that title in Beijing next year. "Right now my focus is on the world championships," the 24-year-old Swede told Reuters on Wednesday (August 22) ahead of the 11th world championships, which begin on Saturday. "What comes after that, I will take after that," she added. Kluft would not say whether this was to be her last heptathlon, instead opting to highlight that her preparations for the weekend competition in Osaka had been outstanding. "My training has been good, and I feel like I am ready to compete," Kluft said at a news conference. Kluft said the withdrawal of French heptathlete Eunice Barber, who pushed the Swede to the 2005 world title in Helsinki, would not affect her performance. "She is a great athlete and we always pushed each other," said Kluft, who won her first world gold at Edmonton in 2003 and took the Olympic title in Athens a year later. "But for me, it doesn't matter. I focus on my own competition." Her goal on Saturday and Sunday would be to try and improve her personal best mark of 7,001 points, she said, adding that she was not planning an assault on Jackie Joyner-Kersee's world record of 7,291 points. "The world record is a good record, nothing I am focusing on. I need to focus on my own competition and my own record first of all," Kluft said.

ITN Source | August 23, 2007

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