DEAN Macey can talk for England as well as jump, throw, run and vault.

The Commonwealth Games decathlon gold medallist had travelled north from Essex to help launch the Tesco Great School Run at the City of Manchester Stadium.

And he took the opportunity to scratch a rumour circulating since his Melbourne triumph.

"I have had a lot of people asking me whether that was my last decathlon. I know some people probably thought I'd retired before I had ever started," grinned the injury-plagued all-rounder.

"But wherever the rumour started it's definitely not true Emotionally, physically and mentally a decathlon takes it out of you in a 48-hour period that some people don't experience in a lifetime.

"In fact, if someone had offered me é1m to run 400 metres after I had finished, I couldn't have done it.

"I knew I'd done enough in the 1500 metres but I didn't want to celebrate until the result came on the big screen.

"I didn't want to look like a total plonker."

Macey, though, decided against fulfilling his pre-Games promise to dive in the Yarra River if he won . . . he's yet to try his hand at the triathlon.

Success

His Australian success was his first international title and came seven years after winning silver at the 1999 World Championships in Seville.

"I know my points total isn't going to be enough for a medal at the European Championship this summer. But I've still got at least another 300 points up my sleeve," he added.

"The key is being fit and healthy. If I am both of those in Gothenberg, I've got more than half a chance.

"I've seen medals go to other athletes in the last few years that I know should have gone to me if I'd been in shape."

Macey has missed as many major meetings as he's taken part in due to a succession of injuries. However, he hopes to stay off the treatment table in the next two years during the build-up to the Olympics in Beijing.

Norwich Union's staggering é50m cash injection into the sport for the next six years will benefit top athletes and grassroots competitors alike.

Typically, Macey has a wisecrack for the situation. "I've told everyone that's my money sorted out, what about the rest of you?" joked the man who will certainly use some of the money to keep his body intact before Gothenburg.

"I want more medals," he added. "That's why I am so pleased to be associated with this Tesco initiative.

"I was never the most academic person in the class. But sport gave me a better life than I might have had otherwise.

"This run gives the kids a goal to aim for and it also leaves them fit and healthy.

"The more things we can do to keep them off the play stations for longer, the better it will be.

"The more kids we get involved with sport, the more chance we will find some future stars and the more chance we will have of winning medals."

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