Olympic javelin champion Thomas Röhler has canceled his participation in the Summer Games in Tokyo (July 23 to August 8) due to a back injury.
The gold medalist from Rio 2016 announced his decision this Monday after Röhler suffered the injury during training.
“I found it incredibly difficult to reject Tokyo. Together with my trainer Harro Schwuchow I weighed it carefully, but in the end my health has priority, "said the 29-year-old from Jena:" I have to listen to my body now because I will continue to do my sport at a top level for a few more years would like to. With a participation in the Olympic Games, I would risk too much because of the back injury. "
The German Athletics Association (DLV) has to do without one of its figureheads.
Idriss Gonschinska, chairman of the DLV, regrets the failure of the European champion in 2018. "Thomas Röhler's cancellation of the Olympic Games in Tokyo is a great shame for himself and for the DLV national team, because as the reigning Olympic javelin champion he would have had of course happy to defend his title, ”said Gonschinska.
The gold favorite in Tokyo is Johannes Vetter from Offenburg, the outstanding javelin thrower in the Olympic year.
In September in Chorzow he set the German record to 97.76 meters.
The world record of the Czech Jan Zelezny has stood at 98.48 meters since May 1996.
This year Röhler only started at the German championships in Braunschweig at the beginning of June, but had to abandon the competition after an invalid attempt. After that he was nevertheless confident and did not want to write off Tokyo under any circumstances. Now he inevitably has to concentrate on the international highlights in 2022: the World Championships from July 15 to 24 in Eugene / USA and the European Championships from August 15 to 21 in the Munich Olympic Stadium.