Athletics-Triple Olympic champion Thiam out of Tokyo heptathlon

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By Nick Mulvenney

TOKYO (Reuters) -Belgium’s triple Olympic champion Nafi Thiam pulled out of the heptathlon at the world championships on Saturday after an underwhelming long jump left her with almost no chance of a medal.

The 31-year-old, who won world titles in 2017 and 2022, failed to get over the six-metre mark with her two legal jumps on Saturday morning to stand in eighth place in the overall standings, 377 points behind competition-leader Anna Hall.

Multiple Belgian media outlets reported that Thiam, who last lost in competition at the 2019 worlds, had been withdrawn by her coach before the javelin and 800 metres in the evening session.

Thiam did not turn up for the start of the evening session and was listed as “Did Not Start” when the javelin competition got under way at the National Stadium.

“I’ve struggled with this heptathlon from the start. I tried to fight it and persevere, but it clearly didn’t work,” a tearful Thiam told Het Nieuwsblad after Saturday morning’s session.

“I started this morning thinking I would fight until the end and not leave empty-handed because I’ve worked hard this year …

“I knew I could do something good here and fight for my place in the standings but that didn’t happen. So I’m disappointed, yes. This championship is a real black cloud.”

Thiam competed sparingly in 2025 and had a disrupted run up to the championships after a row with her national federation.

She accused the Belgian athletics body of excluding her from their pre-championships camp in a row over image rights. The federation denied the allegation.

Thiam was asked whether the row had impacted her performances in Tokyo.

“It’s hard to quantify that,” she told the newspaper. “Regardless of the reasons why I feel the way I do, the reality remains that I feel the way I do. So that doesn’t make a difference.”

(Reporting by Nick Mulvenney and Mark Gleeson; Editing by William Mallard and Ken Ferris)