NAIROBI, Nov 3: Kenya's former triple world cross country champion Edith Masai has her sights on a medal in the marathon at the 2008 Beijing Olympics and then plans to retire the year after.

“I have seen it all, three world cross country golds, good performances in the Golden League and I think time is up for me,” Masai told Reuters on Saturday after finishing second in a women's eight km cross country race in Nairobi.

“Cross country no longer excites me, hence my entry into the marathon,” the 40-year-old added.

“I will focus my training on the Olympic Games in Beijing where I want to finish among the top three then call it quits the following year.

“I have achieved all there is in athletics except an Olympics medal.”

Masai, who won the four km race at the world cross country championships from 2002 to 2004, will compete in the Singapore marathon on Dec. 2 and the London race next April.

The Kenyan, who only took up running seriously in 1999 after splitting from her husband, won her debut marathon in Hamburg in 2005.

She is a member of the Kenya Prisons Service club, renowned for its world class marathon runners, which includes world champion and four-time Boston winner Catherine Ndereba.—Reuters