MADRID, March 1: Portugal’s 29-year-old sprint king Francis Obikwelu is looking to a future beyond the fast lane and wants to make sure he bows out at the top with a memorable performance in China.

“It’s going to be my last year at the Olympics. In 2009 I’ll run for my club and for Portugal and that’s it, I’m done,” Obikwelu, who clocked a searing 9.86 seconds when he took the 100 metres silver behind the since-disgraced Justin Gatlin in Athens in 2004, said in an interview.

“I want to leave the sport when I am on top. It’s a tough decision because I enjoy running and I know I can still run because I am talented. But it’s my life and I have to decide.

“I’m going to set up a business and check out what’s good for me. I’ve got a plan and it’s secret. I don’t know yet if I am going to run (at the European championships) in Barcelona in 2010,” Obikwelu added.

The Nigerian-born sprinter, who became the first man since Italian Pietro Mennea in 1978 to do the sprint double at the European championships with his triumphs in Gothenburg in 2006, also has a personal reason drawing him away from a sport that demands such unerring commitment and intense personal focus.

“I want to have a family,” he explained. “I am going to get myself together after the Olympics. If I have a wife with kids coming up I don’t want to be driving everywhere and leaving her alone.”

There are other factors pushing him out of the sport, the primary one being doping, an issue that has done so much to mar the sport’s image in recent years.

Obikwelu, who holds the European 100 metres record, believes some athletes have turned to drugs in a misguided attempt to keep themselves at the top in an increasingly competitive environment.

“Athletics is going down. There’s no more fun in it any more,” he said. “For me, I ran well in 2004, then I didn’t run well in 2005, had a good 2006 and then a bad 2007.

“I’m not a machine. I just run with what I got. If it comes good, great, if not it’s fine with me. I can’t run fast every day.”

The lanky, long-striding sprinter has been working on new techniques to improve his style and has set himself demanding objectives for the new season.

“My target this year is to have the European record in the 60 metres. ”—Reuters