Renowned high jumper Partyka withdraws from Olympics due to poor form

Poland's world-class high jumper, Artur Partyka, withdrew from participating in the 2000 Sydney Olympics after deciding he will not be able to achieve a good result. Early this year Partyka jumped 2.37 meters indoors, a result which would likely get him a medal in Sydney to follow his silver in the 1996 Atlanta Olympics. However a month ago he barely won in the Polish championships against an amateur, Gazeta Wyborcza journalist Rafal Kazimierczak. The low point came this weekend, when he was unable to clear 2.15 meters at the Grand Prix athletics meeting in Berlin. He would not speak to any media, except for one interview, which he granted to Kazimierczak. In it he said, "I wanted to avoid a situation where I would go to the Olympics and fail. What would the fans think?" (Gazeta Wyborcza, page 35, Rzeczpospolita, page A12)