Kipketer stays calm

Wilson Kipketer is now ready to take on the world

World 800m champion Wilson Kipketer says he feels ready for the Sydney Olympics having recovered from a torn calf muscle.

Kipketer picked up the injury in training shortly after competing in Helsinki in June and has run only at a Golden League meeting in Brussels and in Gateshead, England, since then.

"(The injury) was kind of a setback but I don't think it'll be a problem because we have a rest day between races," the Kenyan-born Dane said.

Kipketer has spent the last two weeks training alone in Townsville, Queensland, and is in a calm state of mind.

Relaxing

"I was almost the only athlete up there and I had the whole stadium to myself. It was good for me and very relaxing," he said.

Kipketer was world champion in 1995 but was barred from the Atlanta Games by the Kenyan athletics federation. Sydney will be his first Olympics.

After 1998 I started a new chapter in my running

  Wilson Kipketer

He dominated the event in 1997, successfully defending his world crown in Athens and breaking Sebastian Coe's 1981 800m world record.

But he contracted malaria in 1998 and despite a third world title in Seville last year has never recaptured his consistency of three years ago.

"After 1998 I started a new chapter in my running," he said.

"I can't compare it to 1997 which was a great year for me.

"I can maybe compare this year with 1999 but not with 1997."

Malaria

Asked if he feared a second bout of malaria, he said: "Maybe it will come back, maybe not. It's 50-50."

Kipketer said he felt distanced from the younger generation of Kenyan middle distance runners after years competing for Denmark.

"I have a good relationship with the Kenyans but the new athletes don't know me so well," he said.

"Maybe they respect me or maybe they just see me as another athlete running for another country."

The 800m semi finals are on Monday and the final is on Wednesday.