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<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=1 width="100%" border=0><TBODY><TR><TD><SPAN class=TopStory>Richards passes baton</SPAN>
<SPAN class=Subheadline>... ends 19-year track career </SPAN></TD></TR><TR><TD>BY KAYON RAYNOR Observer staff reporter
Saturday, December 23, 2006
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<P class=StoryText align=justify>VETERAN Jamaican female quarter-miler, Olympian Sandie Richards - the 1998 sports woman of the year - has retired from competitive track and field, closing the door on an exceptional 19-year career as an athlete.<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=5 width=180 align=left border=0><TBODY><TR><TD>
</TD></TR><TR><TD><SPAN class=Description>Richards... yesterday announced her retirement from competitive track and field, pulling the curtains on an outstanding 19-year career. </SPAN></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE><P class=StoryText align=justify>"I've been toying with it (retirement) for two years now and it's a hard thing to do, so you (I) can't just get up one day and say yes I'm done, so I had to make sure (that) my body couldn't handle the training anymore and I don't want to do anything else on the track, internationally," Richards told the Sporting World yesterday from her home in Texas, USA.<P class=StoryText align=justify>Having competed in her first Olympics at age 19 in Seoul, South Korea in 1988, she captured her only Olympic medal - a bronze in the mile-relay - at the 2004 Olympics in Athens, Greece.<P class=StoryText align=justify>The 38-year-old, who sped to a record 50.17 seconds to win gold at the 1998 Commonwealth Games in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, further stated. "I did send a letter to the IAAF and I received some positive responses; I've been talking to close friends and people who have supported me over the years and I've decided just like a couple of hours ago (Friday), that that's it for me, I need to move on with other things in my life and get rid of this from hanging over my head and just move on and be happy."<P class=StoryText align=justify>She also won bronze at the 1994 and 2002 Commonwealth Games in Victoria, Canada (50.69 secs) and Manchester, England (51.79 secs), respectively.<P class=StoryText align=justify>"It was cool winning the Commonwealth Gold and still having the games record... it was also cool winning Olympic and World Indoor medals and stuff, so all the medals, each and every one of them is something I am proud of, it's a pleasure to have all of them."
Richards, who has the distinction of winning Jamaica's first individual medal (bronze in 52.23 secs) at the inaugural World Junior Championships in Athens, Greece 1986, told Sporting World that she will be remaining in the sports.<P class=StoryText align=justify>"I am doing so much right now. I'm coaching (quarter-miler) Moya Thompson, hopefully that works out for both of us; I'm doing personal training; I'm also working part time in Human Resources with the (USA) Olympic programme at the Home Depot. I'm just keeping busy and I'm still training just to keep fit."<P class=StoryText align=justify>Richards has the record for the most World Indoor final appearances with nine (five at 400 m and four at 4x400 m).<P class=StoryText align=justify>Asked what would she describe as her most special moment in her illustrious career, the two-time World Indoor 400-metre champion replied. "The very first moment I stepped on the track in my Jamaican colours was a proud moment for me and having been doing this from I was a junior at the Carifta Games all the way up," stated Richard, who graduated with degree in sociology from the University of Texas at Austin.<P class=StoryText align=justify>She captured gold in 50.93 secs at the fourth World Indoor Champions in Toronto, Canada, before repeating the feat with 51.42 secs at the eighth staging in Lisbon, Portugal, in 2001.
Richards - the fourth fastest Jamaican of all-tim
<SPAN class=Subheadline>... ends 19-year track career </SPAN></TD></TR><TR><TD>BY KAYON RAYNOR Observer staff reporter
Saturday, December 23, 2006
</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>
<P class=StoryText align=justify>VETERAN Jamaican female quarter-miler, Olympian Sandie Richards - the 1998 sports woman of the year - has retired from competitive track and field, closing the door on an exceptional 19-year career as an athlete.<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=5 width=180 align=left border=0><TBODY><TR><TD>
</TD></TR><TR><TD><SPAN class=Description>Richards... yesterday announced her retirement from competitive track and field, pulling the curtains on an outstanding 19-year career. </SPAN></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE><P class=StoryText align=justify>"I've been toying with it (retirement) for two years now and it's a hard thing to do, so you (I) can't just get up one day and say yes I'm done, so I had to make sure (that) my body couldn't handle the training anymore and I don't want to do anything else on the track, internationally," Richards told the Sporting World yesterday from her home in Texas, USA.<P class=StoryText align=justify>Having competed in her first Olympics at age 19 in Seoul, South Korea in 1988, she captured her only Olympic medal - a bronze in the mile-relay - at the 2004 Olympics in Athens, Greece.<P class=StoryText align=justify>The 38-year-old, who sped to a record 50.17 seconds to win gold at the 1998 Commonwealth Games in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, further stated. "I did send a letter to the IAAF and I received some positive responses; I've been talking to close friends and people who have supported me over the years and I've decided just like a couple of hours ago (Friday), that that's it for me, I need to move on with other things in my life and get rid of this from hanging over my head and just move on and be happy."<P class=StoryText align=justify>She also won bronze at the 1994 and 2002 Commonwealth Games in Victoria, Canada (50.69 secs) and Manchester, England (51.79 secs), respectively.<P class=StoryText align=justify>"It was cool winning the Commonwealth Gold and still having the games record... it was also cool winning Olympic and World Indoor medals and stuff, so all the medals, each and every one of them is something I am proud of, it's a pleasure to have all of them."Richards, who has the distinction of winning Jamaica's first individual medal (bronze in 52.23 secs) at the inaugural World Junior Championships in Athens, Greece 1986, told Sporting World that she will be remaining in the sports.<P class=StoryText align=justify>"I am doing so much right now. I'm coaching (quarter-miler) Moya Thompson, hopefully that works out for both of us; I'm doing personal training; I'm also working part time in Human Resources with the (USA) Olympic programme at the Home Depot. I'm just keeping busy and I'm still training just to keep fit."<P class=StoryText align=justify>Richards has the record for the most World Indoor final appearances with nine (five at 400 m and four at 4x400 m).<P class=StoryText align=justify>Asked what would she describe as her most special moment in her illustrious career, the two-time World Indoor 400-metre champion replied. "The very first moment I stepped on the track in my Jamaican colours was a proud moment for me and having been doing this from I was a junior at the Carifta Games all the way up," stated Richard, who graduated with degree in sociology from the University of Texas at Austin.<P class=StoryText align=justify>She captured gold in 50.93 secs at the fourth World Indoor Champions in Toronto, Canada, before repeating the feat with 51.42 secs at the eighth staging in Lisbon, Portugal, in 2001.
Richards - the fourth fastest Jamaican of all-tim