RIO DE JANEIRO - World champion Dafne Schippers has promised to come out firing in the Olympic 200 metres after her flop in last weekend's 100m.
Dafne Schippers has promised to come out firing in the Olympic 200 metres after her flop in last weekend's 100m
The 24-year-old is seeking redemption after a groin strain hampered her 100m preparations in Rio, a fifth-place finish behind gold medallist Elaine Thompson of Jamaica leaving the Dutchwoman devastated.
"I was completely broken after the 100m because the build-up was so intense," said Schippers after clocking the fifth-fastest time of Monday's 200m heats in 22.51.
"It was a new injury for me, I'd never suffered that problem before. It came on suddenly and I wasn't even sure if I was going to start the 100m," added the world silver medallist.
"The problem started last Wednesday and I had to run (heats) on Friday. I had 10 percent less Wednesday, 30-40 percent less Thursday and when I went to the track on Friday it was just a matter of: 'okay, let's see what happens.'
"I didn't come here to finish fifth," said Schippers, who is aiming to be the first Dutch athlete to win an Olympic track and field medal since Ellen van Langen won 800m gold in 1992.
"But when I look back that was the maximum that was possible."
Schippers lit up last year's world championships when she ran 21.63 -- the fourth-fastest 200m in history -- to beat Thompson by three-hundredths of a second and capture gold.
Only Americans Florence Griffith-Joyner, the world-record holder, and Marion Jones, later banned for doping, have run faster as Schippers eclipsed the European record of 21.71 set by Marita Koch in 1979 and matched by fellow East German Heike Drechsler in 1986.
Schippers vowed to make amends in the 200m.
"If the 100m had come a day later I would have been able to run normally," she said, looking ahead to Tuesday's semi-finals.
"But looking at it, now I have another chance to show what I'm made of. I'm feeling fit again and ready to go."