Olympic champion Ashton Eaton withdrew before the start of his first decathlon since the 2013 World Championships on Saturday, citing a lower back injury suffered in shot put practice this week, according to The Associated Press.
“This competition is not about me,” Eaton said in an address to the crowd at the Hypo Meeting in Gotzis, Austria. “Don’t make this Ashton Eaton isn’t competing thing part of this competition because that would be criminal. You would be stealing a great experience from all of the athletes.”
Great Britain Olympic champion Jessica Ennis-Hill is entered in the heptathlon in Gotzis, her first heptathlon since winning gold at London 2012.
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Here's what @AshtonJEaton just told the fans in the stadium in #Gotzis after he had to pull out injured. 💔@usatf pic.twitter.com/3lRkH77dZg
— Michelle Sammet (@michellesammet) May 30, 2015