Olympic triple jump champion Nelson Evora will miss the London Games after injuring his right leg, the Portuguese athlete said on Thursday.
“Given the necessary recovery time, it is out of the question to take part in the next Olympic games but don't anyone think this injury means that I'm finished,” the 27-year-old said in a statement on his Benfica club's website. “I have a lot of competitions ahead of me.”
Evora won gold in Beijing in 2008 after taking the world title at the 2007 Osaka championships in Japan. He finished second in Berlin two years later and was fifth in Daegu, South Korea, last September.
He had already had surgery on his right shinbone in 2010, putting him out of action for a year, and suffered the injury while warming up for a trial in Lisbon's Jamor stadium on Wednesday.
“The popping sound heard yesterday at the track was a recurrence of a previous injury but it is not as serious as first imagined,” he said.