Sydney - Champion walker Nathan Deakes said Monday a persistent hamstring injury had forced him out of next month's Olympic Games in Beijing.
The Commonwealth Games gold medallist and former world- record-holder in the 50-kilometre-walk was a gold medal hope.
He was the bronze medallist in the 20-kilometre-walk at the 2004 Olympics in Athens and won the 20-50 kilometre double at the last two Commonwealth Games.
Deakes came back after surgery on the hamstring in 2003, but it flared up again and he sat out the 2005 world championships in Helsinki. His only race since his world championships triumph in Osaka last year was a 10-kilometre race nine months ago in Italy.
Deakes, 30, is the second Australian track star to withdraw in the past fortnight. World champion hurdler Jana Rawlinson was forced out with a toe injury.
"I'm still in a bit of shock," Deakes told Australia's AAP news agency. "I'm sure it'll sink in in the middle of August when I'm watching the Games. There was no decision to make unfortunately - my body made the decision for me."
Deakes said he would be out for at least six months. "I have to have surgery to fix it as the hamstring tendon has come away from the bone at the pelvis," he said. (dpa)
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