Macey the lung-buster throws down gauntlet

Gold in the decathlon was never in Dean Macey's real-world ambitions this time round, but by his remarkable show on the first day Britain's 22-year-old ironman has put the rest of the world on a warning that he will win the Olympic title in 2004 and 2008.

Ever since he came from the decathletes' version of nowhere to claim the silver medal in the world championships in Seville last year, the former Canvey Island lifeguard was at pains to talk down people's expectations about his chances here in the 10-discipline endurance test.

"Tomas Dvorak is as good a favourite for gold in Sydney in the decathlon as Michael Johnson is in the 400 metres," he had said on the eve of his departure. "I would be happy to come away with a silver medal."

Well, just as Johnson once had a bad day at the office in the 1992 Olympics, Dvorak turned in his worst first-day performance for four years yesterday. The Czech world record holder and world champion thus contemplated the second day with a torn stomach muscle, lying a massive 260 points adrift in seventh place.

Macey finished the first day with a bang, shattering his 400m personal best by blitzing his field in 46.41sec to move from fourth overall to second, only eight points behind the American Chris Huffins.

That was a spectacularly good run: 0.31sec better than he had ever done before and quicker than Britain's world indoor champion Jamie Baulch had managed in the individual event here last week.

That meant Macey went into the final five events on a total of 4,546 points, with Huffins, who led since the opening event, on 4,554. The Englishman had trailed by 102 points going into the 400m but was almost 2 seconds quicker than his rival to claw back very nearly 100 points.

The changing area at the end of the first day of a decathlon usually looks like a M*A*S*H unit and here was no different. Medics with packs of ice rushed to treat the exhausted competitors while massage therapists tried to cajole exhausted muscles back to life.

Macey had sunk to his knees on the track but a few minutes later he was towering over his rivals sprawled across the floor. If he had not dared to admit it to himself beforehand, he knew then that he had a genuine chance of not only grabbing a medal but possibly, just possibly, becoming the first Briton to win the decathlon since Daley Thompson defended his title in 1984.

Exhausted as he was, it hardly needed to be pointed out to him that a victory would complete a marvellous multi-event double for Britain after Denise Lewis's triumph in the heptathlon.

Macey's day had started when he ran 10.81sec in the 100m. He then achieved a personal-best 7.77 metres in the long jump but lost ground when he threw only 14.62m in the shot put. An effort of 2.09m in the high jump set him up for his lung-bursting effort in the 400m.

"I run myself ragged every time I train but I've never felt a burn like that," he admitted. "If it hadn't been for a 100,000 crowd shouting us on I'd still have been lying flat on my back out there. I wanted to be in front but I'm just eight points behind. I'm happy with the day; the only thing I'm not happy with is the shot."

This was his first decathlon since Seville, as a hamstring injury suffered on his return from a training stint in Amer ica in the spring forced him to miss two big meetings.

Ironically, throughout the season the man who was plotting to stop Macey winning here was Thompson himself, arguably Britain's greatest ever athlete, dominating the event from 1978 to 1986. Thompson has been training Erki Nool, the Estonian in third place overnight, 41 points behind Macey.

Macey and Nool trained together on the Gold Coast in Queensland before they came south. "It helps training with Erki but it just makes me want to beat him more," said Macey after the first day. "I should win a medal but Erki deserves the gold more than me. I am young - and I am going to win the next two."

Was that a little mind game, a psychological ploy by Macey with Nool standing a few feet away - an attempt to plant a distraction in the back of the Estonian's mind as he pre pared himself overnight for the second day?

Thompson famously used to train on Christmas Day, believing it gave him a psychological edge over his rivals. Macey sends a message by the intensity of his training. "I don't think it's a proper session unless I am absolutely shattered at the end," he says. "I don't see the point of taking it easy."

And, in the early hours of this morning, we saw the point.