Macey sees golden road to Sydney

It is a measure of the impact Dean Macey made at last year's World Championships, when he earned a hugely unexpected decathlon silver medal at 21, that he should be present yesterday to help British Athletics launch its Olympic summer.

While Fast Track, the sport's commercial arm, were able to announce the signings of the world 100 metres champion, Maurice Greene (who will race Jason Gardener in Glasgow on 2 July), and Ethiopia's middle-distance legend Haile Gebrselassie (who runs in the CGU British Grand Prix on 5 August), the announcement of more immediate plans made a greater impact on the assembled press - and indeed upon Macey himself.

This Sunday's opening meeting of the outdoor season at Loughborough will be the first of three in what is being termed the "Road to Sydney" series, backed by new sponsors Aqua-Pura, who have invested over £500,000 over the next three years. The roadshow shifts to Bedford on 4 June, but it is the arrangement for the final meeting, the Aqua-Pura Field Event Spectacular at Birmingham's national indoor arena on June 24, which promises to be ofdirect interest to Macey as he hones himself for this summer's Olympic battle.

The meeting (to be broadcast on the BBC the following day) will focus exclusively on three events - a women's triple jump and pole vault, and a men's high jump - which will take place to specialised lighting effects and music of the competitor's own choosing. The atmosphere will be heightened by the proximity of an audience of around 1,000, who will be positioned in a "bullring" of banked seating right next to the take-off and landing areas.

For Macey - the biggest thing to come out of Canvey Island since Dr Feelgood - the event will offer a rare opportunity to compete in front of an audience, not something multi- eventers are used to outside major championships.

"I just can't wait for this thing in Birmingham," he said yesterday. "Having the atmosphere of the crowd there will be great for me - it will give me an extra 10cm in height. I think it's going to be wicked." But if this 6ft 5in Essex boy, who has recently returned from a month's training in California, is looking forward to the challenge of Birmingham's lights, music, action, he is no less buoyant about his prospects in Sydney.

"I'm at the same stage with my training now as I was last year, but it's going better," said Macey, who is 8lb lighter than last year because of all the conditioning work he has been doing. "I'm running faster and jumping further." The most important factor in his improvement, he says, is a simple one: after year's of persistent injury, he is fully fit.

"Every time I used to get on the track I'd come limping off," he said. "It wasn't easy to see physios or masseurs because I had to earn money to pay the rent as well as competing. This year I have time to get treatment right away - I'm preventing injuries before I get them." Asked to name the events where he has improved his performances since Seville, he begins running through them one-by-one - until he gets to the final one, the 1500 metres. "I don't know about that because I haven't done one for a while," he says with a wide grin. "I'm really pleased with the way things are going. If nothing happens to me between now and Sydney, I'm going to put on a good show." Having reached a score of 8,556 points in Seville, his new target is 8,700.

Success has not spoiled Dean Macey yet, and it seems unlikely to - although some things in his life are changing. This weekend he will move out of his parents' home to his own house, 10 minutes' down the road. And he has recently become engaged to Lisa Hayes, a Southend athlete who used to be his boss when he worked as a lifeguard at a leisure centre.

Amid all the advice he has received since his startling arrival on the world scene, that proferred by boxer Chris Eubank has stuck with him: "When you make it to the top, that's when the hard work starts." But as Macey instantly points out, he does not consider he has made it yet. Which may be the reason why he will.