Veteran Gardener passes baton for Far East adventure

That was his defiant prediction last night as he waved goodbye to the Crystal Palace crowd and probably to his own chance of playing any part in the bid for world gold.

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"I don't want to go to Osaka and jeopardise the team's prospects because I think there is a real possibility they will be world champions," he said.

Gardener did not even make it to the final of the 100 metres at the Norwich Union London Grand Prix.

His own showdown with relay team-mate Mark Lewis-Francis for a place in the 100m ended in the semi-final where the younger man qualified in second place and Gardener trailed home fifth.

"I have never wanted to go to championships to make up numbers," said Gardener.

So Lewis-Francis is likely to be named on Tuesday to join Marlon Devonish and Craig Pickering, who are already selected.

In the final on Friday night, Lewis-Francis finished behind Devonish in third with Pickering fourth.

There was only ever going to be one winner - American Tyson Gay, the world's fastest man this year.

He clocked 10.02sec into a head-wind to beat European champion Francis Obikwelu comfortably.

Deep down, Gardener must have known that his chances of pushing back his retirement by a few more weeks were not strong.

He has been running injured ever since he won his fourth European Indoor 60m title in March in Birmingham, forced to manage a back problem related to his sciatic nerve that has dogged him in recent years.

It was almost symbolic that he was put into lane one, away from the main protagonists and even Lewis-Francis, with whom he was supposed to be running off for a place in the team.

He has been out of the mainstream all summer, embarrassingly off the pace for a man who has done Britain so proud for a decade.

He must regret now that he did not take his leave in March on that glorious evening when he pipped his young training partner Pickering for the gold before a home crowd at Birmingham's National Indoor Arena.

That would have been perfect for a man always better over 60m than he ever has been at the full Olympic distance.

But it is a rare champion who knows the best moment to bring down the final curtain.

"The management wanted to see how I got on this evening but that's life," he said. "I have made a decision that I have got to the end of the road as a competing athlete.

"I've always wanted to win and it looks like I am not in that shape now, so at the end of the season I'm finished.

The management may still want me to go to Osaka but we shall have to wait and see."

More likely, the management will call up European Under-23 champion Simeon Williamson, who was missing because he is in Bangkok competing for Britain at the World Student Games. He is the fastest Briton this year after Devonish.

Encouraging for Britain in the early events last night was a 400m victory in 46.01sec by Martyn Rooney, one of the two already selected for Osaka in the event.

Sadly for the home crowd, triple jumper Phillips Idowu, a world gold hope for Britain at Osaka, and Greg Rutherford, the European silver medallist at long jump, both withdrew through injury.