Johnson happy with decision to quit - for now

Five-time Olympic champion Michael Johnson wants to "retire first" before even considering a comeback like basketball star Michael Jordan, he said on Friday.

The American, who will make his track farewell at the Super Track and Field Meet 2001 at International Stadium Yokohama on Saturday, told reporters that it was "the right time" to retire from athletics after more than a decade at the top of his sport.

"As I get older I realise I'm not going to get faster. I made a conscious decision to retire, so let me do that first and then talk about a comeback," said Johnson, the world record holder over 200 and 400 metres.

Johnson, who turned 34 on Thursday, will run his final race in the so-called "Swedish relay," a rare relay event featuring a leg of 100, 200, 300 and 400 metres at the one-day event in Yokohama.

While he took pains to separate sport from politics, the Texas-born Johnson said the victims of Tuesday's terrorist attacks on New York and Washington DC would be in his prayers.

"UNFORTUNATE INCIDENT"

"Of course we all have a tremendous amount of sympathy for the people who lost loved ones. It was an unfortunate incident and I will be praying for everyone involved," said Johnson, who has won an unprecedented nine world titles.

Unlike Johnson, who arrived in Japan from Australia earlier this week after competing in the Goodwill Games in Brisbane, 12 athletes scheduled to appear will be unable to make the trip due to the unavailability of flights out of the United States, organisers said.

Britain's world triple jump champion Jonathan Edwards, however, was among 10 athletes to arrive, still jet-lagged, from Europe on Friday.

"I've just got off a plane from Newcastle so my condition is pretty terrible, but I'll feel better after a night's sleep," said the 35-year-old Edwards, who shrugged off suggestions of a lingering calf injury.

"My calves cramped up on me at the world championships. It was just the adrenalin running, so I got a bit more dehydrated than usual - it's not an injury as such," he said.

Britain's Colin Jackson, the world record holder in the men's 110 metres hurdles, was scheduled to arrive later on Friday.

Jackson will line up in against world champion Allen Johnson of the United States and Cuba's Anier Garcia, the Olympic champion, in one of Saturday's marquee races.