Anthony Foster, Freelance Writer

Jamaica's national 400 metres record holder Lorraine Fenton at the Hilton hotel on May 6, 2005. Foster, who has been out of action for over a year, will run in the 400 metres at the Jamaica International Invitational meet at the National Stadium. - Norman Grindley/Deputy Chief Photographer

OLYMPIC 400 metres silver medallist Lorraine Fenton has bid farewell to track and field.

Fenton, who missed the past two major championships - the 2004 Olympic Games and last year's World Championships - has decided to call it a day.

"I celebrated my 33rd birthday last month and that was an appropriate time for reflection coming, as it did, at the end of the season," she was quoted on her management's team (Ontrack-management) website as saying.

"I think it is now time to look forward and pass on my best wishes to the current generation of 400 metres runners - especially my fellow Jamaicans. My national record of 49.30 seconds gives them something to strive for," she added.

Fenton said she had been looking towards next year's World Championships in Japan, however.

"I had to look seriously at what I believed I was capable of achieving there and so this is the right time to say goodbye to the track, although not to the sport which I loved since I was in high school," the website quoted her saying.

Major splash

A former Lincoln University student, Fenton made her first major splash after winning the bronze at the 1999 World Championships, running 49.92 for her first sub-50 performance.

"I ran under 50 seconds ... for five consecutive years between 1999 and 2003 but I missed the whole of 2004 through injury, and have never quite been able to get back to the same level again even though I am proud of what I have been able to do in the last two years," she said.

At the Sydney Games in 2000, she led heading off the final turn before being passed by local girl Cathy Freeman - leaving the Jamaican in second-place in 49.58, then a personal best.

In 2002, she improved her personal best to 49.30, breaking Grace Jackson's 14-year-old national record, while finishing a mere one-hundredth of a second behind the Mexican Ana Guevara in the Monaco leg of the Golden League.

Though she did not lower her personal best, Fenton had only lost twice in 2003, on both occasions to Guevara. Her season best of 49.43, her second fastest time ever, handed her the silver at the Paris World Championships.

High points

Fenton, who won two NCAA Division Two 400 metres titles at Lincoln, said winning individual medals at major competitions were the highlight of her career.

"The high points have, obviously, to be my individual medals. Each one meant something different. My 1999 World Championships bronze was particularly special," said Fenton, who obtained a degree in criminal justice from Lincoln University.

"It was the first time I had gone under 50 seconds, although I'd been knocking on the door earlier in season and a few times the previous year. It proved to me that I could hold my own at the highest level.

"To get a silver at the 2000 Olympics was another step up. The Olympics are something special to Jamaicans. There is a huge heritage with Jamaica's 400m men at the Olympics, so to become the first woman to get medal over that distance was an incredible feeling that has stayed with me ever since," added the Carreras Sportswoman of the Year winner on two occasions.