The wires report that Jan Zelezny has scratched from what would have been his final competition — Sunday’s meet at Yokohama, Japan, “as he is suffering from a painful Achilles.” The Agence France Presse story said: “The 40-year-old three-time Olympic and world champion said that he had decided to cancel his trip, to an event where he won for six successive years in the 1980’s, on Monday night. ‘I took the decision on Monday night,’ said Zelezny, who holds the world record of 98.48 metres. ‘Another competition in a few days time would be too hard.’ ” So Jan won’t take another shot at raising his own M40 world record of 85.92 (281-11). But never say never about retirement. He may be back in 2016, just as Willie Banks is — going for the M50 WR.

The AFP story continued:
Zelezny, who was speaking on the sidelines of an athletics exhibition event held in his honour in his birthplace of Mlada Boleslav, said he always wanted to bring down the curtain on his stellar career at home.
“I began my career here and I always wanted to end it here,” said Zelezny, who ended his career with a final throw of 82.19m.
Several athletics luminaries showed up to pay tribute to him including Olympic decathlon champion Roman Sebrle, and his final throw was also watched by 84-years-old Dana Zatopkova, herself Olympic javelin champion in 1952 and also the widow of legend and four-time Olympic champion Emil Zatopek.
“Honza (Zelezny) has had a wonderful career. I give him all the congratulations I can for that,” said Zatopkova.
Zelezny had an extraordinary careeer winning 148 of the 246 events hew competed in and collected his last major medal (he won 11 in all) with bronze in the European championships – a title he never surprisingly won.
“Even yesterday (Monday) I felt nostalgic but today it is okay,” said Zelezny, who was four-times Czech sportsman of the year and seven times voted their best athlete of the year.
A member of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) Zelezny is set to devote the rest of his career to coaching and is undertaking a training course in Prague.
However the former army officer is confident that even with his retirement Czech athletics has a bright future.
“Young athletes must have a target,” he said.
“There are several young athletes who can one day win medals. Barbora Spotakova (silver medallist in the javelin at the recent European championships) is excellent and will win a lot of medals.”

The Australian added a few details in its report:
Zelezny takes final bow
From correspondents in Prague
September 20, 2006
CZECH javelin legend Jan Zelezny has announced he will not compete in what would have been his final meeting at Yokohama on Sunday as he is suffering from a painful Achilles tendon.
The 40-year-old three-time Olympic and world champion said that he had decided to cancel his trip to a place where he won six successive years in the 1980s on Monday night.
“I took the decision on Monday night,” Zelezny, who holds the world record of 98.48 metres, said.
“Another competition in a few days time would be too hard.
Zelezny, who was speaking on the sidelines of an athletics exhibition event held in his honour in Mlada Boleslav where he began his career, said he always wanted to bring down the curtain on his stellar career at home.
“I began my career here and I always wanted to end it here,” Zelezny, who ended his career with a final throw of 82.19 metres, said.
Several athletics luminaries showed up to pay tribute to him including Olympic decathlon champion Roman Sebrle, and his final throw was also watched by 84-years-old Dana Zatopkova, herself Olympic javelin champion in 1952 and also the widow of legend and four-time Olympic champion Emil Zatopek.
Me again:
Also worth seeing is the IAAF’s report on his final competition.