Australian world champion walker Nathan Deakes' long-term future remains clouded after pulling out of the team for Beijing on Monday.
The 30-year-old, who was favourite to take gold in the 50km race, was forced out of next month's Olympic Games after rupturing a tendon in his hamstring at a training camp in the Swiss town of St Moritz.
He is the second high-profile casualty in as many weeks, with fellow gold medal prospect Jana Rawlinson withdrawing from the team a fortnight ago.
Deakes, a former world record holder, will have surgery on his hamstring when he returns to Australia next week.
He faces a lengthy recovery that could see him sidelined for up to nine months.
"I don't want it to end here on this note," a philosophical Deakes said via phone from Switzerland on Monday. "At this stage I'd like to keep going but will make more of a decision a couple of months down the track once I have the surgery and see how my rehab is going."
The bronze medallist in the 20km walk from the 2004 Athens Olympics, Deakes said he wouldn't rule out a return to the world's biggest stage in London in four years' time.
"Like Jana said a couple of weeks ago, it's only 1460 days now to London. I'll be a fair bit older than most of the people on the team so that will be another factor in deciding whether I go for another few years or whether just the next couple of years," he said.
Despite the injury blows to arguably Australia's two best medal hopes, Deakes was confident the athletics team would equip itself well in Beijing, citing pole vaulter Steve Hooker as an excellent chance to stand atop the podium.
"It has shown at previous championships that you don't need to have your best athletes there to perform well," he said. "Historically athletes can come through and win medals that are unexpected, so I don't see how this is going to be different this year."
"I don't foresee that the Australian team will come away empty-handed. Hopefully it will just set someone up well to then not only do well this year but have a great career as well."