Before he competes in major events, Jan Zelezny likes to spend time looking at himself in a long mirror.

It's not that he's vain or self-obsessed, instead he finds it helps him practice the throwing technique which has made him arguably the greatest javelin-thrower of all time.

``The most important thing in javelin is technique and the mental situation.

Good mental strength can add 40 per cent to the success,'' he says.

The Czech goes to Sydney looking for his third Olympic gold medal.

It would be an unprecedented achievement in his event, and all the more spectacular given that he was written off for good after a shoulder injury wrecked his 1998 season.

But living up to his name (Zelezny means ``iron'' in Czech) he has shown resilience to fight back and won bronze at the 1999 World Championships in Seville.

Two years before his setback, there was no question that he was the master of his discipline.

In May 1996 he broke the world record for the fifth time with a massive throw of 98.48m at Jena in Germany, and later that year in Atlanta claimed his second Olympic gold.

Now 34, Zelezny is no longer the world champion or ranked world number one.

Those honours are held, respectively, by Finland's Aki Parviainen and Greece's Kostas Gatsioudis.

But according to manager and former coach Jan Pospisil, it would be foolish to underestimate Zelezny.

``He is 34 but he has the mentality of a 25-year-old. He is a fanatic.

"The main focus of this year is the Olympics, but he is already talking about the 2001 World Championships.''

Zelezny had planned to compete in five events prior to travelling to Sydney, but decided to make the Bislett Games in Oslo his last full warm-up after picking up a niggling rib injury.

Competing through the pain, Zelezny still won the event with a throw of 90.56m.

He said: ``This gives me a big confidence boost. To be able to throw over 90 metres in a far from ideal situation is a good sign.''

Zelezny will now go back to his training base at Nymburk in the Czech Republic, home of the long mirror, and prepare with his Hungarian coach Miklos Nemeth.

Zelezny comes from good throwing stock.

His parents both represented Czechoslovakia, as it then was, at various levels and the young Jan used to practice with javelins carved from tree branches in his home town of Mlada Boleslav.

He became interested in other sports such as football, ice hockey and handball but returned to his first love at the age of 15.

In a career blessed with success, Zelezny has also had some lows, not least his failure to qualify for the final in the 1991 World Championships.

Fortunately, he is philosophical about his sport: ``In sports, one day you're famous, and the next day you're cursed.''

He will be hoping that, starting around 8.25pm Sydney local time on September 23, he'll make himself famous again with an historic win.

Before that, it's back to the mirror.