BEIJING — The foot was the only thing different.

Former University of Tennessee All-American Tom Pappas had to bow out of his second straight Olympics on Thursday, this time just two events into the first day of the decathlon.

Just like in Athens in 2004 when he bowed out during the pole vault on the second day, plantar fasciitis was the culprit, only this time to his right foot instead of his left.

“My foot has been bothering me for about a year,” Pappas said. “When I got on the track it felt tight.”

In that first event, the 100-meter dash, Pappas finished last in his heat but in a respectable time of 11.2 seconds. He was with the leaders at the start but slowly lost ground. There was a reason.

“About 70 or 80 meters into the race I felt something tear,” he said. “I went under the stadium and had a doctor look at it. He gave me some injections that did really well, but in the long jump it started to hurt again.”

He took one jump and went 7.41 meters, a good showing that would have had him moving up the standings from his 19th position, but then he disappeared from the track and didn’t come back.

“I told my coach there is no way I can take a second shot,” he said. “I realized I’d have to get an injection after every event and it just wasn’t worth it.”

Plantar fasciitis is an extremely painful condition that occurs with an inflammation to the plantar fascia, which helps support the arch of the foot. It usually occurs because of excessive wear to the area.

The situation was eerily similar to what occurred in Athens. Both times he had to leave the track. Both times he had to test the injury by walking in the area below the stands were athletes usually warm up. Both times he went back out and tried to make it work. Both times, the pain of the injury just would not let him.

“I was thinking, ‘This is Athens all over again,’ ” said Pappas of his thoughts as he tested the foot out under the stands. “It was déjà vu. It definitely brought the memories right back.”

Pappas was the golden boy headed into the Athens Olympics. He was on the cover of TIME magazine and Sports Illustrated. The American of Greek heritage was favored to compete for the gold medal. This time he was coming without the favored role or the hype and he was relishing it.

But, in the end the result was the same.

“I’m trying not to think about it,” he said. “Ever since ’04 I have never been quite healthy. This has been bothering since last year. At least now that it has ruptured maybe it will start to heal.”

Pappas could walk on the foot and spent the rest of Thursday limping around Beijing with his family to take in some sights and try to take his mind off another Olympics gone bad.

“I don’t know what I’ll do next,” he said. “I won’t make any decisions until I see how my foot goes. We’ll see.”

© 2008, Knoxville News Sentinel Co.