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Olympic discus champion Harting to skip worlds in Beijing

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FRANKFURT, Germany (AP) Olympic discus champion Robert Harting will not defend his world title in Beijing later this month because he is still recovering from a knee injury.

Harting told reporters on Tuesday that ''it was absolutely not possible'' for him to compete at the World Championship because he did not want to risk another injury ahead of the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro.

Harting has not competed in a major meet since tearing his knee ligaments 11 months ago.

The German won the last three world championship titles and is the 2012 Olympic champion.

Harting led a group of athletes who released a video message earlier this week saying track and field's world governing body had ''betrayed'' them by not doing enough to fight doping.

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