The Athens Games will draw the curtain on an illustrious career spanning two decades in which Fredericks clinched double 100 and 200 metres Olympic silver medals in Barcelona in 1992 and Atlanta in 1996 -- but never the ultimate prize.

The former world 200 metres champion turns 37 in October and is well aware the clock is ticking. A couple of years ago he ditched the youthful 'Frankie' by which he was known for most of his career in favour of the more mature 'Frank'.

He has almost retired at least twice but pressed on, lured by the elusive Olympic gold.

"What we want in life is not what we get. This is going to be my last chance to try and get it," Fredericks told Reuters during a break in training in Namibia's capital, Windhoek, as he sweated profusely under a scorching African sun.

When he hangs up his running shoes, Fredericks plans to devote more time and energy to his private plastic manufacturing business -- and to developing young athletes in Namibia, whose 1.9 million people face poverty and chronic hunger despite rich reserves of diamonds and other minerals.

"It is my way of giving back, because I have really been fortunate. I am living in a good house, I have a family, and all of this I got because somebody gave an opportunity," he said.

Describing himself as a product of "assistance by other people," he created the Frank Fredericks Foundation "to do what the sponsors did to me".

"If it wasn't for my sponsors, my mum could not afford to send me to university," he said.

TOWNSHIP KIDS

The Foundation has given scholarships to 60 promising young athletes to complete high school.

Like Fredericks himself, most come from the poor black township of Katutura on the outskirts of Windhoek.

Each receives 3000 Namibian dollars ($434.6), half of it to pay for schooling and the other half to buy sports equipment.

When they graduate from high school Fredericks coaches them personally.

Fredericks says most of the foundation's youngsters are talented and have a great future ahead of them -- if given a chance.

As a goodwill ambassador for his country, Fredericks says he will also be kept busy off the track by travelling the world to promote development in his homeland.

"With our population of less than two million people and with the natural resources we have I believe everybody in Namibia should have a decent house, everybody should have a decent life," he said.

Unlike many fellow athletes from Africa, he resisted the temptation to abandon his home for a more comfortable training location in Europe or America, although he did compete at university level while studying in the United States.

Fredericks began running in 1980 but his international career had to wait until 1990 when Namibia won independence from South Africa, which was then under international boycott for its apartheid policies.

He says the delay was a blessing in disguise, "because by the time the country got independence I was mature and ready to stand on my own against the international guys".

GOLD HUNGER

He scoffed at suggestions that his career had been overshadowed by top contemporary sprinters such as Michael Johnson and Linford Christie.

"I wouldn't have liked to be in the bet if I did not have the opportunity to compete against the best...this is what we thrive on and competition makes it good," he said.

A strong opponent of the use of drugs in sports, Fredericks is still going strong at 36 and says the hunger for Olympic gold drives him on.

"Every time I come to the track I am still hungry to try and get something that I do not have," he said.

He has qualified for both the 100 and 200 Olympic races but says he needs a few races to fine-tune his performance and may decide to concentrate on one event in Athens.

"Probably the better chance to win a gold medal will be in the 200 metres because in the 100 metres most likely any mistake that you make you are dead," he said.

He predicted that home advantage would make Konstantinos Kenteris -- already the holder of a unique 200 metre Olympic, world and European treble -- even more dangerous in Athens.

"This is definitely going to be my final year," he added. "If I don't get it then it just means Frank Fredericks was not suppose to have Olympic gold."