There are two conversations that have kept Katarina Johnson-Thompson from calling it quits. To date, only one of them has taken place.That was a chat with her boyfriend, Andrew Pozzi. As a former world champion hurdler who recently retired, he offered a view of life beyond the track.‘From what he tells me, the working world is hard,’ reports Johnson-Thompson. ‘So that’s one reason to put it off a little.’The other reason is more fundamental and traces to a second conversation. That’s the one that hasn’t happened and pertains to an agreement Johnson-Thompson struck a couple of years ago with her coach, Aston Moore.A sage man of 70, Moore is the kind of guy whose words are heeded, so when he shared a few prior to the Paris Olympics in 2024, they stuck. Johnson-Thompson laughs at the memory of it.‘I told Aston I didn’t want to be one of those athletes who goes on too long and people are telling you to pack it in,’ she says. ‘Aston was pretty direct in saying that he will be the first to tell me when it’s time. Thankfully, we don’t seem to be at that stage yet.’ Katarina Johnson-Thompson, now 33, has not intention of retiring from athletics yet as she targets a fifth Olympic GamesJohnson-Thompson is 33 and the context here is obvious, because for all the skills in a heptathlete’s set, extended mileage is not one of them – Jessica Ennis-Hill was 30 when she retired, Denise Lewis was 32, and Johnson-Thompson has more scars than either of them.‘You should see me on a staircase before I warm up,’ she says. ‘When I trained in France a few years ago, I used to live in a top-floor flat and my calf was a nightmare on those steps. God, it can take a while for me to get going!’She pulled out of the Glasgow Commonwealth Games with muscular injuries in her right calf, but on Friday and Saturday, she will contest the European Championships in Birmingham. A 12th major medal is the goal and, from there, a fifth tilt at the 2028 Olympics.‘My mind is on the Europeans — I really think I can make the podium,’ she says. ‘But I want to carry on to the Olympics. I looked it up on ChatGPT to see how many heptathletes have done five Olympics but I don’t think AI is much of an athletics fan — it didn’t have the info but I think five would be a record.’ [Daily Mail Sport checked and it would indeed be a record].The ‘age thing’ is interesting with any athlete – it is one opponent that can never be outrun or outjumped. But for Johnson-Thompson, the retort is that last year she won a world bronze medal.‘People often ask about it and I won’t say I like it but I do understand it,’ she says. ‘I noticed how few of the people I came up with are still around each year when they announce the team. My friends are all in jeans now and coaching. When Adam [Gemili] retired this year, I saw a tweet that said it was just me, Lawrence [Okoye, discus thrower] and Eilish McColgan [10,000m] from the London 2012 team and that hit home a bit. That was crazy.‘But I know I can still compete for medals. I’m also in a really good place mentally, especially compared to some of the conversations we have had!’Our first interview was 10 years ago and many have followed. After the low point of Tokyo in 2021, when the calf gave way months after she overcame an Achilles rupture, she cried as we went over details. She then shed happier tears during our next chat in Loughborough and spoke about finding contentment. Johnson-Thompson highlights the World Championship bronze medal she won last year in Tokyo as vindication for continuing to competeThere has been a level of introspection that would perhaps go against the recommendations for elite athletes, but there has been the vindication of major gold medals and an Olympic silver two years ago. With it, the KJT of 33 is less prone to self-torture.There’s a tattoo on her right arm spelling CTRL. That, too, is complicated. ‘I got it before Paris and it’s for “Control”,’ she says. ‘I’m always trying to control everything, but ultimately it reminds me nothing is ever fully in your control and to just go with it.’It may not be sufficient for gold at the Europeans – Annik Kalin of Switzerland has been the standout in 2026 and Ireland’s Kate O’Connor is riding the high of Commonwealth gold – but KJT’s ability to claim medals is astonishing.‘I was speaking with my therapist in 2022,’ she says. ‘This was after the Tokyo Olympics and I had lost a lot of love for the sport.‘The Olympics were meant to be in 2020 when I was coming off a world championship win, at my peak, and then Covid pushed it back a year and I ended up doing my Achilles eight months out from Tokyo. I got to Tokyo and injured my calf. Horrible.‘The therapist was like, “Things happen and you’ll always see why”, and I was like, “I will never see a good reason for that to happen”. But I feel it’s given me longevity, because I had to find different ways to get to the top.’Presumably, that time will have a limit. And when it is reached, a wily old coach will have a word. Evidently, that could still be some way down the line.Holland & Barrett is encouraging people to listen to their bodies by sponsoring celebrity body parts, including Katarina Johnson-Thompson’s right calf. Visit https://www.hollandandbarrett.com/info/our-services/ for more information.