Australia’s triple Olympic swimming champion Libby Trickett announced her retirement on Monday, four months after a disappointing World Championships.
The 24-year-old’s decision had been widely expected after she took a break from the sport in September to consider her future.
”It’s something that I’ve been thinking about for almost a year now, and after much consideration and speaking with my family and close friends I know that I am ready to move on to the next stage of my life and career,” she said.
Trickett won the 100m butterfly and 4x100m medley relay at the Beijing Olympics, and the 4x100m freestyle relay in Athens.
Her refusal to wear controversial polyurethane speedsuits — set to be banned from January 1 — is believed to have cost her a title at this year’s World Championships in Rome.
The eight-time world champion took home a silver and two bronze medals from Rome, the first world or Olympic meeting in five years there she did not win a gold.
Trickett described herself as ”completely satisfied” with her career, despite never winning the Olympic 100m freestyle gold even though she twice went to the Games the world record holder in that event.
In Athens in 2004 she missed the final and in 2008 in Beijing was beaten by a touch by Germany’s Britta Steffen.
”People probably expect me to say an Olympic gold medal in 100m freestyle might be nice, but ultimately if I was to swim on, that would probably be the only reason for me to swim on,” Trickett told reporters in Sydney.
”And I can’t justify doing that for four years and then maybe walking away and not having achieved that.
”I’ve asked myself that question, ‘Am I okay with not winning an Olympic gold medal in the 100m freestyle?’ And the answer was: ‘I am okay with that’. When you say that, that means you’re ready to move on.”
Trickett said she could never totally rule out returning to the sport but said ”all I can do is what is right for me right now”.
”I’m fairly sure I will never get back in the water because I have achieved everything that I’ve wanted,” she said.
At her final competitive swim, in which she set a 100m short course world record of 51,01 seconds in Hobart, Trickett proved she was still capable of swimming for her country.
And she said on Monday she was retiring ”at a great point for me” and looking forward to a career in the media.
”I don’t feel like I was getting slower and don’t feel like I was getting any less competitive at all,” she said.
”I’m retiring on my own terms. I’m not being forced to.” — Sapa-AFP