Anna Meares announces cycling retirement after winning six Olympic medals

Updated

Australian cycling champion Anna Meares has announced her retirement after a stunning career, including six Olympic medals.

There was some speculation Meares would carry on until the 2018 Commonwealth Games on the Gold Coast, but the retirement will take immediate effect.

Anna Meares' Olympic record

Athens 2004: Gold, women's 500m time trial

Gold, women's 500m time trial Athens 2004: Bronze, women's sprint

Bronze, women's sprint Beijing 2008: Silver, women's sprint

Silver, women's sprint London 2012: Gold, women's sprint

Gold, women's sprint London 2012: Bronze, women's team sprint

Bronze, women's team sprint Rio 2016: Bronze, women's keirin

Meares said it was hard to hang up her cleats after 22 years in the sport but was "really excited about the doors opening in to the next chapter of my life".

The announcement brings down the curtain on the career of arguably Australia's most decorated cyclist, which saw Meares compete at four Olympic Games.

After winning gold in the 500-metre time trial and bronze in the sprint in Athens in 2004, Meares produced one of sport's greatest comebacks when she won sprint silver at Beijing 2008 just seven months after breaking her neck in a crash.

She powered to her first sprint gold medal in London four years ago, taking down famed British rival Victoria Pendleton.

The 33-year-old also carried the flag at the opening ceremony of this year's Rio Games and won bronze in the keirin.

She said she would hold off on a retirement announcement until she had time to process her Rio performance, but her tears after finishing 10th in the sprint hinted that her illustrious career was finished.

Meares has also struggled with many career threatening injuries and says she's proud of how she handled those.

"It's very hard to emotionally detach from a home Commonwealth games and very hard to distinguish what I wanted from what other people wanted me to do," she told the ABC.

"So I had to be very careful not to do it for the wrong reasons and that's why needed to step away from sporting environments, the media environment, to be able to truly sink into myself and work out what I wanted to do."

On top of her Olympic success, Meares has climbed to the top of the podium at the world championships 11 times and won five Commonwealth Games gold medals, carrying the flag at the 2014 Glasgow Games.

Meares 'broke down barriers'

Cycling Australia hailed Meares as the greatest female track cyclist in history and said she set new benchmarks and broke down barriers in seemingly every race.

The Queensland native said she wanted to be remembered for her resilience and strength, rather than just her success on the track.

"I am really proud I have stuck around for as long as I have and, while some people think I have made it look easy, I had to work so hard to stay on top," she told Channel Nine.

"And I have been challenged extensively throughout my career and I have thoroughly enjoyed all of those challenges.

"I feel that I have grown with each experience and they have left me a better athlete, a better person."

Her success on the track also garnered plenty of accolades off it.

She won the 'Oppy' Medal as Australia's best cyclist in 2008 and 2012 and was named the Australian Institute of Sport's athlete of the year in 2007 and 2011.

Topics: cycling, olympics-summer, sport, australia

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