Australian Olympic Champion Sally Pearson Announces Her Retirement From Athletics

One of Australia’s greatest ever Olympians has announced her retirement from athletics.

Sally Pearson, 32, has battled injuries and setbacks throughout her illustrious hurdling career.

Sitting down on Sunrise on Tuesday, she announced that she was “hanging up her spikes” for good.

“When you count six injuries this year that no one knows about, and another whole year of training to try and win gold, I have major doubts my body will make it and I don’t know if I want to put myself through that again,” she said.

Her announcement comes less than a year out from the Tokyo Olympics.

But Pearson says she won’t be far removed from the athletics scene and is hoping to use her experience to inspire the next generation.

“Hopefully I can find paths that will lead me to somewhere that can help inspire the next generation, I suppose,” she said.

“We have a great team coming through in our athletics, and I can’t wait to see what they will do in Tokyo next year.”

View this post on Instagram

Europe, I am sorry. This entire week, all I have been doing is packing my bags in anticipation of my next international tour. Unfortunately, after weeks of intense sprinting and hurdles, I had a minor training mishap this morning. Scans have revealed a small hamstring strain, with an expected 2-3 week recovery. Although the injury is not serious, I can’t compete at events scheduled for Lucerne – Monaco – London. London, as you all know, is home to two of my most prized moments in my career… winning Olympic gold in 2012 and my reigning world championship title. Needless to say I am disappointed but thankfully the hamstring injury is only a minor set-back and won’t impede my preparations for this year’s world championships in Doha. Onwards and upwards!

A post shared by Sally Pearson (@salpearson) on Jul 4, 2019 at 2:34am PDT

View this post on Instagram

Europe, I am sorry. This entire week, all I have been doing is packing my bags in anticipation of my next international tour. Unfortunately, after weeks of intense sprinting and hurdles, I had a minor training mishap this morning. Scans have revealed a small hamstring strain, with an expected 2-3 week recovery. Although the injury is not serious, I can’t compete at events scheduled for Lucerne – Monaco – London. London, as you all know, is home to two of my most prized moments in my career… winning Olympic gold in 2012 and my reigning world championship title. Needless to say I am disappointed but thankfully the hamstring injury is only a minor set-back and won’t impede my preparations for this year’s world championships in Doha. Onwards and upwards!

A post shared by Sally Pearson (@salpearson) on Jul 4, 2019 at 2:34am PDT

Illustrious career

Pearson won a gold medal at the 2012 London Olympics and took silver in the 2008 Games in Beijing.

A two-time world champion, she still holds the Olympic record for the 100m hurdles.

She was awarded sport’s highest honour in 2011 – the Best Female Athlete in the world.

This article originally appeared on 7News. 

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