Australia's triple Olympic gold medalist Stephanie Rice announced her retirement from competitive swimming at the age of 25 on Wednesday.
Rice had a stunning Olympic debut at Beijing's Water Cube in 2008, winning the 200 and 400 meters individual medley titles as well as gold in the 4x200m freestyle relay, all in world-record times.
She struggled with a shoulder injury heading into the 2012 London Olympics, where her failure to win a medal contributed to a disappointing games for Australia.
She has not raced competitively since and on Wednesday announced on her website that she would not be returning to the pool.
"I knew that I really had to take the time for myself to get to the point where I knew 100 percent what I wanted to do," Rice said in a video posted on the website.
"And I never wanted to make a comeback, so the decision that I wanted to make was definitely final and coming to that point today and not continuing my swimming career is, it's sad."