Chisato Fukushima, the holder of the Japanese women's records in both the 100 and 200 meters, announced her retirement Saturday.
The 33-year-old from Hokkaido clocked 11.21 seconds in the 100 in 2010 and 22.88 in the 200 in 2016. Fukushima competed at three straight Olympics starting with the 2008 Games in Beijing.
"It's been 23 years since I began athletics in my fourth year at elementary school. I made my dream come true by competing in the Olympics, and I could take on many challenges. I've had a happy career," she said at a news conference.
The winner of eight national championships in each of the two distances, Fukushima has been the face of Japanese women's sprinting for over a decade but could not qualify for the postponed Tokyo Olympics last summer.
"I had tough seasons in the past few years. My training consisted of things that I could do rather than what I wanted to do," said Fukushima, who had been plagued by injuries after the 2016 Rio Games.
She looked back fondly on her career, saying her love for the sport will not change as she plans to continue coaching children.
"I remember pretty much all the races in my career as they are linked with what I felt then, the record I got, where it was held and what competition it was," said Fukushima, whose final run came in a domestic tournament in late September.
"I'll need to think about how I can improve (children) each day. The only difference to now is I'll be thinking about them instead of myself, and I imagine my motivation will remain the same."