World 800m record-holder and former world champion Wilson Kipketer has announced his retirement.
The Kenyan-born two-lapper said he had decided to end his career after last year's Athens Olympics where he could only finish third despite being regarded as the favourite.
"I made the decision after Athens - that was my private decision, but this is the first time I have felt ready to put that decision into words," he said in an interview with the International Amateur Athletics Federation (IAAF).
"I had only one ambition since my silver medal at the Sydney (2000) which was to win that Olympic gold which is the only medal I was missing.
"That was my inspiration for the next four years that followed. However after the bronze in Athens it is clear to recognise that my goal is not going to be achieved. I am not fighting on until Beijing."
The 34-year-old Kipketer will be remembered as one of the greatest 800m runners of all time.
He moved to Copenhagen in 1990 and changed nationality to run for Denmark going on to win three straight world 800m titles in 1995, 1997 and 1999.
And in 1997 he produced one of the greatest athletic achievements in recent years when he smashed Sebastian Coe's long-standing world record over two laps timing 1min 41.24secs at a meeting in Zurich.
Later that year he improved that mark to 1min 41.11secs in Cologne, a world record that still stands today.
Ultimate success at the Olympic level eluded him, however. He was unable to run at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics as his Danish nationality had not been made official in time. Four years later he had to settle for silver at the Sydney Olympics with a bronze following in Athens last year.
"Looking back it is 1997 that was by best year - setting world records indoors and outdoors. I was running nearly always 1:42 in my races. Everything was easy for me. And just when everything was going so well that's when malaria struck."
Kipketer was sidelined for six months with the illness and it took him a year to fully recover.
