Olympic champion hurdler Sally Pearson announces retirement

Olympic gold medal-winning hurdler Sally Pearson has announced her retirement due to ongoing injuries.

The Australian, who won gold at the London Olympics in 2012, said it was time for her to “move forward onto a new direction”.

The 32-year-old said: “It has been a long 16 years, but also a fun and exciting 16 years.

“My body has decided it is time to let it go, and moved forward onto a new direction.

“I hope I have made you proud Australia.”

Pearson has battled ongoing injuries, with the latest a recurrence of an Achilles problem.

She added: “It has come to the point where I believe my body won’t be able to cope with the demands and the intensity of training and competition for me to be at my best.”

Pearson was forced to pull out of last year’s Gold Coast Commonwealth Games due to an Achilles injury which flared up during a training session at the athletes’ village.

The Queenslander won the 100 metre hurdles in London and finished with silver at the Beijing Games four years earlier.

In 2011 she became world champion in the event, a feat she repeated in 2017.

She had been due to defend her World Championship title in Doha in less than a month, and will no longer compete at Japan’s Olympics in 2020.