Goldie Sayers has announced her retirement from athletics ©Getty Images

Goldie Sayers has said she feels a "great sense of injustice" about her career after announcing she is retiring from athletics and becoming the deputy Chef de Mission for Great Britain's European Youth Olympic Festival (EYOF) team.

The javelin thrower confirmed today that she is ending a 20-year career which saw her compete at three Olympic Games - Athens 2004, Beijing 2008 and London 2012.

She has taken up the role of the deputy Chef de Mission for Britain's team heading out to the EYOF in Győr in Hungary in July.

Last September, Sayers was told she would be receiving the bronze medal from Beijing 2008 after Russian Mariya Abakumova was stripped of her silver after a drugs re-test came back positive.

Abakumova, however, has appealed the decision to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) so the medal has still not made it to Sayers’ hands.

In an interview with the BBC, the 34-year-old said although she was delighted when told her result would be upgraded, the situation has made her cross.

"Initially I was just really happy," she said.

"But actually now I'm much angrier about it, and I'm not an angry person at all.

"There's a deep sense of injustice.

"I was desperate to draw a line under my career and move on because I think endings are important, but at this rate I'll be drawing my pension before I get an Olympic medal."

Goldie Sayers is set to be given the bronze medal from the Beijing 2008 Olympics after Russia's Mariya Abakumova failed a drugs retest ©Getty Images
Goldie Sayers is set to be given the bronze medal from the Beijing 2008 Olympics after Russia's Mariya Abakumova failed a drugs retest ©Getty Images

Alongside her Olympic appearances, Sayers also featured for Britain at five International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) World Championships, achieving a best finish of 10th at Daegu 2011.

She also represented England at three Commonwealth Games, finishing fifth at Melbourne in 2006.

In 2012, Sayers set the women's javelin British record of 66.17 metres during the IAAF London Grand Prix in Crystal Palace.

Neil Black, performance director at British Athletics, praised Sayers for the career she had and the fact she will be continuing to feature in the sport with her role at Győr 2017.

"Whilst today marks the end of Goldie’s involvement in athletics as a competitor, I am glad she intends to remain active within the sport and wish her all the luck with her appointment as deputy Chef de Mission at the European Youth Olympics festival this summer," Black said.

“I will continue sitting on the Board of the British Olympic Association Athletes’ Commission and I am looking forward to helping lead Team GB as Deputy Chef de Mission for the European Youth Olympic Festival in Hungary this summer," said Sayers.

"They’re great events and help the next generation of British Olympians progress in the early stages of the sporting careers."