Boasting an Olympic gold medal - won at the Beijing 2008 Games - along with two Olympic bronze medals, a World Championships gold medal and four silver, as well as various other accolades, Brabants has had a glittering career, which led to him being awarded an MBE in 2009.

He was also the first Brion to win an Olympic gold medal in canoeing when he triumphed in the K-1 1,000 metres in Beijing.

"This has been an incredibly difficult decision to make, but reluctantly I realise I have reached the point where I need to retire from the sport," Brabants said.

Britain's first canoeing Olympic champion Tim Brabants has announced his retirement

"It has become more obvious to me over the last few months that as much as I love the sport and would love to be an Olympic and world champion again, I've reached the point where I'm unlikely to improve or achieve the same results that I once achieved.

"As a competitive athlete with a competitive brain I cannot make this decision easily and I know lots of athletes have had to go through this."

Brabants performed well enough at the Team GB selection events in Nottingham last weekend to ensure his eligibility to compete for Britain this year, but has decided to retire in order to focus on his medical career.

"It is a difficult decision and it is not based on this weekend, because I have done well enough to be selected to race internationally from my results this weekend," he explained.

"But it wouldn't be right to just keep competing for the sake of competing and, when you're not getting your best results, it wouldn't be fair on my family or on the other athletes in the sport that are trying to come through."

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