Two-time Olympic decathlon champion Ashton Eaton announced his retirement on Wednesday, saying he had given everything he could to the sport.
“I give everything to the decathlon. I did all I could. Thank u for making it the best time of my life. I’m retiring,” said Eaton on his Twitter account.
The 28-year-old American, who holds the world record in both the decathlon and indoor heptathlon events, won gold in the multi-event discipline at the 2012 London Olympics and successfully defended his crown at the Rio Summer Games last year.
“Frankly there isn’t much more I want to do in sport,” said Eaton on his website. “I gave the most physically robust years of my life to the discovery and pursuit of my limits in this domain.
“Did I reach them? Truthfully I’m not sure anyone really does. It seems like we tend to run out of time or will before we run out of potential.”
