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Adlington rules out Rio 2016
2012-09-23 10:39
London - Britain's Rebecca Adlington, who won two golds in Beijing and two bronze medals in London, has ruled out competing at the 2016 Olympics in Rio, she has told the Mail on Sunday.
"Rio is out of reach. I'll be 27 then and swimming, especially for distance swimmers, is a young person's game," said Adlington, who finished third behind 15-year-old American Katie Ledecky in the 800m freestyle at the London Games.
"If I was a sprinter I'd go to Rio. But I don't have an ounce of sprinting in me, and that's why my Olympics are over," added the golden girl of British swimming.
Adlington, who holds the world record in the 800m freestyle, is Britain's most successful Olympic swimmer and before her no British woman had won swimming medals in successive Games.
Having ruled out another Olympics, she has not yet decided whether she will compete at next year's world championships in Barcelona or the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow in 2014.
"Swimming is still in my heart but, physically, I'm ready to finish completely," she said. "If I were to race in Glasgow - and that's an if - then it would be in the 200m and 400m, but definitely not the 800m. I'm done with that distance."
"I have a holiday coming up and then a charity bike ride in Africa and there are many other things I plan to do, so maybe I'll decide after that to call it a day completely."