SA Olympic triathlete Mari Rabie retires

Cape Town - South African Olympic triathlete Mari Rabie has announced her retirement from the sport. 

Rabie, 30, participated and represented South Africa at the 2008 and 2016 Olympic Games and broke the news of her retirement via her Instagram account this week.

At the 2008 Olympic Games, she had a technical issue on the bike leg and finished 43rd in Beijing.

Rabie then had an eight-year Olympic absence, during which she recovered from a life-threatening heart condition just three years ago.

She bounced back in Rio last year to finish 11th with a time of 1:59:13.

"When I left school at eighteen I decided I wanted to make the Commonwealth Games team," Rabie told witsup.com.

"When I had qualified for that I wanted to make the Olympic team.

"It's important to leave the sport on a high. I'm still in love with it and it's important to me to move on now."

Rabie was an All African and South African Champion in 2008 and finished third at the World Xterra Championships in Maui, Hawaii in 2012.

Rabie has a degree in Actuarial Science at the University of Stellenbosch and a Masters in Applied Statistics from St Catherine's College, Oxford. She also obtained her Oxford MBA in 2015.

My thoughts on retirement from professional sport beautifully captured by @jodiestar. - - Link in bio ??? - - "The love Mari has for the sport and the life it has helped create for her is evident through all she does and says. There is no sadness at leaving the chapter of elite triathlon behind her though. It feels concluded and she seems very at peace with that."

A photo posted by Mari Rabie (@marirabie) on Jan 24, 2017 at 6:00am PST