Heptathlete Kelly Sotherton has called time on her career just two months shy of her home Olympics in London.
The 35-year-old had an operation a little over a week ago to remove a piece of disc from her back and she was told by her doctor she could be running again within six weeks.
However, that does not give her enough time to reach the qualifying standard before the British team is picked and so she has decided to retire.
"I thanked [the doctor] for being optimistic but there's no chance," Sotherton told the Mail on Sunday. "You have to know when to stop."
Sotherton was competing at the IAAF Combined Events Challenge in Italy earlier this month when she broke down in the 200m and said that she knew immediately the injury was serious enough to bring her career to an end.
"As soon as it went I knew that was it," she added. "I could hardly walk and could hardly move. At that moment, I said 'It's over'. I cried and I think it was hard for [therapist Paula Clayton] and [coach Aston Moore] to see because I was a gibbering wreck.
"I can laugh now. But I was red-faced and it was quite embarrassing leaving the track because I don't want people to see me like that."
Sotherton, a bronze medallist at Athens in 2004, added that she will now enjoy the Olympics as a fan.
Pascal Lemesre
