While many athletes are celebrating selection for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, some notable veteran athletes have announced their retirements.
Among those who have announced their retirements in recent days include multiple 4x400m medallist Jonathan Borlee, former world and European indoor 60m hurdles champion Andrew Pozzi and European indoor and outdoor 400m medallist Anna Kielbasinska.
European Athletics takes a closer look at some of the prolific medal winners who have brought their illustrious careers to a close.
Jonathan Borlee
- 2010 World indoor 4x400m silver medallist
- 2012 European 4x400m champion
- 2015 European indoor 4x400m champion
- 2016 European 4x400m champion
- 2018 World indoor 4x400m bronze medallist
- 2018 European 400m bronze medallist
- 2018 European 4x400m champion
- 2019 European indoor 4x400m champion
One of the stalwarts of the Belgian 4x400m team, Jonathan Borlee has announced his retirement at the age of 36 ahead of what would have been his fifth Olympic appearance in Paris 2024.
“It’s a huge disappointment after all the hard work and sacrifices, marking the end of my athletics journey,” said Borlee whose international career goes as far back as the 2008 Olympic Games when he finished fourth in the 4x400m final in Beijing.
As part of the Belgian Tornados, Borlee won three European 4x400m titles along with two European indoor titles as well as medals at the 2010 and 2018 World Athletics Indoor Championships.
Individually, Borlee finished sixth at the 2012 Olympic Games and his Belgian record of 44.43 from the 400m heats in London 2012 stood until last month when Alexander Doom won the European 400m title in Roma 2024 in 44.13.
Borlee also finished fifth and fourth in the 400m final at the 2011 and 2013 World Athletics Championships.
Andrew Pozzi
- 2017 European indoor 60m hurdles champion
- 2018 World indoor 60m hurdles champion
- 2021 European indoor 60m hurdles silver medallist
Former world and European indoor 60m hurdles champion Andrew Pozzi announced his retirement on social media last week, revealing that another ankle fracture forced him to turn down selection for what would have been his fourth Olympic Games in Paris 2024.
“This is a profoundly sad moment but also one that I can fully embrace with the knowledge that I have approached every minute of my time in this sport with uncompromising focus, resolute determination and the highest of standards,” said Pozzi.
Pozzi retires with lifetime bests of 7.43 for the 60m hurdles and 13.14 for the 110m hurdles.
Eloyse Lesueur-Aymonin
- 2012 European long jump champion
- 2013 European indoor silver medallist
- 2014 World indoor long jump champion
- 2014 European long jump champion
Eloyse Lesueur-Aymonin announced her retirement at the French Championships in Angers last weekend when she finished second with 6.66m, just missing out on the long jump qualifying mark for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.
“I wanted to retire on my own terms, not on an injury. It’s better like this,” said Lesueur-Aymonin as quoted by L’Equipe after the competition.
The 35-year-old won back-to-back European long jump titles in 2012 and 2014 and was also crowned world indoor champion in Sopot in 2014.
Anna Kielbasinska
- 2011 European U23 200m champion
- 2019 European indoor 4x400m champion
- 2019 World 4x400m silver medallist
- 2020 Olympic 4x400m silver medallist
- 2022 European 400m bronze medallist
- 2022 European 4x100m and 4x400m silver medallist
- 2023 European indoor 400m and 4x400m bronze medallist
Anna Kielbasinska was no stranger to success in the 4x400m but the Pole found individual success in the individual 400m at a relatively late juncture of her career.
A decade after she was crowned European U23 200m champion, Kielbasinska won her first major individual medal with bronze in the 400m at the 2022 European Athletics Championships and was part of Poland’s medal-winning team in both the 4x100m and 4x400m relays.
Now 34, Kielbasinska was hoping to qualify for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games but a recurring Achilles tendon injury caused her to pull up in the 400m heats at the Polish Championships last weekend.
“Even in these bad moments I notice the good moments and I am grateful for them. No matter how pathetic it may sound, it is true that sometimes we remember the theoretically worse moments more because they built me and I am grateful for them.
“I know that thanks to them I am the person I am today. Of course, sport is about medals, achievements, but no one can take away the character that was shaped by it,” said Kielbasinska in an emotional interview with Przeglad Sportowy.
Christophe Lemaitre
- 2010 European 100m, 200m, 4x100m champion
- 2011 World 4x100m silver medallist
- 2011 World 200m bronze medallist
- 2012 European 100m champion
- 2012 Olympic 4x100m bronze medallist
- 2014 European 100m and 200m silver medallist
- 2016 Olympic 200m bronze medallist
As already reported by European Athletics, Christophe Lemaitre announced his retirement just before the French Championships in Angers.
Lemaitre is the most bemedalled athlete in European Athletics Championships history with eight medals and the Frenchman is the only male sprinter to complete the sprint treble, a feat he achieved at the age of 20 in Barcelona 2010.