Dame Tanni to retire

Dame Tanni Grey-Thompson, Britain's most successful Paralympian, has announced her retirement from international competition.

The 37-year-old has competed at five Paralympics and won 11 gold medals at distances ranging from 100metres to the marathon. She has also won the London Marathon six times.

Her final race in a GB vest will be at the Visa Paralympic World Cup in Manchester in May.

Grey-Thompson said: "I have always said that I would wake up one day and know that I would not want to do it any more.

"There are other things that I want to do and if I want to be successful I need to devote more time to those things."

The Cardiff-born athlete, who is based in Redcar, added: "I am still competing at a very high level, but as I get older things get harder and I want to retire before I fall apart.

"Obviously my last race will be emotional, but for me it's business as usual. I will probably be sick, but I will prepare in the same way, go through my same routine, and hopefully win."

Grey-Thompson won her first Paralympics medal whe she collected a 400m bronze at Seoul in 1988 but it was after Barcelona four years later that she became a household name.

She collected golds in the 100m, 200m, 400m and 800m in Barcelona and repeated those feats in Sydney in 2000. She also collected a gold medal at Atlanta in 1996 and two more in Athens in 2004.

She intends to maintain her links with sport at the top level through coaching. "I am coaching a couple of young athletes who are working towards Beijing and London," Grey-Thompson said.