Former world record holder and Olympic medal winner Eamon Sullivan has announced his immediate retirement from competitive swimming due to ongoing concerns from shoulder injuries.
Sullivan, 28, once held the world record for both the 50m and 100m freestyle and won two Olympic silver medals in Beijing, but has recently been afflicted by ongoing shoulder issues.
Last month Sullivan pulled out of the upcoming Glasgow Commonwealth Games team so he could undergo his third bout of shoulder surgery, in the hopes that it would extend his swimming career until the 2016 Olympics. However today he has announced his body is no longer up for the demands of competitive swimming.
“One of the things I’m most proud of throughout my career is overcoming injuries,” Sullivan said in a statement. “I’m at a point where I’ve had one too many injuries, and it has become too much to manage. In the end my body has let me down, so I’m very disappointed, but it’s the right time.”
Sullivan last claimed victory in the pool in April this year at the Australian Championships in Brisbane when he won the 50m freestyle, beating James Magnussen. According to the AAP, his winning time in the final was the third-fastest recorded in 2014.
Sullivan will also be remembered for being part of the scandal that rocked the Australian swimming team in 2012, when six members of the team were reprimanded for taking the banned sleeping pill Stillnox in the lead up to the troubled London Olympics pool campaign.
Former team-mate and two-time Olympic gold medallist Michael Klim today praised Sullivan’s contribution to the sport. “Even though this career was sometimes plagued with injuries, he always found it in himself through sheer determination to perform to the best of his ability, which made him one of the toughest and best sprinters Australia has ever seen,” he said.
“He has left a great mark on the sport which will be remembered forever.”
