Swimming: Australia's swimming superstar Ian Thorpe has announced his immediate retirement from the sport at the age of 24.
The five-times Olympic gold medallist confirmed he had decided to "discontinue" his swimming career in order to move on to the "next phase" of his life.
Thorpe kept his audience on tenterhooks for several minutes, during a press conference broadcast across his home country, outlining what has been on his mind in recent times before confirming his career was over.
He stated that while his Los Angeles-based coach Milt Nelms had helped bring up his fitness levels, now was an appropriate time to focus on other aspects of his life.
"As I got fit, physically fit, my mind also got fit and I started asking a lot of questions," said a surprisingly upbeat Thorpe. "I started to look at myself, not just as a swimmer but as a person.
"Another way of looking at it, you can swim lap after lap, staring at a black line, and all of a sudden, you look up and see what's around. That's what it feels like to me. Ask more questions, ask what the relevance of swimming is in my life now.
"I know that it's different to what it was two years ago, five years ago and 10 years ago, and it was most definitely different to what it was 15 years ago. That begged another question - what would my life be like without swimming?
"It's a very dark question for me because swimming has provided a safety blanket for me, a security net for me. When I'm not certain about developing other sides of my life, I just fall back into swimming."
Thorpe, nicknamed 'the Thorpedo' and famed for his size 17 feet, made the announcement after days of speculation regarding whether he was training for the upcoming Australian Championships, which double as qualifiers for the World Championships next March.
He was expected to confirm his withdrawal from the national championships to be held in Brisbane next month but stunned many by revealing he is halting a 10-year international career.
Thorpe attributed his decision to the realisation he was no longer swimming to achieve his own goals.
The last time Thorpe competed in a major international event was in 2004 when he claimed two gold, one silver and one bronze medal in the Athens Olympic Games - the haul complementing the three gold and two silver he picked up at the Sydney Games.
When he was 14 years old, he became the youngest male to ever represent Australia and a year later became the youngest individual world champion following his victory in the 400metres freestyle at the 1998 World Championships in Perth.
"I was catapulted into the international limelight as a kid and my swimming career started a long time before that," he said. "You guys didn't see it but I saw it.
Thorpe also holds the record as the only person to win six gold medals in one World Championships - 2001 at Fukuoka - and has a total of 11 world titles gold medals.
He has broken 22 world records, is Australia's most decorated Olympian and currently holds world records in the 200m and 400m freestyle as well as being a member of the world record-holding 4x200m freestyle relay team.