PARIS, France, September 18. SHE's been out of the sport for awhile, but today Olympian Laure Manaudou made it official that she's done with the sport of swimming according to the Le Parisien.
"I quit. This hasn't been an easy decision to take," Manaudou told Le Parisien newspaper. "It came to me little by little. I didn't make it on impulse. It has matured slowly."
Manaudou won Olympic gold in the women's 400 free at the 2004 Athens Games, along with a silver in the 800 free and a bronze in the 100 back. After a strong showing at the 2007 World Championships in Melbourne that produced a Swimming World World Swimmer of the Year award, Manaudou had a turbulent year personally with coaching changes, and controversial images showing up on the Internet that obviously derailed her chances of having a strong performance at the 2008 Beijing Olympics. Since that meet, she's kept a low profile and decided today to end any speculation that she might return.
Full French text of Le Parisien article.