Double Commonwealth Champion James Goddard will not be defending his titles next summer in Glasgow after announcing his retirement from swimming on Twitter earlier today.
Goddard enjoyed a relatively successful career which spanned more than a decade and included three Olympic and Commonwealth Games.
Unfortunately the 30-year-old’s career in the pool coincided with that of Michael Phelps and Ryan Lochte, two of the greatest swimmers of all-time, meaning he failed to win an Olympic medal.
The Stockport Metro swimmer tweeted: “Hi People.I would like to announce my retirement from competitive swimming. The time has come to move on and find new adventures in my life.”
The current British 200m Individual Medley record holder’s best Olympic finish was fourth in his first games at Athens in 2004, in the 200m backstroke, finishing just 0.2 secs outside the medal positions.
Goddard won four Commonwealth medals – 200 back gold and 200 IM Bronze in Manchester in 2002 and gold in both the 200 back and 200 IM in Dehli three years ago.
He also won 100m IM bronze when Manchester hosted the 2008 World Short Course Championships and two medals in the European Short Course event in Rijeka the same year.
In his last Olympics in London he finished seventh in the 200 IM behind Phelps, but won a silver in the same event at the European Long Course Championships in Debrecen three months earlier.
His last major event was the British Gas Championships where he failed to make the cut for this summer’s World Championships, finishing third behind Craig McNally and Chris Walker-Hebborn in the 200m back.
Image courtesy of Sum_of_Marc, with thanks.
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