No retirement regrets for Meadows as she looks to the future

Meadows missed out on the 800m final at the European Championships in Amsterdam after suffering a hamstring injury in the heats, ending her hopes at competing at next month's Rio Olympic Games.

That result led to the 35-year-old announcing her retirement from athletics, but she admits the decision had been playing on her mind for some time.

"I decided after Beijing [2015 World Athletics Championships] that I'd give it one more year – I had broken two minutes twice that year in my indoor season so I thought if everything went perfectly for me, I could reach an Olympic final," she said.

"My main aim was to make the team for Rio – I felt I couldn't retire a year before an Olympic Games, but ultimately I knew my career would either end in Amsterdam or Rio.

"A day or so after the Olympic trials I was doing a few stretches and I felt my knee overstretch, so the whole week leading up to Amsterdam I wasn't able to run, it was just one of those battles too far.

"It was almost like it had been taken out of my hands, like fate had told me it wasn't meant to be, but I'm really glad I gave it that extra year.

"I know if I'd retired last year I would have looked at 2016 wondering 'what if?' – and the really important thing for me was to not walk away from the sport with regrets.

"I know I gave it my all, which is why I can feel happy coming away from competing."

Meadows won her first senior international medal at the 2002 Commonwealth Games in Manchester, winning silver in the 4x400m relay, after first donning national colours four years previously.

She won World bronze in 2009 before adding a European medal of the same colour the following year, and she admits her pride of representing her country never faltered.

"Every time you get that call it's such an amazing feeling, I never took it for granted at any point," she said.

"I remember my first ever international was in 1998 in a junior team – to this day I still remember running round the living room like crazy after opening my selection letter.

"No matter what team it was, I appreciated every single opportunity."

And while most athletes would be daunted at the prospect of losing a strict sporting schedule, Meadows admits she is excited to see what lies ahead.

"It's an exciting time, for 28 years I've been so rigid in my own regime, but I still very much want to be involved with the sport," she said.

"I've got lots of things on the horizon to keep myself busy.

"It's more relaxed in the sense that I can run when I want to, there's no training program to adhere to which will be a change, but I'll definitely keep myself pretty fit."

Sportsbeat 2016