Weir apologises for letting his country down at Paralympics

The six-time Paralympic gold medallist has endured a miserable Games in Rio, failing to medal in his three individual track events, the 400m, 800m and 1500m.

He then announced his retirement - saying that next year's London Marathon, a race he has won a six times, would be his last and that he'd be a spectator for the World Championships in London a few months later.

Weir had still hoped to finish his track career with a medal in the wheelchair 4x400m relay but Great Britain failed to advance from their heat.

With the top four times progressing across two heats, Richard Chiassaro, Nathan Maguire and Moatez Jomni had put Great Britain in a strong position behind China, who qualified in a world record.

But Weir did not appear to be firing on all cylinders on the anchor leg, with team-mate and Channel 4 analyst Stef Reid claiming he was pushing like he was in a 1500m race, as Great Britain missed out by three seconds.

That led to commentators speculating that the 37-year old had believed the top two in the heat automatically qualified, rather than the fastest four across two heats. Team officials later confirmed the rules were understood by the team.

Weir, who is scheduled to line-up in Sunday's marathon, wrote on Twitter: "I came out to Rio with every intention on getting a medal. My training had been amazing, I felt fit and strong, and I was ready for Rio.

"I don't know what has gone wrong out here. Representing my country means everything to me and I want to perform at my ultimate best always but that's just not happened this Paralympics.

"I'm gutted I've missed my sons birth for this terrible performance, but I gave what I could. I'm deeply sorry I've let the country and my teammates down."

© Sportsbeat 2016