PARIS — Former World and Olympic swimming champion Laure Manaudou is retiring.
“I quit. This hasn’t been an easy decision to take,” the 22-year-old Frenchwoman told Friday’s edition of Le Parisien newspaper. “It came to me little by little. I didn’t make it on impulse. It has matured slowly.”

At the Beijing Olympics last year, Manaudou finished last in the final of the 400-meters freestyle, seventh in the 100 meters freestyle and was eliminated in the heats for the 200-meters backstroke.
She won Olympic gold in 2004. Her victory in the 400-meters freestyle gave France its first swimming gold in 52 years.