Johnson, who ended Briton Colin Jackson's run of 44 consecutive sprint hurdles victories in 1995 and went on to dominate the event, said his 39-year-old body would not allow him to continue competing in the sport he dearly loved.
“It's just come to the point where my body can't take it any more,” Johnson told the crowd at the Diamond League meeting in Gateshead, England, in a trackside interview.
“My daughter was almost four years old when I won in Atlanta in 1996, now she is graduating high school,” Johnson has said last month, stressing that his hunger to compete was still there.
“The thing about getting older is the injuries,” said Johnson.
“You just get injured more often. You take time off, you come back, you get injured again and you never get in shape.”
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