Annalise Murphy: 'I just stopped turning up to competitions'

Murphy dropped anchor on her career as an Olympic sailor after her third Games, in Tokyo last year.

BOWING OUT: Annalise Murphy of Team Ireland prepares to compete in the Women's Laser Radial class on day seven of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games. Pic: Phil Walter/Getty Images

It’s supposed to be old soldiers, not athletes, that fade away. Let’s face it, sporting careers don’t normally end in nuance. To cross that Rubicon from elite competitor to retirement is to brave icy and bracing waters. It’s not just the sport that falls away but all the scaffolding that supported it.

So many retirements are brutal in their timing or their manner. For every Brian O’Driscoll, waved off with an enormous banner bearing his likeness at the Aviva Stadium and with a Six Nations medal in his pocket, there are thousands for whom the last waltz slips out of tune.