Austria's Graf finishes her career
VIENNA, Austria (Reuters) -- Austria's Olympic and world 800 meters silver medalist Stephanie Graf quit on Thursday, saying she no longer had the drive to compete.
The 30-year-old had to battle back to fitness after missing the 2002 outdoor season because of surgery to remove a benign tumor in her right hip.
She announced the decision to end her career in an open letter written from a training camp in South Africa.
"Only 70 percent of me wanted to run, and that is clearly too little to achieve high goals in this Olympic year," Graf wrote.
"After all I have been through, I know that sport is no longer the most important thing in life."
Austria's Social Democratic party, which has previously asked Graf to run for parliament, denied reports she would stand in the local elections in her home province of Carinthia in March.
