Athens 800m champion Borzakovsky retires

MOSCOW – Yury Borzakovsky, who won gold for Russia in the men’s 800m at the 2004 Olympic Games, on Tuesday announced his retirement from competitive athletics.

“I want to announce officially the end of my sporting career,” the 33-year-old, who also won gold at the 2001 world indoor championships, told the R-Sport agency.

“Now I will start work full-time as an athletics official and continue training,” said Borzakovsky, who withdrew from the 2014 Russian championships because of injury.

Borzakovsky has won 11 domestic 800m gold medals between 1999-2009, and three European titles.