Agnel calling time on international career
Yannick Agnel's defence of the 200m freestyle gold he won in London ended with a whimper on Sunday as the Frenchman failed to reach the semi-finals at the Rio Olympics.
Agnel finished sixth in his heat in 1min 47.35sec -- 19th fastest overall.
The man who won gold in London in 1:43.14 said he'd swum his last individual race at a major international championships.
"I'm disappointed, extremely disappointed but I gave it all I had," Agnel said. "It's a crowded field, I knew I would have to go 1min 46sec to advance."
The 24-year-old, captured 4x100m free gold and 4x200m free silver along with his individual gold in London, is slated for 4x200m free relay duty in Rio before departing the international stage.
"I knew it was going to be my last individual race at the international level, so I decided to give it all and I am sad that it didn't work out," he said.
Agnel's path since London hasn't been smooth.
He trained for a time with Michael Phelps's longtime coach Bob Bowman after a split with his coach of seven years, Fabrice Pellerin in 2013 before eventually moving back to France.
At the French Olympic trials in March, Agnel touched second in the final of the men's 200m only to find he'd hit the timing pad too low to register properly, and he was announced as finishing third.
The French federation refused to overturn the result, but some days later found room for him in the 200m free team.