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An Olympic shot putter is retiring from athletics and taking up a team sport.<\/b><\/p>\n
Sophie McKinna, 31, from Bradwell, near Great Yarmouth, Norfolk, has spent the last six months playing rugby and hopes to join a Premiership team.<\/p>\n
The nine-time national champion had previously considered retiring when a serious elbow injury<\/a> put her 2024 Paris Olympic dreams on hold.<\/p>\n “I have no regrets in my career at all. I have performed to the best of my ability and got the best out of my body I physically could have,” she said.<\/p>\n Aged just four, McKinna already aspired to become an Olympian. She started throwing at 12.<\/p>\n While injuries were “part and parcel” of elite sport, she said years of hyper-extending her elbow at such force had resulted in wear and tear.<\/p>\n She said having surgery on her elbow, then losing some support and backing when she returned to the shot put, had been “the downfall of my career”.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n