KEY POINTS:
New Zealand former rowing world champion Nicola Coles has announced her retirement.
Northlander Coles, 36, hangs up her oar after finishing fifth with women's pair partner Juliette Haigh at the Beijing Olympics last month.
It was their second final, having placed sixth at the 2004 Athens Games.
A year later, the pair won gold at the world championships in Japan.
They also claimed a world championships silver medal at Eton in 2006, the same colour as Coles won with a New Zealand women's four at the 2001 world champs.
"I've had an amazing rowing career really and for me, now is the right time to call it a day," Coles said.
"I hope very much to stay involved in the sport, however, and have a passion for both the development of the sport domestically and for coaching young people and passing on some of the things I have learned over the years."
The most experienced of the 16 New Zealand rowers in Beijing, she took her first strokes in 1994 and has been a member of the national elite squad since 1998.
In recent years, she has coached girls' crews at Waikato Diocesan School in Hamilton.
Rowing New Zealand chairman Bill Falconer was disappointed to hear news of Coles' retirement.
"Nicky is one of those people who you just expect to carry on competing at the highest level so unquestionably she'll be missed from our elite racing programme," he said.
- NZPA
