When Australia's most successful Paralympian, Matt Cowdrey, looked at his future, he couldn't see a swimming pool.
Cowdrey couldn't picture the black line on the bottom of a pool, let alone the starter's blocks at next year's Rio Games.
So, aged 26, he ended one of Australia's most remarkable sporting careers.
"For the first time, I couldn't see myself competing on the international stage," Cowdrey told reporters on Tuesday.
"I have come to the realisation that I have achieved what I wanted to achieve.
"That was really the lightning rod for the decision, the fact that I sat down and really couldn't envisage myself on the blocks in Rio."
Cowdrey, born with a congenital amputation to his lower left arm, won 23 medals, 13 of them gold, at three Paralympic Games - no Australian has collected more.
He also won 16 world championship titles and set 13 world records but the prospect of more didn't excite.
"I know I could get in the pool now and still be capable of getting on the Australian team," he said.
"But I don't want to put myself in the position where I'm not training to my full capacity and not giving 100 per cent of myself to swimming."
Cowdrey was victorious in his pet events, the 100m freestyle and 200m individual medley, at three consecutive Paralympics.
The South Australian rated two triumphs at the 2012 London Games, his 11th and 13th career medals, as the most coveted.
"The 11th - to have broken that threshold of becoming the most successful Paralympian in Australia, that is something special," he said.
"The other one is the 13th ... to have my parents there, who have supported me so much, that was very special. They hadn't seen a Paralympic gold medal until that point."
Cowdrey, who has completed a law and media university degree and works in managing consulting, was now looking forward to sleep-ins and more golf - in 2010, he competed at the South Australian Amateur Amputee Golf Championships.
He also forecast a career in politics, having experience working with the Department of Foreign Affairs and an internship in the office of US congresswoman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen.
"I have got a very strong passion for politics," he said.
"But obviously that doesn't just translate to me putting my hand up and walking into something.
"I have got to make sure I put myself in a position to do that in the future and that's certainly what I'd like to do."
MATT COWDREY'S SWIM CAREER
* 23 Paralympic medals
* 13 Paralympic gold medals (three in 2004, five in 2008, five in 2012)
* Most Paralympic gold medals by an Australian (next best Tim Sullivan, athletics, 10)
* Most Paralympic medals by an Australian (next best Kingsley Bugarin, swimming, 19)
* 16 world championship titles
* 13 world records
* Four Commonwealth Games medals (three gold, one silver)
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