Ethiopia's Haile Gebrselassie has announced his retirement from competitive running after dropping out of the 2010 ING New York City Marathon and abandoned his plan to compete at the London 2012 Olympics, where he had hoped to win a third gold medal.
The decision ended an 18-year international career that included two Olympic gold medals, eight world titles and an astonishing 27 world records.
The 37-year-old was the star attraction and had been tipped to go toe-to-toe with last year's victor Meb Keflezighi in a battle dubbed by local media as 'Meb v Geb'.
But as the runners crossed over the Queensborough Bridge at the 16-mile mark, Gebrselassie pulled up clutching his right knee and signalled that he could no longer continue.
The Ethiopian looked on as countryman Gebre Gebremarium stormed to victory on his first appearance in the Big Apple.
"I never thought about retirement," he said. "But for the first time, this is the day. Let me stop and do other work after this.
"Let me do another job. Let me give a chance to the youngsters. I did very hard work to win this race, it didn't work.
"I knew about this problem," he continued. "What happened yesterday was that when the doctor came to me to bring me to an MRI.
"They said there is a kind of fluid inside. That's why this happened. I have no complaints, really. It's better not to complain anymore."
Gebrselassie told us earlier this year after winning the BUPA Great North run in Manchester he had no plan to retire, just a few months after he bowed out.