Greg Bennet has announced his retirement from Triathlon as an athlete.

Greg Bennet through his facebook account has announced his retirement as an athlete:

“To all my friends in the Triathlon world, I want to take this moment to announce that I will be retiring from the sport of Triathlon as an athlete. I get emotional as I write this. Please apologize for the length. My life in Lycra is coming to an end. After 30 years of racing, 27 years as a professional, I’d like to thank everyone who has helped me in my life to get to this point. After approximately 25,000+ hrs of swimming, biking, running and approx. 500 races (approx. 20% win rate) and more than 20 bike crashes it’s time!

I’ll mention several people, please forgive me if I miss names.

My Dad, Peter Bennett and Mum Suzanne Bennett – I know it’s often cliche to thank Mum and Dad in a speech, but I have no choice. They encouraged me to chase my dreams and they committed to helping me process those dreams to goals and finally reality. Thank you for all the wise advice and instilling my passion for the pursuit of excellence.

If it wasn’t for my brothers Michael and Nathan Bennett I would have never had the beatings necessary to get me ready for the world stage. Thanks guys!

The most important thank you of all has to go to my beautiful wife Laura Bennett. Our meeting in 2000 changed my life forever. Together we have taken on some of the greatest challenges in world sport and achieved. We optimized our performances as a team and Laura was the backbone behind all of it… helping me manage my emotions and expectations, dealing with the running of the business, all whilst preparing herself for multiple Olympics and winning major events on the global stage. Laura did all this while being the most stunning gorgeous wife a man could ever dream of. Love you babe!

Special thanks must also go to my coaches and advisors from the early stages of my career: Steve Buchberger – My first Triathlon coach, Steve always made the sport fun. I was never overly stressed and I credit much of my long career to him for never burning me out young. Rob Higley (aka the Guru) – My run coach, he taught me to love running as the most pure form of movement (side note, he also coached Simon Whitfield and Craig Alexander). Brett Sutton – In the late 90’s I learned how to train hard and how much more my body could take even when I thought I had nothing left. I’ll never forget setting the treadmill to 22.5km/hr +1° and Brett saying “35sec run, 25sec off… until you drop!” (I managed 150 until he said enough). Lance Watson – After the disappointment of being left off the Australian Team for the 2000 Olympics, Lance was the balance I needed to get myself back on course and fall in love with the sport all over again. Thank you to all of you for your wisdom and challenging me to be a better athlete and a better man.

Special thanks to my In-laws Paul & Sheri Reback for all your encouragement and support. Letting me marry your daughter and taking her all around the world with me has been the greatest gift.

Thank you to all my friends and peers in the sport. Racing as a professional for almost 3 decades has allowed me to compete against some of the greatest athletes on the planet. These great athletes have also been some of the greatest people one could have ever asked to have had in one’s life. Thanks for testing me beyond wherever I thought possible.

If you had asked me when I was 14yrs old back in 1986 if I would like a 30 year career as a professional athlete I would have thought I’d died and gone to heaven. This has been a dream and one I’m incredibly grateful for.

Special thanks to all my long list of sponsors. It goes without saying, a professional Triathlete could not have a career without the support from incredible businesses that back an athlete… even when that athlete doesn’t perform to expectation. Thank you to all the race directors who put on incredible events and offered at times incredible prize purses. Thank you to the media and photographers who generated the buzz around the sport and helped me personally show case many of my events.

Thank you for my team of body workers (Chiropractors, massage therapists, dry needlers, ART, Graston). I spent many hours each and every week for the past 30 years on your tables. Keeping my body in check even when I thought it was all over, you kept me going!

I thank everyone that supported me, whether winning global races or helping me stay positive during the long down periods. The sport has been incredibly good to me and I feel very blessed for all the experiences that it has offered.

Ending one career, I’ll look for opportunities within the sport, with the goal of sharing my knowledge and understanding of performance optimization with individuals and possibly federations (If you know of a Federation that needs help with performance optimization let me know!). I hope I’ll see you all at various events and locations around the world.

Thank you!

Greg“.