Crates carried the flag for Great Britain at the Beijing opening ceremony

Former Paralympic gold medallist Danny Crates has announced his retirement from athletics.

Crates, who took gold in the T46 800m at Athens in 2004, will run his final race at Crystal Palace on 25 July.

"I've had a fantastic career over 11 years," the 36-year-old Heybridge athlete told BBC Essex.

"But the last two years haven't gone quite according to plan and it's been quite frustrating because I think I had more to give."

"The only frustration I have is that time-wise I don't think I ever ran as fast as I think I could have," he added.

Alongside his Olympic triumph, he also won titles at European, world and World Cup level, as well as taking silver in the Sydney Paralympics of 2000.

He also had the honour of carrying the flag for Great Britain in opening ceremony of last year's Beijing Games.

However, he has struggled with injury in the last 18 months and also had some of his lottery funding cut ahead of this season.

"People are surprised that I'm retiring - everyone seems to think I was going to go to 2012," he admitted.

"But I think it was always my aim to retire around this time - my age is 36 and London for me was always going to be a long shot.

Every time I put the GB vest on I was immensely proud to do so and I never took lightly the fact I was running for Great Britain Danny Crates

Crates has been one of Britain's most successful Paralympic athletes for a decade but remained humble about his achievements.

"I'd like to be remembered as someone who had an athletic's career, rather than someone who won all of the time, because I didn't - I had highs, I had lows," he said.

"But every time I put the GB vest on I was immensely proud to do so and I never took lightly the fact I was running for Great Britain."

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