There were no tears from Matthew Pinsent as he finally announced his retirement from rowing yesterday.

He had left all those behind on a drenched victory podium at Schinias rowing centre on the outskirts of Athens three months ago, when he had blubbed for Britain after collecting his fourth Olympic gold medal.

Yesterday, at the Leander Club in Henley-on-Thames overlooking the river which had been his torture chamber for half a lifetime, there was just enormous pride in a job well done and an acceptance that, after 15 years at the top in the most arduous of sports, there was just not one more competitive stroke left in him.

''I always felt that my body would tell me in the weeks following the Games whether I wanted to do it again,'' said Pinsent.

''After Barcelona and Atlanta I was ready to train within days. Sydney took longer, but after a month or two I desperately wanted to row again.

''Athens has been different. I poured my soul into that race in Athens in a way I cannot describe. I think my body knows it is done.

''It's not that I don't want to train. I just feel that I've done it. I've been on Parkinson. I've done Desert Island Discs.''

He has also cemented his place in history as the greatest British Olympian after Sir Steven Redgrave, his former partner who won five successive golds.

Redgrave will head the organising committee when Pinsent has the first-ever rowing testimonial next year.

That means Pinsent can expect to pick up at least £1m, although with an autobiography 'A Lifetime in a Race' out in time for Christmas, a newspaper column, television commitments and a burgeoning motivational-speaking career he does not have any worries about paying the mortgage.

Emulating Redgrave's record in Bejing in 2008, he revealed, had never been a realistic option.

''You might be surprised that the challenge of Steve's Olympic record is not more of an incentive,'' said Pinsent. "But chasing records is a bad reason for continuing."

He also ruled out any chance of a comeback on the lines of crew-mate James Cracknell, who announced he was taking a year out of the sport before deciding whether to race in Bejing.

''I'm different to James,'' said Pinsent. ''He loves training. He's never more than 12 weeks away from full rowing fitness. My fitness is like a plane dropping a bomb.

''It just falls away and pretty soon it will be too far to come back. I'll be overweight with soft hands, there's a point of no return. You have to be there because you want to be and I don't want to be.''

The legacy he leaves will be an inspiration for young Olympians for decades to come. The statistics alone are extraordinary.

- Gold in 1992 in the coxed pairs with Redgrave and cox Garry Herbert.

- Gold in 1996 with Redgrave in the coxless pairs.

- Gold in 2000 with Redgrave, Cracknell and Tim Foster in the coxless fours.

- Gold in 2004 with Cracknell, Ed Coode and Steve Williams, again in the coxless fours.

Quite a haul for the lad from Eton who started rowing at 13 because ''I wasn't very good at rugby, cricket or football.''

He is left with a myriad memories, including the famous moment he clambered over Foster to embrace Redgrave immediately following the latter's fifth gold.

And that unforgettable photo-finish just three months ago when the British boat beat the Canadians by the blink of an eye.

Why the resulting tears?

''I always thought that it would probably be my last race,'' he said.

''That race was make or break, either be remembered as a winner or a loser."