Injury-plagued 'Herminator' retires

VIENNA: Hermann Maier, the grand old man of Austrian skiing, brought the curtain down on his glittering career on Tuesday after failing to recover from a knee injury sustained last March.

"I have decided to bring to an end my career as a competitive skier," Maier told a press conference here.

It brings to an end an illustrious career during which Maier won 54 races on the World Cup circuit, four Olympic medals (including two golds in 1998) and six world championship medals (including three golds - downhill and Super-G in 1999 and giant slalom in 2005).