The 30-year-old Long, who has competed at three Paralympic Games, has amassed a total of six medals and several World Championship podium finishes over a career that has lasted almost thirteen years.

 

He said: “As you go through your career – although you are still improving – those improvements become smaller and smaller and soon you find that the sport catches up with you and eventually overtakes you.

 

“I went to the World Championships in December and it was the first major international that I have been to and came away without a medal.

 

"That made me think now was time to retire.

 

“I’ve had a fantastic career, which has spanned almost 13 years."

 

The London-based athlete made his international swimming debut at the 1994 Swimming World Championships where he won gold in the 100 metres butterfly before taking silver in the 4x100m medley relay.

 

His Paralympic debut came in Atlanta in 1996, where he repeated his World Championship success taking gold in the 100m butterfly and silver in the 4x100m relay as well as bronze in the 200m individual medley.

 

Four years later in Sydney he retained his 100m butterfly title and won gold in the 4x100m freestyle relay before taking silver in the 4x100m medley relay.

 

“My greatest career moments were winning the 100m butterfly in Atlanta- in a world record time and wining silver in the medley relay in Sydney," said Long. 

 

"Although we did only get silver, we knew from the outset that the Canadians were going to win gold so it was a battle for second place between us and Australia.

 

"We beat the Australians in the final five metres of the race, which to do in Australiain front of thousands of Australian supporters was fantastic.”

 

Long, whose last Paralympic Games medal came in Athensin 2004 when he won bronze in the S8 100m butterfly, also classes this as one of his best achievements.

 

“Winning bronze in Athenswas brilliant – it may seem a bit strange to say and looking back it would have been great to have won the gold - but taking bronze made my career successful over three Paralympic Games.

 

"It also made me realise what I’d achieved and how far the Paralympic movement had come." 

 

Long, who already does a lot of public, motivational and inspirational speaking, said he plans to increase this work now he has retired from competition but will also be looking for new challenges.

 

He said: “It’s quite a nice feeling to be retiring but all of a sudden I’ve got 30 extra hours a week.

 

“At the moment I’m just going to take a bit of a step back but in the future I may look at getting involved in coaching.

 

"I’m particularly interested in coaching at the grass roots level as the most important thing is to get the skills right when you are young.

 

“My advice to young athletes coming into the sport would be - don’t be afraid of making changes – especially if they mean that you can carry on enjoying the sport because that’s the key thing.

 

"If you don’t enjoy it you’ll never win a race and it’s the enjoyment that will keep you focused on being the best.”

 

With extra free time on his hands Long will now also be taking up new activities.

 

He said: “My brother and I have always said that we would like to learn to surf, so I’m planning on doing that this year too.”

 

Phil Lane, chief executive of the British Paralympic Association, said: “Giles has, over the years, been a terrific Paralympic athlete and has made a tremendous contribution to the Paralympic movement in the UK.

 

“He has not only shown dedication to performing to the best of his abilities in his sport but has also always been keen to support and promote the Paralympic movement as a whole.

 

“Giles’ decision to retire from elite sport demonstrates just how competitive the Paralympic Games are but we hope that he continues to contribute to sport in the UKand we wish him all the best for the future.”

 

Long was awarded the MBE in the 2006 New Year’s Honours List.

 

For more information about him and his public speaking business visit www.gileslong.com.