5 Athletes Who Retired in Their Prime: For different athletes, the age at which they reach their peak in their sports career varies depending on various factors like their style of playing and also on the sport. Most athletes tend to retire once their performance starts to drop due to reasons of age or illness, unless there is a reason to exit professional sports much sooner than anticipated by anyone. However, some athletes decide to leave early, citing different reasons, which also involve their personal priorities and mental health.
These are the athletes who retired in their prime:
Michael Jordon
Sport: Basketball
Michael Jordon, the legendary basketball star athlete decided to retire in the year 1993 to try his hand at baseball following the murder of his father, who wanted to see his son as a baseball player. However, Jordon decided to return to the MLB in 1995. His peak, however, was considered to be during the year 1993.
Annika Sorenstam
Sport: Golf
Annika Sorestam is almost on the list of athletes who retired in their prime. She is considered to be one of the greatest female golfers in history and has won 90 international tournaments, and also holds the all-time LPGA record for having won $22 million during the span of her career. At the age of 37, Annika decided to retire, and her reason for taking a retirement was for the purpose of focusing on her personal life and start her family life.
Annika Sorenstam, Image Credits: skysports.com
Barry Sanders
Sport: Football
Barry Sanders is a retired NFL player who played for the Detroit Lions. He decided to retire in the year 1998 despite having shown elite performance. However, during his sports career, he had established himself to be one of the greatest running backs in all of NFL history for over 10 seasons, where he accumulated a total of 15,269 rushing yards.
Lorena Ochoa
Sport: Golf
Lorena Ochoa’s golf career only spanned a period of eight years. By the year 2007, she had already ranked number 1 amongst female golfers in the world. However, despite being the highest-paid female golfer, soon after reaching the number 1 rank in 2010, she decided to retire from golf at the age of 28.
Rocky Marciano
Sport: Boxing
Rocky Marciano was born in Massachusetts and started working in the U.S Army in the year 1943. He did amateur boxing for a while before having his first professional match, where he defeated Lee Epperson by a knockout in the third round. Marciano was popular for his powerful punching style and being a tough fighter, though some said he lacked finesse. Ezzard Charles, Archie Moore, and Joe Walcott are some of the legendary boxers that he fought and won matches against.
He decided to retire from boxing at the age of 32, undefeated despite it all, and he remains to be be the only boxer in heavyweight champion history to have retired undefeated. From the year 1952 to 1956, he held the title of the World Heavyweight Champion.
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