Zetao announced retirement from swimming

China’s former 100m freestyle world champion pin-up Ning Zetao announced his retirement from the sport on Wednesday, his 26th birthday, National Daily learnt.

A fan favourite in China because of his ability and looks, Ning won the 100m freestyle world title in 2015 and was a four-time gold medallist at the Asian Games a year earlier.

But his career has been on the slide since and he hangs up his trunks with the reputation of a talent never fulfilled.

Ning, who served a one-year suspension after testing positive for clenbuterol in 2011, announced his retirement on Weibo, China’s equivalent of Twitter.

After his feat at the world championships the colourful Ning looked set to star at the Olympics.

But he bombed at Rio 2016, where he failed to qualify for the 100m freestyle final.

In February 2017 he was thrown out of the China team for “violating the rules” over sponsorship.

He was unable to defend his world title later that year after failing to qualify for the showpiece, citing an abdominal injury.