BERLIN -- Triple Olympic speedskating gold medalist Anni Friesinger-Postma is ending her career after undergoing an operation on her right knee.
The 33-year-old German says on her website that she had hoped to participate in the 2011 world championships in Inzell. But she added: "I have to recognize now that my knee doesn't allow me to continue in high-performance sports."
Friesinger-Postma won 3,000-meter bronze at the 1998 Nagano Games, gold in the 1,500 in Salt Lake City in 2002, gold in the team pursuit and bronze in the 1,000 four years ago in Turin.
She capped her Olympic career by helping Germany to a team pursuit gold this year in Vancouver. Germany qualified for the final after she fell onto the ice then slid across the finish line to edge the United States.