Olympic rowing champion Ed Coode on Sunday dropped the broadest of hint he is ready to retire from the sport.

The 29-year-old was a member of the men's four, along with Matthew Pinsent, James Cracknell and Steve Williams, that secured a dramatic victory over the Canadians by eight one-hundredths of a second.

Coode suffered a traumatic time at the Sydney Olympics and nearly quit the sport after finishing fourth in the pair while his two former crews, the four and the eight, both won gold.

After two months, Coode realised he needed to reach another Olympic final and in stark contrast to four years ago is now considering retirement while on the highest of highs.

"I couldn't have asked for more, a dream ending to finish on that race," he said on Sunday.

"I will never get tired of talking about that day. I love the fact that people enjoy seeing the medal. I think it means more to other people than it does to the athletes.

"I think about the race and the achievement. This is a souvenir which I can never let go of."

Coode would not officially confirm his decision to retire but he indicated strongly that to reach Beijing is a challenge he might not be prepared to take.

"It was a long winter and there were a lot of times I thought 'maybe I should be cutting my losses now'," he said.

"I had some virus from over-training earlier in the year and there were lots of times over this winter when I was thinking after the Olympics maybe I should be calling it a day and get on with a future career."

One event which may persuade Coode to continue in the immediate future is the prospect of competing in the world championships on home water.

"They are in Britain in 2006 and that is a nice carrot," he said.

"I will take a month's holiday in which we will all (Pinsent, Cracknell and Williams) make a decision on what our plans for the next four years are going to be.

"That is the way rowing goes. It is all about one race a year. There are the world championships and they are just three smaller peaks to the Olympics.

"You are always looking at a four year cycle."

Coode's story is a roller-coaster ride of jubilant highs, like becoming a world champion in 1999, to the desperate lows of missing out in Sydney.

In the build-up to the Games, Coode was moved from the men's eight to the four as injury cover for Tim Foster and he went on to win the 1999 world championships along with Pinsent, Cracknell and Steven Redgrave.

But injury intervened and Coode was moved again, this time into the pair with Greg Searle and he suffered the heartbreak of that fourth place finish while the four and the eight, his former crews, won gold.

That hit Coode hard. He considered giving it all up. But after a couple of months' reflection he realised he had to try again and so committed to the four year programme which took him to Athens.

Even then, nothing was cut and dried. He was back in the eight only for Alex Partridge to suffer a punctured lung seven weeks before the Games and suddenly Coode found himself on the starting line of the final with his finest chance of Olympic glory 2000m away.

"The whole Olympic champion thing - I have always thought someone who is an Olympic champion must be some sort of magician or god," he said.

"So when people ask: 'How do you feel to be Olympic champion?', I don't feel any different as a person.

"A mate told me it is because it was in me all along. That makes me feel a bit more comfortable."