Olympic gold medal winner Greg Rutherford bids farewell in Newcastle

The all-conquering Rutherford, who will retire with every major title to his name, chose the relatively low-key event to signal the end to his illustrious but increasingly injury-ravaged career.

His final leap of 7.38 metres will not trouble the record books - it was not even enough to claim victory in a mixed four-athlete field - but Rutherford, who engaged with the crowd throughout, said the emotion of the occasion had made it all worthwhile.

Rutherford told Press Association Sport: "It was unbelievably overpowering. I was trying to laugh the whole way through then suddenly it hit me that I was standing on the runway for the final time.

"It's hard to explain that moment when you realise it's the last time you'll be doing something that you've always known and loved. I was determined not to cry but it was hard, with such a wonderful occasion to go out on."

Fellow north-east athletics hero Brendan Foster was among the first to congratulate Rutherford on his career, hailing him for confounding expectations to become a true star of his sport.

"Greg has been a wonderful athlete and a wonderful ambassador," said Foster. "There were people who said he might be a flash in the pan. All I can say is, it was a bloody big pan."

By his own admission Rutherford has been "rubbish" for the last two years of his career, beset by a series of injuries which convinced him his time at the top level is over.

But he will retire having completed a clean sweep of major titles, which seemed improbable even in the wake of his London Olympic triumph as he found himself battling accusations that he had simply struck lucky.

Recovering from motivational issues which he admits made him question his future even as he was basking in the glow of his 2012 success, Rutherford won his first European and Commonwealth Games titles two years later.

His World Championships win in Beijing in 2015, with his second best jump of 8.41m, made the so-called nearly-man only the fifth British athlete to hold the four major titles simultaneously.

Injuries hampered Rutherford's attempt to retain his Olympic crown in Rio 2016, an effort which began to convince him that his days at the top of the sport were finally numbered.

But Rutherford expressed no regrets at extending his career in order to return to the scene of his greatest triumph, where he finished last at the Anniversary Games in July.

"Coming into this year I was so determined to get back," added Rutherford.

"I would have retired with a bit of an unknown last year, and maybe by now I would have been thinking 'what if?'

"At least now I have put it to bed. If you dwell on it, it can eat you up. There is regret from the point of view that I'm rubbish now, but there is no regret that I had to find out."

Rutherford says he has plenty of further ambitions outside the sport. He is contemplating a switch to track cycling, and has already signed a deal to appear on a as-yet-unidentified television series, for which filming is due to begin more or less immediately.

"Life moves on," said Rutherford. "I don't want to be defined in 30 years as the guy who jumped into a sandpit. I want to have other achievements."

In nearby Stockton, newly-crowned European and Diamond League 1500m champion Laura Muir overhauled Holland's Susan Krumins to win the women's one-mile race in a photo finish.