Kelly Gallagher: Winter Paralympic gold medallist announces skiing retirement

Winter Paralympic gold medallist Kelly Gallagher admits it is strange saying goodbye to something that has "caused me so much pain and excitement" after announcing her retirement from skiing.

However, she is due to give birth to her second child around the time the Beijing Games begin on 4 March.

"I think it's strange after so many years," said Gallagher, 36.

"It's been a big chunk of time - I think I've been racing for 12 years and there's people who have been with me on that journey the whole time, so it's strange saying goodbye to something that has caused me so much pain and excitement at the same time."

Gallagher won gold in the super-G category at the Sochi Games in 2014 when the Bangor native and her guide, Charlotte Evans, clocked one minute 28.72 seconds.

She is also a multiple World Championship medallist, but while she says her career has been a "privilege and an adventure", she admits she will not miss the grind of having to travel or putting herself at risk when competing on the snow.

"It is nice to say goodbye to logging a whole load of weight around the countries of Europe and getting up in the morning and putting myself at severe risk when I've been racing," added Gallagher, who is the first athlete from Northern Ireland to compete at the Winter Paralympics.

"It's nice in one way but also sad that it's the end of that chapter of ski racing because I never imagined that I would be a ski racer, but then to say goodbye to it, it's a big part of your identity just to let go of."

'Every door that opened, I ran through it'

When asked to reflect on her achievements, Gallagher said: "It nearly seems like another world, that it was another person.

"Like I said, I wasn't a young child thinking of being a ski racer or a World Cup racer, it was an adventure where every door that opened, I ran through it and really enjoyed the fun and the spin that I was on.

"So now that it's all settled down, I guess there is a little bit of 'what do I do now?'

"There are gold medals in my house and there are races I think of so fondly but they maybe weren't the blue ribbon events.

"There have been some amazing times but also sad times, like injuries, a lot of politics, funding issues, things that are always in the back of athletes' minds.

"There is a lot to take in so it will take me a while to really process it."

Gallagher (right) with her guide Charlotte Evans after winning gold in Sochi

Gallagher, who has oculocutaneous albinism, a condition with affects the pigment in her hair, skin and eyes, started skiing for the first time when she was 17 and reached the pinnacle of her sport at the Rosa Khutor course in Sochi.

However, having travelled to Russia with the goal of winning five gold medals, she admits to not appreciating the enormity of her achievement until she returned home.

"I still remember the relief of actually winning," she said.

"Sochi, I was going to win five gold medals in my head, that's what I was focused on, so it was actually a massive disappointment for me personally.

"Then when I got home, everyone celebrated with me with the gold medal, then I realised I was the first, and it was such a big deal.

"It's helped the younger members of the team develop in terms of funding and set-up, it set the ball rolling in that way so I've loved looking back and realising it was maybe the start of somebody else's story."