Two-time Olympic champion Anna Meares has retired from cycling two months after winning bronze in Rio.

The Australian, 33, denied Victoria Pendleton Olympic sprint gold in London four years ago, having lost out to the Briton in Beijing four years earlier.

In total, Meares won six Olympic medals and 11 world titles.

"It is hard to close this chapter, because it is a bloody big one," she said. "But I am excited about the doors opening to the next chapter."

Meares needed six cortisone injections in her spine just to get to Rio, and left Brazil with a bronze medal in the keirin behind Britain's silver medallist Becky James.