Kent's Olympic champion Jamie Staff has announced his retirement from competitive cycling.

The 36-year-old Ashford rider said in a statement on his website this week that he felt “it was time to pass the challenge" on to the younger members of the GB squad in the lead up to the London Olympics in 2012.

"I’ve been racing for 27 years and have accomplished all my goals in winning World and Olympic titles at two cycling disciplines.”

Staff, who lives in Ashford with his wife Malia and two children, was a member of the Great Britain team which won the Team Sprint at the Beijing Olympics.

He has been troubled in recent months by a back injury which ruled him out of selection for last week’s world track championships in Copenhagen.

His decision to retire marks the end of a glittering career which saw him win 16 medals at major championships after first starting out in BMX racing.

He added: “To be honest, ever since Beijing I have been thinking about whether I could carry on until the London Olympics.

"It was very appealing target, but realistically I have come to the conclusion that my age is against me, and I don’t want to stand in the way of a younger rider coming through into the sprint team.”

However Staff did confirm he will remain heavily involved in cycling as a coach, saying: “I am in the process of setting up a number of projects to help guide young athletes in the right direction and I am also in the process of establishing my own bicycle company.

“Over the last few years I’ve become involved with coaching young riders and I now feel that this is the direction I would like to take.

"Watching someone improve under your guidance is to me a wonderful thing, so if I can give the young riders of today a chance to compete at the levels I have then I would feel very proud.”