Three-times Olympic speed skating champion Marianne Timmer has retired from the sport with immediate effect.

Her decision follows a poor performance at the Dutch championships, partly due to illness.
Timmer, 36, took three Olympic titles in 1998 and 2006 and was the first Dutch world sprint champion in 2004.
Timmer had originally planned to retire after the 2010 Vancouver Olympics but was put out of that competition by injury, leading her to add another year.