Dame Flora Duffy has revealed she contemplated retirement as she battled a long-term knee injury.

Duffy, 36, did not race in 2023 and the emotional and physical toll of visiting a number of different doctors and physiotherapists in an attempt to fix the issue left her facing the real prospect of calling time on her illustrious career in December.

“There was some extremely low days through this entire process,” said Duffy speaking on the inaugural episode of the Chasing the Burn podcast, hosted by American triathlete Chelsea Burns, who is Duffy’s training partner.

“I definitely said I should definitely retire quite a lot,” Duffy said.

“Even if it may not have had real meaning behind it, at the back of my mind as this went on I thought this could be the one injury that I can’t heal, that this might be it.

“I didn’t want to give in to the voice in my head telling me to retire and I was just trying to focus on healing my knee. However, as the year went on and it got to December [2023] I had the lowest point in a really hectic 72-hour period.

“Dan [husband Dan Hugo] was leaving for South Africa and the day before he left we had our first serious talk about my knee not healing and that this might be it and we might have to start seriously thinking about retirement.

“The other big elephant in the room at that point is that I hadn’t raced in a year and the Paris Olympics, which was my big goal, is months away.

“If I was seriously aiming to go there and win a medal, the one thing you don’t do is not train the entire year before and so my window of opportunity was closing and so that was the first moment where I seriously thought that was the end.

“I was very emotional and quite sad. Then Dan left the next day and Marcos [massage therapist], who doesn’t normally give unsolicited advice or opinion, just said to me ‘Flora, I don’t know if this is going to work for you and I want you to know that it’s OK if you don’t get healthy and have to retire’.

“At that point I’m bawling my eyes out and that was definitely the moment where I thought this is the end.”

However, just as she had reached her darkest moment, Duffy was handed a glimmer of hope.

“I went to see a doctor a day later to see if my knee had improved because I was at the point of retiring and to me it felt like a miracle because he gave me an injection and two days later all of the residue pain had gone,” she added.

“To me it feels like a miracle because by this point it had been a year of severe knee pain and in my mind it felt like this was the rapid decline of my career.

“I’d seen a lot of really good people and no one had been able to get it fully healthy.

“I knew with my knee that I couldn’t get too excited, but it definitely gave me some hope for the first time in a long time.”

With renewed optimism and, for now, seemingly on the road to recovery, Duffy will attempt to further etch her name into sporting history with a second gold medal on the biggest stage of them all this summer in Paris.

“It’s not like I need another one [gold medal], but I would like another one,” added Duffy, who is aiming to become the first female to defend an Olympic triathlon title and emulate male counterpart Alistair Brownlee.

“I’ve always loved the Olympics and even through my darkest days the only thing that got me through was the thought of racing at the Olympics in Paris.

“I don’t need to win another World Triathlon Championship race in my career, but do I want to go to the Olympics with the belief that I can win another medal? Yes, that absolutely is worth fighting through all of this horrible injury.

“Going back as a defending champion is a cool position to be in. Not everyone gets to do that and so it’s a fun prospect.

“Another major reason is because I’m from a small island and winning a medal is just huge. It is really meaningful and impactful and so that plays a role in why I want to go back.”

With focus firmly on making the start line in Paris on July 31, Duffy has started to plan the dates for her potential return to competitive action, with sights set on the Africa Triathlon series and the World Triathlon Championship Series.

“The loose plan is to do an African Triathlon Cup race as my first one back and then WTCS Yokohama [in Japan on May 11] and then WTCS Cagliari [in Italy on May 25],” said Duffy, who is aiming to enhance her Olympic qualification ranking, which now stands at 29th, before the two-year qualification period ends on May 27.

“Those are the final two races in the Olympic qualification period and will be my final two races before Paris.

“My spot is pretty much secured, but I would like to boost my ranking spot to get a better seeding for the Olympics.”