After Ray Lewis' Super Bowl swansong, we take a look back at other athletes who retired on a high note.
We pick out 10 athletes who retired on a high
Baltimore Ravens linebacker Ray Lewis brought the curtain down on his 17-season NFL career with victory over the San Francisco 49ers in Super Bowl XLVII.
Lewis' swansong provided the perfect ending, ensuring the final memory Ravens fans will have is of him lifting the Vince Lombardi trophy.
We've had a trawl through the archives and picked out some other athletes who went out in similar style.
Michael Phelps
Phelps called time after winning four gold and two silver medals at the London 2012 Olympic Games.
That haul took his tally to a record 18 Olympic golds in a career that began back in earnest with a world record in the 200 metres butterfly as a 15-year-old in 2001.
The Baltimore swimmer's finest hour came with a perfect eight golds - another record - at the 2008 Beijing Games.
He signed off in style in his final race, swimming the butterfly leg in the United States' 4x100m medley relay victory in London.
Pete Sampras
Sampras was the dominant force in men's tennis during the mid and late 1990s, spending 286 weeks ranked as world number one.
The big-serving American made Wimbledon his personal fiefdom for much of the decade, winning the title seven times in eight years from 1993 among a total of 14 grand slams.
After turning 30, his game appeared to be in terminal decline, the low point coming when he was beaten by world number 145 George Bastl in the second round of Wimbledon in 2002.
But he roused himself one last time later the same year at the US Open, seeing off his great rival Andre Agassi in the final - his last act as a professional.
John Elway
Elway failed to win the Super Bowl during his first 14 years in the NFL - all of which were spent as quarterback of the Denver Broncos after being drafted first overall out of Stanford.
On three occasions Elway's Broncos fell short in the big game, defeats that seemed destined to define his career.
But the arrival of Mike Shanahan as head coach proved the catalyst for the Broncos to claim back-to-back Super Bowls victories in the 1997 and 1998 seasons.
After the second of those - a 34-19 win over the Atlanta Falcons - Elway, by now 38, picked up the MVP award and then walked away from the sport.
Tony Adams
The central figure in Arsenal's "famous five" defence, Adams made 669 appearances for the North London club in a turbulent 19-year career.
He won 10 major trophies, including four league titles, but also battled alcoholism and spent 57 days in jail for drink driving after crashing his car into a wall in 1990.
After giving up drinking, Adams played for England at the 1998 World Cup and flourished under Arsene Wenger's management at Highbury.
He twice captained Arsenal to the Premier League and FA Cup double, hanging up his boots after the second of those in 2001-02, which was clinched with a win over Manchester United at Old Trafford.
Annika Sorenstam
Sorenstam was world number one in the women's golf rankings when she decided to retire in 2008.
The Swede collected 10 majors among 90 professional victories and was the first woman to take part in a PGA Tour event for 58 years when she accepted an invite to the Bank of
