The storied swimming career of Stephen Fahy is over.

After months of wrestling with the decision, the 23-year-old has decided to call it a day and ease into the `real world' of making a conventional living, citing a lack of desire to continue training towards competition at events such as the World Championships, Commonwealth and Olympic Games.

"I've decided to move on to new interests," said Fahy yesterday. "I just found that when I was going to train the old drive and desire to keep pushing 100 percent in practice wasn't there, and if I can't do it to the level that I'm used to doing it, then it's time to not do it at all."

"I think that swimming is too hard a sport to go half way, and from that perspective the best thing for me to do is to stop swimming.

"I just graduated as well, which was another factor in it, whereas I had no more eligibility and couldn't compete at university. I took some time off after the Games last fall and decided when I went back to school to get back into shape, but, like I said, the drive wasn't really there and I started to think about things like getting a job and moving on, and that took priority so . . ."

The turnaround has been quite dramatic, as a conversation last December during winter training camp with Fahy and local coach Stephen Castree noted the swimmer contemplating his future competition overseas.

"Between then and now priorities changed," said Fahy. "Where it hit me was being in the pool and training at one level, and if I could train at that level then I could think of going to the World Championships or Commonwealth Games, but if I'm not training at that level then there's no point in doing it.

"So I'd rather go out knowing that when I was swimming I was giving 100 percent in practice and everything."

Still, Fahy can look back on a career which brought forth much personal satisfaction and a great deal of pride upon the hearts of Bermudians.

Fahy made a splash both locally and overseas, his first major international event being the Commonwealth Games in 1994, where he smashed the national record in the 100 metres butterfly, and came back later in the competition to help power the 4x100 metres medley relay team to a new mark.

After barely missing out on making the 1996 Olympic squad, he assured himself a place in Sydney when he lowered the butterfly standard at the 1999 Pan American Games in Winnipeg, Canada. And while his experience in Sydney, where he failed to further lower the mark, may not have been what he hoped time-wise, he held no regrets and noted the trip Down Under to have provided memories he will never forget.

"Yeah, I went through all the goals that I set out, with the Olympics the main one," he said. "After that any goals I had were time goals. I would have liked to have swum faster at the Olympics, where by the way I did not swim five seconds off my best as was completely inaccurately reported, I was half a second off my best.

"I was expecting big drops at the Games, it didn't happen, and I think it takes a lot of factors coming together to improve substantially. I was confident I could improve then. I didn't which drove me to want to continue swimming, but the reality going back into training was different.

"The Olympics opening ceremony was a huge thrill. One of my favourite trips was to the Commonwealth Games in `94, my first major competition, where we had a big team and had a lot of fun as well and swam well. And also the Pan Am Games in `99, where I had my most success on the international stage, so I have a lot of memories.

"Swimming gave me the opportunity to travel and go to a lot of different places. I love to compete anyway, that was always a great thrill. And then there are the things you learn from training and competing that you don't quite realise at the time, but I'll start to realise how it does help you in life in general. Little things such as being on time, making a commitment to something and following it through, those are things that I now start to see reflecting in my day to day life."

Fahy is unsure as to his future involvement in swimming, whether it be in coaching or on the administrative side, however his intention is to make a positive contribution to the sport that gave him so much.

And while he is equally unsure as to his next career move prospects on the job market should not be a problem for the Bermudian, having graduated from highly acclaimed Yale University with a degree in economics.