VIENNA (AFP) - Hermann Maier, the grand old man of Austrian skiing, brought the curtain down on his glittering career on Tuesday after failing to recover from a knee injury sustained last March.

"I have decided to bring to an end my career as a competitive skier," Maier told a press conference here.

It brings to an end an illustrious career during which Maier won 54 races on the World Cup circuit, four Olympic medals (including two golds in 1998) and six world championship medals (including three golds - downhill and Super-G in 1999, and giant slalom in 2005).

He captured the overall World Cup titles in 1998, 2000, 2001 and 2004, as well as two downhill, five Super-G and three giant slalom individual titles.

Maier had resumed training after the knee injury and was targeting a return to the World Cup at the end of November at Canada's Lake Louise, where he last season snapped a three-year winless drought with victory in the super-G.

But he told reporters on Tuesday: "After a lot of thought, the decision just made itself spontaneously.

"The arthroscopy was carried out on my right knee at the ideal moment at the end of March so I could go straight into training after rehabilitation.

"Everything went to plan and my body is in an incredible condition as has been shown by two days' skiing on the mountains of Soelden," he said.

But a tearful Maier said concerns over his longer-term health had taken precedence.

"I came to the conclusion after a few days mulling it over that I should draw a line under my career as a ski racer as of today.

"It was important for me to get healthy and so that's why I'm bringing down the curtain.

"It wasn't an easy decision. In fact it was a very tough one and it's difficult to let go. I'm ending a career which as a kid I could hardly imagine ever turning out better."

Nicknamed 'The Herminator' at his prime, Maier had said he would specialise in downhill and super-G this year in what would have been his 14th World Cup season.

Maier made his debut on the world ski circuit in 1996 at the age of 23 after being rebuffed by the Austrian World Cup squad for a number of years.

The Austrian, who had mixed working as a ski instructor at his father's ski school in Flachau with brick-laying in the summer, nailed his first World Cup win in February 1997 and soon went on to dominate the daredevil sport of alpine skiing.

Maier's career appeared to be brought to a shuddering halt in 2001 when he nearly lost a leg in a motorcycle accident.

But the skier known for his durability and work ethic won the World Cup super-G at Kitzbuehel in a remarkable comeback in January 2003, after more than one year in rehabilitation.