The 32-year-old father of three jumped three times in front of the home crowd: "Luckily I didn't have time to think about the farewell...There were no tears, they will come in the coming days. Hopefully not today."

Peterka will not leave ski jumping, being his entire life since he was six, as he was offered the post of Slovenia's national women's ski jumping team.

"My wife and I, we had a couple of laughs that it would be maybe better to take up jumping again due to all the work and responsibilities I have now," he told reporters last evening.

Peterka was bid farewell by around 2,000 people at the event, including Slovenian top athletes such as cross-country skier Petra Majdic, rower Iztok Cop and skier Jure Kosir.

"I found it harder with every jump and I really don't want to think it really is over," Peterka told the press.

Of the 29 times Slovenians have won in the World Cup, Peterka claims 15 wins, ranging from the first win in Zakopane in 1996, when he was only 17, and his last victory in Garmisch-Partenkirchen in 2003.

Peterka made his World Cup debut in January 1996 in Innsbruck, where he rocketed to an 8th place finish after being called up as a replacement.

His best seasons followed immediately after that. Peterka became the overall World Cup winner in the 1996/97 and 1997/98 seasons, becoming the only Slovenian to the day to make it to the top in this respect. He also won the Four Hills Tournament in 1998.

Peterka has however never won an individual Olympic medal. He had to settle for team bronze at the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City in the large hill competition. His last big success was the team bronze clinched by Slovenia at the World Championships in Oberstdorf in 2005.