The 40-year-old rowing legend now plans to dedicate more time to family and business, and is also mulling getting involved in the Slovenian sports associations.

Behind him is twenty years worth of medals, which were all difficult to win and cannot be compared to one another, he said. Some were won by experience, others were won "head first, by sheer will".

He is not considering returning to rowing at any point in the future. "At the moment, I am not considering returning, and I think these were my last Olympic Games. I've been to six of them, all of which were hard. I have four Olympic medals in total and I should be happy," Čop said.

In addition to his three Olympic medals won in the double sculls with Luka Špik, Čop also won a bronze in the coxless pair with Denis Žvegelj at the Barcelona Olympics in 1992.