Seven years after winning the double sculls in Beijing and three years after his defence was derailed by a persistent back complaint, Scott Brennan said he has come to the realisation that his days as an elite rower are over.

The 32-year-old said being told by his physio this week that he needed to give up any hope of rowing at another Olympics left him with a feeling like grief.

‘‘I’ve rowed for nearly 20 years and a huge part of my identity comes from that and until that moment I was still an athlete,’’ Brennan told The Examiner.

‘‘As soon as that decision was made I no longer was an athlete, it was in the past. A big chunk of me had gone and I felt very hollow.

‘‘I’m fortunate that I’ve got a medical career that can take that place.’’

The Canberra-based doctor, who began rowing with Lindisfarne, said the efforts of physios Kellie Wilkie in Tasmania, Miranda Wallis at the Australian Institute of Sport, and Canadian LJ Lee had been unable to cure the problem in his upper back.

‘‘I’ve tried everything I could and unfortunately it has not worked out. I’ve had to face the fact that it is not going to come right.

‘‘In February last year I was rowing faster than ever before — faster even than Beijing. It was pretty exciting. But I could not hold the health of my spine together long enough to sustain it.

‘‘It was so upsetting knowing that I wanted to be able to row and seeing how little I could do. I was effectively crippled in a rowing boat and it was really frustrating.’’

The triple Olympian said he had told those closest to him including partner Kim Crow, a double medallist from London and 2013 world champion, and David Crawshay, the Victorian who shared his 2008 triumph.

‘‘Kim has been great and not necessarily just in a rowing sense but an everyday sense. She has walked the past few years with me every step of the way and that can’t have been easy, especially during the toughest times. I wouldn’t have been able to do it without her and I now look forward to supporting her even more on her own path to Rio.

‘‘Crawsh was pretty sad about it. Our entire Olympic career has been together and I could not imagine rowing without him around and it’s probably the same for him.

‘‘It’s a sad day for us because we spent so much time in such close proximity and under such incredible pressure to reach a shared outcome where you’re relying on perfect harmony. But I’m glad Dave was the person he was. He’s been the brother I never had and would have chosen if I could.’’

An emotional Brennan said his back injury took hold just two weeks before the 2012 Olympics and he had been battling it ever since.

Despite a trip to Canada for six weeks of intense rehab and endurance fitness which included cycling up to 300 kilometres a day, it had continued to deteriorate.

The former St Virgil’s College and Guilford Young student had learned much from the frustrating journey and looked back on his rowing career with no regrets.

‘‘I’ve learned more about myself from the period when nothing went right than the period when things came together perfectly.

‘‘The dedication and strength that was required of me to persist through this time and commit wholly to something I believed in, was far greater than anything ever required of me to become a gold medallist.

‘‘I look back on my rowing career at some good results and some not so good but I’m extremely fortunate that it all came together for Crawsh and I on that occasion.’’

Brennan’s victory with Crawshay in Beijing represented Tasmania’s only Olympic gold medal since Matthew Wells helped the Kookaburras to victory in Athens in 2004.

His retirement follows the decision of fellow Tasmanians Sam Beltz, Tom Gibson, Ali Foot and Blair Tunevitsch to withdraw from the national lightweight rowing program and the retirement of London Olympic silver medallist Kate Hornsey.