Olympic silver medallist Brooke Hanson is expected to announce her retirement from swimming in Sydney on Tuesday, ending a 14-year international career.

Hanson, who claimed a memorable silver medal in the 100m breaststroke at the 2004 Athens Olympics, has struggled to regain full fitness since her freak electric shock at the Melbourne Spa and Pool Show last June.

Hanson, 29, complained of a tingling sensation during her exhibition swim and collapsed after getting out of the pool and was taken to The Alfred hospital.

She took several weeks to fully overcome the accident and only once she returned to full training did the talented breaststroker realise the extent of her injuries.

"I spent the first week after the shock sleeping 18 to 20 hours a day and having massages to help aid my recovery from the muscle spasms and muscular fatigue," Hanson wrote on her website at the time.

"I began swimming lightly on Monday but did not realise the full extent of my injuries suffered from the fall from the spa until then.

"I sustained injuries to my left shoulder and neck, leaving the muscles and joints severely inflamed, requiring regular physiotherapy, massage, acupuncture and daily icing."

It is an unfortunate end to Hanson's rollercoaster career which started as a teenager on the 1994 Commonwealth Games team.

She missed the 1996 and 2000 Olympic squads by small margins, but recovered in 2004 as a team veteran to not only qualify but claim an unexpected silver medal.

Hanson capped her Olympic success almost immediately after at the 2004 world short course titles where she claimed a record six gold medals.

She had been planning an Olympic swansong in Beijing next year but after skipping her supposed return to racing at the Australian short course titles last August questions were immediately raised about whether Hanson would continue to the Games trials next March.

Her last international appearance was at Melbourne's Commonwealth Games in 2006 after which she took a year away from the pool to launch a television career as co-host of Channel Nine program What's Good for You.

She recently married long-time partner Jared Clarke and is expected to pursue interests in television following her swimming career.

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