THE SIDELINES : World Slalom Champion Retires

World slalom champion Mateja Svet, in a surprise announcement today, said she is quitting skiing.

“This is the end of my sporting career,” said 21-year-old Yugoslav, who won a gold medal in slalom at the world championship in Vail, Colo., in 1989. “I am tired of a lifestyle I have led ever since I was a little girl.”

Svet said at a news conference that she will move into a business career and already had established a sports marketing firm.

Svet won second place in slalom at the 1988 Olympic Games in Calgary, Canada, and took four silver medals in grand slalom and Super-G world championship events.

The petite Svet, the favorite of Yugoslavia’s alpine circuit and the nation’s most successful international skier ever, also won seven World Cup races.