BERLIN, September 4, 2008 (AFP) - Double Olympic champion Britta Steffen has dismissed any talk of retirement and says she will be gunning for gold again at the world championships in Rome next summer.

The 24-year-old German won 50m and 100m freestyle gold medals in Beijing last month, but says she will be looking for more gold at the world championships in Rome from July 18 to August 2, 2009.

'The plan is I will continue to swim, but I want to return to my studies over the next six months,' Steffen, an engineering student, told German television station RTL.

'Once I finish my exams in February, then I would like to go to Australia for six to eight weeks to prepare for the world championships.'

There had been some speculation here Steffen would quit after the Olympics, but she says she is still hungry for success.

'There is, of course, plenty of motivation - amongst other things I would still like to become world champion,' she said.

'If that happens, I will have won all the titles at the same time and that would, of course, be fantastic.'

Steffen won a bronze medal in the 100m freestyle at the 2007 world championships in Melbourne.