Beijing – Five time Olympic gold medallist Wu Minxia, China’s most successful female diver, announced her retirement on Thursday on the basis of her “physical condition.”
The 31-year-old athlete said through her official Weibo account that now it’s time to leave. The story of Chinese diving didn’t start with me and it won’t end with me.
Wu’s 3-meter synchronized springboard gold, with partner Shi Tingmao at the Rio de Janeiro Games in August made her the oldest woman to win an Olympic diving gold medal.
Winner of a record seven diving medals from four Olympics, Wu had already said the 2016 Rio Games would likely be her last. She revealed that a nasty leg injury in May had made her contemplate giving up even before she went to Brazil.
Wu said in an interview to China’s National broadcaster CCTV that her physical condition does not allow to continue her training an she feared that this had to happen one day.
