(REUTERS) - Five-time Olympic gold medallist Wu Minxia, China's most successful female diver, announced her retirement on Thursday due to her "physical condition".

"Now, though reluctantly, it's time to leave," the 31-year-old said on her official Weibo account. "The story of Chinese diving didn't start with me and it won't end with me."

Wu's three-metre synchronised 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, she had already said Rio 2016 would likely be her last Games.

She revealed that a nasty leg injury in May had made her contemplate giving up even before she went to Brazil.

"I am really sorry, but my physical condition does not allow me to continue training," Wu told China's national broadcaster CCTV during a live stream. "I really feared the coming of today."