Five-time Olympic champion diver Chen Ruolin retires

2016-10-20 10:00

By (chinadaily.com.cn/Xinhua)

Five-time Olympic champion diver Chen Ruolin retires

Chen Ruolin (R) and Liu Huixia pose with their gold medals during the 2016 Rio Olympics. [Photo/Xinhua]

BEIJING - At the age of 23, China's Chen Ruolin has already become one of the most successful divers in history, and now, she wants to put an end to her glorious career.

Chen, who collected five Olympic gold medals in three Olympic Games, announced her retirement on her Weibo, a Chinese social media platform like Twitter, on Wednesday.

"I'm sorry that I can't keep diving due to my neck injury," she said. "Diving gives me a lot. It makes me a better person."

Chen, who was on the Chinese national diving team by the age of 11, has won every major titles awarded in the synchronized 10m platform event since 2006.

She made her Olympic debut at the age of 15 at the Beijing Games. As the youngest diver in the team, Chen swept the individual and synchronized 10m platform titles in Beijing. Four years later, she repeated the feat in London.

She had went through some difficult days. After the London Olympic Games, Chen had been bothered with injuries and felt confused about her future. She even thought about retirement then.

She finished a disappointing 4th-place at the National Games in 2013, and was bored by training and competing.

Chen lost the chance to qualify for the individual platform at the 2015 World Championships due to her bad form, but she did find her form back and secured a berth to take part in the synchro event at Rio.