OLYMPIC TRIPLE JUMP CHAMPION YULIMAR ROJAS OUT OF PARIS 2024

Venezuela's Yulimar Rojas will not be able to defend her triple jump crown at Paris 2024. The reigning Olympic gold medallist, world record holder and seven-time world champion has announced that she will miss the upcoming Olympic Games after suffering an injury to her Achilles tendon.

"With much pain and sadness I want to tell you that, while I was descending from a jump at training, I felt an intense pain that was diagnosed as an injury to the left Achilles tendon," the athlete said in a post on Instagram addressed to the people of Venezuela on 12 April.

"My heart is broken and I feel so sad that I want to apologise for not being able to represent you at Paris 2024. The last hours have been very complicated. I have questioned myself and analysed why this has happened. However, I understand that, in God's plans, we are only instruments of his will.

"Today I feel very emotionally affected by not being able to represent you, the desire to defend my Olympic title excited me enormously but today I have to stop, understand this, recover and come back with great strength to continue flying together.

"See you soon, with the same dreams and desire."

The last competition Rojas participated in was the 2023 Diamond League final in September, where she became Diamond League champion for the third consecutive time. Just weeks before she had been crowned world champion for the seventh time (the fourth at the outdoor championships).