CARACAS, Venezuela (AFP) — The reigning Olympic women’s triple jump champion Yulimar Rojas said on Friday she had injured her Achilles tendon and will miss the Paris Games.

“My heart is broken and I want to say sorry that I will not be able to take part in Paris 2024,” said the 28-year-old Venezuelan in a statement on her social media accounts.

Rojas said that during a jump in a training session in Spain, “I felt an intense pain, which has been diagnosed as an injury to the left Achilles tendon”.

She said she underwent surgery in Madrid on Thursday to repair the tendon. The statement was accompanied by a picture of her in a hospital bed.

Rojas won the silver medal at the 2016 Rio Olympics and then took the Olympic title at the Covid-delayed Tokyo Games in 2021.

She dramatically won the fourth of her outdoor world titles in Budapest last year with her last-round leap.

She is also the world record holder in the event with a jump of 15.74m in 2022.