Giulia Steingruber is a six-time European champion ©Getty Images

Giulia Steingruber, Switzerland's first-ever female Olympic medallist in gymnastics, has retired.

The Rio 2016 bronze medallist walks away from the sport following the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, where she placed 15th in the all-round final.

Steingruber became the first-ever female gymnast from Switzerland to win an Olympic medal when she claimed a bronze medal on the vault at Rio 2016.

It was the 49th Olympic gymnastics medal won by Switzerland - but incredulously the first earned in women's competition.

Steingruber won a bronze medal on the same apparatus a year later at the World Championships in Montreal. 

Giulia Steingruber vault bronze medal at Rio 2016 was the first won by a female gymnast from Switzerland at the Olympic Games ©Getty Images
Giulia Steingruber vault bronze medal at Rio 2016 was the first won by a female gymnast from Switzerland at the Olympic Games ©Getty Images

The 27-year-old is also a six-time European champion and won the last of those gold medals in Basel in April on the vault, battling through a thigh injury.

Steingruber won the all-around European crown in Montpellier in 2015, and also won two European Games gold medals in Baku the same year.

On social media, Steingruber surmised her career as "a blast" and "wonderful time".

Steingruber will "miss everything about" gymnastics, she added.

The announcement of Steingruber's retirement comes only a few weeks after the Swiss Gymnastics Federation's women's team's coaches resigned en masse following a damning report which concluded they had psychologically abused athletes.