The 29-year-old, who won four Olympic gold medals and numerous world titles, had submitted an application announcing her retirement, the Xinhua news agency reported.

"She already made it clear that she would not train and compete, so she will not appear in the London Games," China's diving team leader Zhou Jihong said.

"She is out of the national team.

"We respect her decision."

Guo previously announced retirement plans in 2006 saying she would quit after the Beijing Olympics two years later, only to return to win the three-metre springboard and synchronised springboard titles at the 2009 World Championship.

She has not competed since winning her fifth title in the 2009 National Games and was not selected for the Asian Games in Guangzhou in November last year.

"I think I have fulfilled my task, so the London Games is not what I have in mind now," Guo said in an interview with Shanghai-based magazine, The Bund.

"The chances should be left to other talents in the team."

Guo's retirement marked the end of an era during which she set an almost unbeatable record of six Olympic medals, including two golds at both Athens in 2004 and Beijing in 2008, five consecutive victories in both the individual and synchronised 3m springboard at the World Championships and 17 World Cup titles.

Guo is a major public figure in China and is regularly in the gossip columns.

Later this year she is due to marry Kenneth Fok, the son of Hong Kong Olympic Committee President Timothy Fok.