PARIS, France (AFP) — France's former world 800-meter champion Pierre-Ambroise Bosse announced his decision to retire due to recurrent injuries seven months before the Paris Olympics.

The 31-year-old has failed to recover after undergoing surgery on his right thigh last year and has not competed since April.

"I've tried to get back in recent months but quickly felt pain when I accelerated a little," Bosse told French sports daily l'Equipe.

"After the operation, my hamstrings should have been better, it gave me a boost, hope and desire but this recurrence has broken the momentum."

"I no longer enjoy athletics. There is something unhealthy in this tendon, it's no longer there. The days go by, the Games are coming and at this rate, I will never be there."

Bosse finished fourth at the 2016 Rio Olympics but was eliminated before the finals in the Tokyo Games in 2021.

He has never regained the form which saw him crowned world champion over 800-meter in London in 2017.

He won bronze at the European championships in 2012 and 2018.

Not being able to achieve his Olympic dream has been tough, said Bosse, who explained how he had "spent days in bed."

"I no longer went out, I no longer played sports, I must not have been good to look at," he continued.

"I bottled things up a lot. At first I did not dare to tell my loved ones so as not to hurt them. My mother's dream was for me to go to the Games in Paris. The end of my career is still hard to admit,"  the five-time French champion added.