Matthew Mitcham has called time on his diving career at the age of 27.

The Australian, who holds the record for the single biggest diving score in Olympic history for his gold-medal performance in Beijing in 2008, announced his decision in a post on his Instagram page.

In a subsequent interview with the ABC, Mitcham admitted that cumulative injuries had led to his decision.

"The older you get you don't tend to recover from injuries, you just accumulate them and I was doing pretty well physically," he explained.

"But again, there wasn't enough of an incentive for me in diving to push through all the way to Rio when I've been given so many wonderful opportunities outside of diving, outside the pool that I'm really passionate about."

Mitcham revealed that he is currently writing a new cabaret show that he hopes to debut later this year.