NANJING, Dec. 21 (Xinhua) -- In the prime of her life, China's star hitter Hui Ruoqi said she was considering to quit playing volleyball.

The 26-year-old Rio Olympic gold medalist revealed her thoughts while she was receiving an award for the most popular female athlete on the China Top Ten Benefitting Laureus Sport for Good in Beijing on Wednesday night.

"I am indeed thinking about retiring and discussing it with my parents and superiors," said Hui who grew up in Nanjing and once played for Jiangsu club in China Volleyball League.

Hui admitted that her physical condition could not allow her to continue her playing career. In 2010, she had an operation on her left shoulder, leaving 7 steel nails in it, and underwent two heart surgeries in the following years.

"I have watched Kobe's jersey retirement ceremony and he had a really wonderful career. That somewhat reminded me of thinking how I should arrange that of mine," said Hui.

The former Chinese team captain has already carved her sporting career for 10 years, which culminated in 2016 when Hui, recovering in time from her second heart surgery, led her teammates to a surprise victory at 2016 Rio Olympic Games.

Hui is quite popular among Chinese fans and many netizens like to praise her as "a volleyball goddess". When asked whether she would become an actress after retirement, Hui said that she had not considered about it and her top priority was to finish studies for her human sociology of sports doctorate at Nanjing Normal University.