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E-mail China Daily, July 17, 2024
Besties, partners and each other's biggest rivals — China's super-teen diving duo are poised to peak at the right time and lead a golden sweep in Paris.
Should the Olympics have a vote for the all-time most dominant team in its respective sport, the Chinese diving squad is hard to beat, having racked up 47 gold medals out of the 56 up for grabs since its Olympic debut in 1984, leaving the rest of the world far behind in the technically difficult sport.
Gold medalist Chen Yuxi (R) of China and silver medalist Quan Hongchan of China pose during the awarding ceremony of women's 10m platform final of the World Aquatics Championships 2023 in Fukuoka, Japan, July 19, 2023. (Xinhua/Xu Chang)
Yet, despite bagging seven golds at both Tokyo 2020 and Rio 2016, the team is laser-focused on achieving something never done before — a clean sweep of all eight titles at a single Games.
As challenging as it sounds, Team China is approaching the feat as a reasonable target in Paris, with a 10-strong roster that includes reigning world champions in all eight Olympic events.
"We've always been very confident in our strength. We are expecting to perform to the best of our ability in Paris and trying to deliver the best possible results at the Olympics," said Zhou Jihong, a former Olympic champion diver and director of the national aquatic sports administrative center.
"Our opponents are making rapid progress, though, and they will cause us problems at the Olympics, but we are ready and are looking forward to a good performance."
Leading Team China's charge will be women's 10m platform defending Olympic champion Quan Hongchan and three-time world champion Chen Yuxi, who have developed an internal rivalry as each other's strongest challenger in individual events, while building an invincible partnership in the synchronized discipline.
Their "frenemy" relationship has pushed the pair to chase perfection in their routine execution and fitness conditioning en route to Paris, making their stranglehold on the high platform untouchable.
Experience, however, comes with years, as both Quan and Chen, who are 17 and 18 respectively, are feeling the pull of gravity more, having grown taller and heavier than three years ago, requiring higher intensity in training and more discipline in life to stay fit.
"With our bodies growing, it would be hard to keep executing clean dives like we did in the past if we stayed where we were in our fitness training," Chen explained.
"We have to dig deeper in physical training to support our heavier bodies to complete the dives as technically and cleanly as before."
They help each other to pull through the challenges, though.
"She's kind of quiet and always stays so focused in training, while I am kind of an outgoing girl who talks a lot. We enjoy each other's company and always hang out together," said Quan, who won gold in Tokyo as the Chinese delegation's youngest athlete at 14.
The scenario is similar in the women's 3m springboard, where world No 1 Chen Yiwen has won every single title this year except in Doha, when her teammate Chang Yani snatched gold.
The pair, best friends and both first-time Olympians, have won the 3m synchro event in most of the elite international events over the past three years.
Compared to their formidable women's compatriots, China's men are facing stronger competition from the rest of the world, particularly in 10m platform, the team's relatively least dominant event.
Britain's Tom Daley and Matty Lee spoiled Team China's last attempt for a clean sweep at the Tokyo Olympics by beating Cao Yuan and Chen Aisen in 10m platform synchro, before Australia's Cassiel Rousseau won the individual platform title at last year's worlds in Japan to further disappoint China on the international stage.
In Paris, China will rely on its mix of youth and experience, respectively, in newly-crowned world champion Yang Hao and three-time Olympic gold medalist Cao, to assert its supremacy on the platform.
"It will be my fourth Olympics. This time it will be more challenging, but I am ready for whatever comes my way," said the 29-year-old Cao, who won the individual 3m springboard in Rio and 10m platform in Tokyo.
Wang Zongyuan, who has won all of the major world titles this year off the 3m springboard, looks poised to win both the individual and synchro events in Paris, the latter alongside his young partner, Olympic debutant Long Daoyi.
