The Chinese national diving team will lose their two aces, Fu Mingxia and Xiong Ni , after this summer's Atlanta Olympics.
Olympic women's 10 metres platform gold medallist Fu is looking to retire from the pool and go back to school at the end of this year.
The 22-year-old Xiong, who won the silver medal in the men's 10 metres platform in the Barcelona Olympics four years ago, will return to the Hunan University after he competes in his third and last Olympics in Atlanta.
Fu, 18, charmed the world when she took the gold medal in Barcelona at the age of 14.
However, she wants to do something else after being involved in the sport for more than 10 years.
'I really want to go back to school after doing the sport for most of my life,' said Fu, from Wuhan, Hebei.