Tian Liang and Guo Jingjing are not only setting new standards in the diving pool - they are creating a model of financial success for future generations of mainland stars
Tian Liang shared a joke with fellow gold medal hopeful Guo Jingjing before the pair were hustled back to the springboard for another attempt at perfection.Over and over, China's top male and female divers sliced through the water; their taut bodies twisting, turning and som-ersaulting as they completed spellbinding routines from the springboard and the platform. The sound of the springboard from which Tian launches himself booms in the cavernous Beijing Diving Centre.
All those years of dedication to perfection will be worth it for Tian, the Sydney platform champion, and his apparent sweetheart, Guo, the two-time Sydney Olympic silver medallist, if they strike gold in the Athens pool.
China's most famous sporting pair - although they have never admitted to being a couple - will almost certainly strike more gold beyond the pool through endorsement contracts with foreign multi-national companies even more lucrative than the ones they currently hold down - deals unthinkable for people in their position in China only seven or eight years ago.
Tian, whose six-pack abs and youthful good looks, and Guo, with her doll-like delicate features, are known as the Romeo and Juliet of Chinese sports after the pair performed a scene from Shakespeare's play for a television glucose-drink commercial.
Guo, a favourite for the three-metre springboard event in Athens, has also appeared in a McDonald's commercial and is a brand ambassador for the world's biggest food chain. She has clinched another deal with beer makers Budweiser and McRib Burgers, though she would hardly think that endorsing such products would corrupt her sports star image.
