Bid for glory undermined by poor coaching in medal-rich event, says former coach
A feud between rival coaches is threatening to undermine China's dominance of the diving pool - the medal-rich discipline crucial to their hopes of overhauling the US in Beijing.
Yu Fen, the revered coach who steered mainland divers to three consecutive Olympics gold rushes, has called on mainland sports authorities to urgently tackle the 'poor coaching' of the national team. Her scathing censure was a carefully aimed attack on her arch-rival Zhou Jihong - the woman who replaced her as diving head coach.
'I don't want to get personal on this. Instead, this is mainly a technical issue, in which the national coaches are not doing the business,' Yu told the South China Morning Post at the World Cup Olympic test event, which ended on Sunday.
Officials must act if they are to prevent a collapse at the Water Cube in just over five months, said Yu, who lost her role as technical director following a bust-up with Zhou in 1997. Her broadside added fuel to a bitter vendetta that has raged for more than 10 years.
Zhou is believed to have repeatedly blocked attempts by Yu to rejoin the national coaching team.