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Tokyo Olympics: why Quan Hongchan’s Guangdong is China’s cradle of world-class divers

  • The 14-year-old 10m platform gold medallist is the latest diving prodigy to emerge from southeastern province of Guangdong
  • Province’s diving maestros are ‘dream team within the dream team’, contributing a swathe of Olympic gold medals

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Quan Hongchan hits the water during the women’s 10m platform diving final at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics. Photo: Reuters
The 14-year-old diver Quan Hongchan may be China’s breakout star of the Tokyo Games, but she is just one of many elite athletes emerging from the southeastern province of Guangdong.

A coastal province bordering Hong Kong, Guangdong has become a cradle of world-class divers. While the Chinese national diving team is known as the “Dream Team”, the Guangdong contingent could easily be nicknamed “the dream team within the dream team”.

Quan was born in Zhanjiang, which boasts a population of 7.5 million, similar to Hong Kong. At the age of 11, she joined the province’s diving team and progressed to the national team after just two years of training.

Since 1984, the Chinese diving team have bagged 46 gold medals at the Olympics, 11 of which have been earned by Guangdong athletes.

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14-year-old Chinese diver’s Olympic gold a story of her rise above poverty to perfect score

14-year-old Chinese diver’s Olympic gold a story of her rise above poverty to perfect score

Quan now joins Sun Shuwei (1990), Yang Jinghui (2004), Lao Lishi (2004), Hu Jia (2004), He Chong (2008), He Zi (2012), Luo Yutong (2012), Zhang Yanquan (2012), Chen Aisen (2016) and Xie Siyi (2021).

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