Gold medallist China's Quan Hongchan poses during the podium ceremony after the women's 10m platform diving final during the Paris 2024 Olympic Games at the Aquatics Centre in Saint-Denis, north of Paris, on August 6, 2024. - AFP
PARIS (SCMP): Few can contest Quan Hongchan on the diving platform. At just 17, she has become China’s diving darling, whose supremacy transcends her age.
Quan has amassed five world championships and, following her unrivalled spectacle in Paris, is now a three-time Olympic gold medallist.
Even among China’s acclaimed diving cadre, who captured all but one gold in the 2016 and 2020 Games, Quan is on a level all her own.
Her masterclass on the 10-metre platform speaks for itself, but the dictionary did not do her justice, so a new Mandarin phrase was created to illustrate Quan’s magic.
So here’s everything you need to know about “shuihua xiaoshi shu”– literally “water splash disappearance technique” – a Chinese term that refers to her ability to plunge into the pool with minimal splash.
Born into the modest 3,000-person village of Maihe – in Zhangjiang city, Guangdong province – Quan was the third of five children.
Growing up in a family of orange farmers and factory workers, Quan’s youth was laden with hardship after a car accident left her mother in poor health.
In July 2014, Quan was spotted by diving coach Chen Huaming, who was undergoing regular scouting expeditions at local schools. Chen noticed her spectacular jumping technique and became her first diving instructor.
By September, she was officially admitted to the Zhanjiang Sports School.
Quan acknowledged her minimal interest in books early, and instead harnessed that focus to her emerging skill of “jumping higher and longer than the others”.
“I was not good at studying, but I found confidence in diving,” Quan said.
With her mother’s hospital bills hanging over the family, Quan zeroed in on becoming a star.
Four years later, and just before her 11th birthday, Quan graduated to the Guangdong provincial team.
Quan’s former mentor at the Guangdong Provincial Sports Team, He Weiyi, said that her determination to be better every day was what separated her from other divers.
“Quan practises harder than other athletes around her age. She is the most engaged. She kept asking me whether her positions and flights were OK, whether she did well,” He said.
“She would get unhappy if I could not answer her at once. Her spirit is a desire for perfection.”
A new diving queen
There was little need for adjustment in Quan’s move to the regional stage.
Riding high on back-to-back golds at the 2018 and 2019 Guangdong Junior Championships, the first of which marked her regional debut, Quan was a lock for the 2020 Chinese National Championship and eclipsed both world and Olympic champions in her trademark 10m event.
From then on, the diving world hailed a new queen, and her coronation was largely uncontested.
Quan is synonymous with gold – at just 14 she won gold at the Tokyo Games with a margin of more than 40 points, a new Olympic record.
Just before this year’s Olympics, a video of Quan went viral on Xiaohongshu, China’s Instagram-like platform. Sat in a changing room following practice, Quan was discussing the upcoming Games when she said turned to the camera and said: “Paris Olympics? Piece of cake.”
A sign of the confidence she already held in herself.
Quan Hongchan kisses her gold medal after winning the women’s 10m platform final. - Photo: Xinhua
A celebratory snack
Quan’s reserved exterior masks a bubbly and affectionate personality, even if she maintains a serious demeanour on the platform.
After cementing gold in Tokyo, Quan told reporters she wanted to celebrate by indulging in a spicy Chinese snack called latiao.
“I want to eat my favourite snacks as much as possible, and I want to go to the amusement park and play the claw machine and grab many dolls,” Quan said.
“I had a wish to own a small grocery store in my hometown, but now my dream is upgraded to a supermarket.”
Still just a kid
It’s easy to overlook that Quan is still on the brink of adulthood, just half a year shy of her 18th birthday.
On a featured television programme, Quan’s Tour, that aired in October 2021 on the Guangdong Sports Channel, she was seen visiting three Chinese amusement parks.
She delighted in an animal circus, rode roller coasters and tried her luck with claw machines, fulfilling what she said was a desire to experience parks and the zoo.
Her ability to stay young despite being propelled to the top of elite sport has shone through at the Olympics.
During the press conference following her gold in the women’s synchronised 10m diving, she had a fangirl moment when her favourite athlete Eileen Gu showed up.
Quan’s jaw dropped when double Olympic gold medallist Gu approached her and teammate Chen Yuxin.
“You are so beautiful, I’m so happy! You are so bright you are sparkling!” Quan exclaimed.
Quan had gushed about Gu at the press briefing after the medal ceremony, and said she looked up to the Winter Olympian.
And when she won her third Olympic gold on Tuesday, her second in Paris, Quan rocked up to the press conference sporting a pair of novelty glasses.
She might not be the first Chinese diver to take the sport by a storm, but she is definitely the first to have Olympic gold around her neck and Olympic rings over her eyes. - South China Morning Post
