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Diving

China's ascent to the elite of the diving world in the 1980s was rapid and thorough. It won its first Olympic medals in the 1984 Los Angeles games, and shortly after began to dominate the sport. At the 1988 games in Seoul, the team took two out of four golds, plus three silvers and a bronze. China took home five gold medals from Sydney, and six in Athens. Chinese divers have quickly become accustomed to victory; they have won 73 percent of Olympic gold medals on offer in the last five Olympic games. The sport, long ruled by American athletes, has become a showcase of Chinese talent.

The sport has also produced some of China's trailblazing pitchmen. Recent women's champion Guo Jingjing and men's champion Tian Liang both became examples of success in landing endorsement deals for the domestic Chinese market. After the 2000 Sydney games, Guo signed deals with McDonald's and Budweiser and Tian joined up with Amway and Bausch & Lomb. Both drew government and media criticism for their commercial activities.

Going into the 2008 Olympics in Beijing, China's top divers all face legitimate challenges in their medal quests. The biggest weakness of the Chinese diving team is largely considered to be its preference for choosing dives with lower difficulty ratings. In diving, movements with a higher degree of difficulty offer both greater risk and greater potential reward. Chinese divers tend to choose “safe” dives and then perform them flawlessly.

Chinese Name: 跳水 tiaoshui (jump water)

History in China:

China made a splash at the 1984 Olympics, and then exploded onto the world diving scene in 1988. Its most decorated female diver is Fu Mingxia, who has since retired. She won back-to-back platform diving golds in 1992 and 1996 and back-to-back springboard golds in 1996 and 2000. For the men, Ni Xiong was Olympic springboard champion in 1996 and 2000.

Olympic Venue: National Aquatics Center, Olympic Green

Olympic Test Event: FINA Diving World Cup

Sydney 2004 Medal Count:
6 gold (men's 10-meter platform, women's and men's 10-meter platform synchro, men's and women's 3-meter springboard)
2 silver (women's 10-meter platform and 3-meter springboard)
1 bronze (men's 10-meter platform)

Olympic coach: Liu Heng Lin Ho
Team director: Zhou Jihong

Athletes to watch:
Men: He Chong and Qin Kai (3m springboard), Zhou Luxin and Lin Yue (10m platform), Huo Liang (Lin Yue's 10m synchro partner), He Chon (3m springboard).

Women: Guo Jingjing (3m springboard individual and synchro), Wu Minxia (individual springboard and Guo's synchronized springboard partner), Wang Xin and Chen Ruo Lin (10m platform, individual and synchro).

Marketing/Endorsements: Li-ning outfits the diving team. Guo Jingjing appears in McDonald's ads.

Sport Organizations:
Federation Internationale de Natation (FINA)

Links:
Chinese Diving Team Homepage (in Chinese)

Athletes:
Chen Ruolin 陈若琳
Guo Jingjing 郭晶晶
He Chong 何冲
Huo Liang 火亮
Li Ting 李婷
Wu Minxia 吴敏霞
Zhou Luxin 周吕鑫