The Chinese world champions and Olympic gold medalists are about to sweep all four diving titles at the Busan Asian Games, Zhou Jihong, the Chinese diving team manager, told Xinhua here Friday afternoon.
All the 21 members of the Chinese diving squad arrived in Busanand settled down in the athlete's village on Friday. In the 1998 Bangkok Asiad, China collected all the four golds in diving competition.
"We will do it again in Busan as we do not have strong opponents in Asia in theory," said Zhou, who took a diving gold for China in the 1984 Los Angeles Olympic Games.
Responding a question about the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) who had broken a world record in the women's weightlifting in Busan, Zhou said that "DPR Korea might be a dark horse as its athletes have some strength in platform diving and they do not often appear in international competitions."
"But I still think the arch rivals for the Chinese athletes in Busan are themselves. As long as they can give their normal performance in the competition, they will be the winners," she noted.
"Our athletes have been greatly encouraged by the wonderful performances made by our fencers and swimmers, and all of them have vowed to repeat their glory in Busan," she added.
(Xinhua News Agency October 4, 2002)
