Although the final lineup of the Olympic Games has not been
announced, several divers have almost secured the berths after
consistent performance at a string of trials and international
events.
The world and Olympic champion Guo Jingjing, who is the all-time
eldest woman athlete in Chinese diving team, has just claimed the
gold in the 3 meters springboard diving with five high-level dives
in the national diving qualifier held in East China's Jinan on
Wednesday.
The 27-year-old Chinese diving queen, who had taken part in
three Olympics, is the heavy favorite in women's 3 meters
springboard, in both individual and synchronized.
Another 3 meters springboard favorite Wu Minxia, unable to make
it to the final on Wednesday due to a fatal mistake, is still
hopeful to spearhead the dream team with Guo.
He Zi and Li Ting, silver and bronze medalists in Wednesday's
contest, will probably be the replacements in the event.
Qin Kai and He Chong are capable of securing the men's 3 meters
springboard for China, and Qin Kai/Wang Feng have taken the pole
position in China's synchronized lineup.
Qin, winner of the 2006 World Cup and 2007 World Championships,
finished third in the event on Wednesday, while He, winner of the
Olympic trial in Yantai and Hefei, took the silver.
It may be difficult for Peng Bo, gold medalist in Athens
Olympics, to feature in the lineup again, as he didn't play quite
well due to injuries. Peng just finished fifth on Wednesday.
Lin Yue and Zhou Luxin lead off the men's 10 meters platform and
Lin Yue/Huo Liang are specialists on men's synchronized. Lin and
Zhou's good performance successfully filled in the gap after
China's diving ace Tian Liang called a halt to his stellar
career.
Lin and Zhou both performed quite well on Thursday that Lin won
the gold while Zhou took the silver.
Huo Liang, winner of the men's 10 meters platform synchronized
diving in Melbourne worlds with Lin, finished fifth. Huo/Lin also
won the title of the event in Olympic diving trials in Foshan and
Yantai.
Compared with them, Athens Olympic champion Hu Jia, who finished
fourth here in Jinan, still need better performance and result to
prove himself.
Chen Ruolin and Wang Xin will possibly take the places of both
individual and synchronized in the women's 10 meters platform. Wang
and Chen were the winner and runner-up of the event in Melbourne
worlds, and they also took the synchronized diving gold.
Wang and Chen are quite hopeful to win back the women's 10
meters platform gold in Olympics, which was lost in the previous
two Olympic Games.
Wang Hao of Tianjin, winner of the Olympic trials in Yantai in
September 2007 and Jinan here on Thursday, is also a contender in
the event.
The divers will play the World Cup in Beijing on February and
the Olympic synchronized diving trial in Hefei on March. They still
need to perform their best to make sure of the berths in the final
lineup of the Olympics.
(Agencies via Xinhua News Agency January 11, 2008)