Perfect China plays down chance of London sweep
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China Daily, July 26, 2011
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China's Wu Minxia shakes her head in the water after winning the women's 3m springboard final on Saturday. Bobby Yip / Reuters |
China made a clean sweep of the 10 diving gold medals at its first home FINA World Championships in Shanghai.
However, team manager Zhou Jizhong declined to predict another sweep at the London Games next year, insisting there is still hard work to do en route to the Olympics.
"Actually, the competition in diving is very fierce as many foreign divers are at a high level now and perform difficult dives," said Zhou.
"The competition at the Olympics will be even tougher and we will be a visiting team in London and will not enjoy the home pool advantage. We will pay more attention to detail in daily training over the following year and find and hopefully solve any problems before the Games."
The team's Shanghai glory included Wu Minxia being crowned individual women's 3m springboard world champion and the emergence of young diver Qiu Bo, who broke the team's six-year gold medal jinx in a major event in the men's 10m platform.
The 25-year-old Wu has emerged as a true team leader since the retirement of diving diva Guo Jingjing.
In the 3m springboard individual event on Saturday, Wu edged teammate and archrival He Zi to claim the elusive gold, which she has waited 10 years and six World Championships for.
Before Guo's retirement in January, Wu had always been the bridesmaid in the event, no matter at the worlds or Olympics. Not many people remember Wu's silver medal in the event at the 2004 Athens Olympics or bronze in Beijing four years later. After Guo's retirement, Wu was expected to be the new "diving queen" with her wealth of experience, however things didn't go so smoothly
Her young teammate, He, emerged as a major rival. He, who trains under the same coach as Guo, outclassed Wu in the springboard six straight times from the 2009 National Games and was also the winner of the 3m springboard at the National Diving Championships in May.
Still, they both take the rivalry in stride.
"There is no need to discuss who is the new leader of the team. I don't want to be the 'second Guo', but the real Wu," said the veteran, who was runner-up in the event at the 2005 and 2007 worlds
"Now, I'm the oldest one in the team so I just want to play a leading role in both the training and daily life of those young divers.
"Both of us are representing China so there is no need to make comparisons between us. My next goal is to qualify for the London Olympics and then win the gold there."
Twenty-one-year-old He was reluctant to play up any rivalry as well.
"Wu is my role model and I'm still learning from her," said He, who teamed Wu to win the 3m springboard synchro in Shanghai. "I still lag a lot behind Guo and Wu, so I have to further improve myself."
Team manager Zhou relishes such competitiveness within the team.
"They are competitive, but also work together, so the competition is a virtual circle," Zhou said.
On the men's side, 18-year-old Qiu, who claimed silver in the 10m platform at the last World Championships in Rome, sealed China's clean sweep by winning the event with 27 full marks; an effort that impressed Zhou the most.
"Qiu is a young diver and it was a pity for him at the last worlds since he only made mistakes in his last dive in Rome. This time, he did a really good job," said Zhou.
Shanghai marked the first time China's diving team earned all 10 gold medals at a worlds. At the previous tournament, China's won seven gold medals, four silver and three bronze.
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