Chinese glamour girl Guo sets to defend 3m springboard Olympic title
15/8/2008 17:05
Triple Olympic champion Guo Jingjing of China is to launch her first step
to claim a historic 3m springboard Olympic title this afternoon.
The glamour
girl, the oldest diver in the Chinese "dream team" at 27, will try to duplicate
the back-to-back 3m titles earned by countrywomen Fu Minxia in 1996 and 2000
Olympics, and Gao Min in 1988 and 1992 Games.
A total of 32 divers will
compete in the preliminary starting this afternoon, qualifying 18 into the
semi-final, and afterwards, sending 12 into the final battle.
Guo,
newly-crowned springboard synchro champion, has won four consecutive gold medals
at the World Championships.
Should the overwhelming favorite win both the
individual and synchro 3m springboard in Beijing she would break the record for
most Olympic medals held by a female diver, which currently rests with Fu
Mingxia who won five medals during her Olympic career.
Guo may face tough
battle from her synchro partner Wu Minxia, Aussie Sharleen Stratton, bronze
winner at World Cup earlier this year, as well as Russian veteran Julia
Pakhalina, who was bronze medalist in the event at 2004 Athens Olympics.
Wu,
Guo's customary strongest rival for gold, proves to be a worthy successor.
Currently ranked world No. 5 in the 3m springboard, she finished runner-up to
Guo at Athens and the World Championships in 2005 and 2007.
The 23-year-old
has, however, upset Guo several times including the Doha Asian Games and the
2008 World Cup.
Guo plans to retire after the Beijing Olympics and wants to
go out on a high note on home soil.
"As divers we try to bring out our best
performances and I will try to do just that for the Olympics Games and achieve
the best possible result," she said.
Spearheaded by Guo, the Chinese Dream
Team has so far collected all of the four synchro golds at the Beijing
Olympics.
Xinhua
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