China's national diving team eyes eight gold medals in Beijing Olympics
23/7/2008 17:49
Though "springboard diva" Guo Jingjing has been ruling springboard
synchronized with her teammate Wu Minxia, her partner was changed to be a male
diver Wang Feng during today's performance, leaving Wu alone to finish her own
part.
However, the three world-class divers of China's diving team was not
showing their skills of rip entry but running a certain distance as a relay
racer.
The three paused their training for the ongoing Olympic torch relay in
Jinan, capital city of East China's Shandong province, also the training base
for China's national diving team.
Guo and Wang were the last torchbearers to
light the cauldron to finish the relay in Jinan , East China and Wu was the 10th
among all the city's 243 torchbearers. Jinan is the last leg of torch relay in
the province.
"I will not let the Chinese down in the Beijing Olympics and
wish Beijing a big success," said Guo, cherishing the chance to be an Olympic
torchbearer.
"The most important thing for me now is to make my best
performance at home to defend my title in the coming August", she added.
All
that Guo thought was just what China's diving team has been striving
for.
Known as the "dream team", the Chinese diving team had won 20 gold
medals in six Olympic games since the 1990s. In 2004 Athens Olympics, China's
divers secured six medals in eight events.
Chinese national team manager Zhou
Jihong, who was keeping a low profile, would rather say ahead of the Beijing
Olympics that competitions were cruel so all the team members were training hard
and would do best for the gold medals.
However, analysts forecasted that
China was quite competitive to make a clean sweep on the Beijing Olympic diving
arena after it kept training for another four year and stood many big
tests.
Wang Feng, veteran of men's 3-meter springboard was optimistic about
China's performance at home. "Our diving team will present a dramatic win at the
Water Cube", he said.
Wu Minxia, gold medalist in the Athens Olympics with
Guo said she was proud that the Olympic games was to be held just at home and
would try her utmost for gold medals.
"We will stop concentrated training in
a week and start life at the Beijing Olympic village in early August," said Zhou
Jihong.
"Jinan has brought us a lot luck. It is always a lucky place for
China's national diving team," she added.
Xinhua
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