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Hongchan Quan, girl 10 of the dives: she is Chinese, she is 14 years old and competes to support her sick mother

2021-08-05T11:12:06.544Z


He won gold on the 10 meter platform with two perfect jumps. The silver went to his compatriot Chen Yuxi, 18 months older.


08/05/2021 7:54 AM

  • Clarín.com

  • sports

Updated 08/05/2021 7:54 AM

The markers on the Tokyo Aquatic Center screen could well be mistaken for a computer code lesson:

10, 10, 10, 10, 10, 10, 10

.

In a way, it was.

Chinese divers are hardwired to seek perfection from an early age.

It was just what

14-year-old Hongchan Quan

did this Thursday

with two of his five dives during the dominant display that earned him gold on the 10-meter platform at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics.

The entrance to the Quan Hongchan water.

Photo REUTERS / Marko Djurica

All seven judges gave Quan perfect tens on his second and fourth dives of the five-round competition.

He first reached perfection with a three-and-a-half-turn jump inward, and then with a backward handstand with two-and-a-half turns.

On his last dive, two and a half laps and a back and a half turn in position b,

Quan received two 9.5s that were discarded

, for which he completed another perfect jump.

With the president of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), Thomas Bach, in the gallery of the Aquatic Center, Quan finished with 466.20 points and a comfortable advantage.

His compatriot Yuxi Chen, just 15 years old,

champion in the 2019 World Cups and gold in these Games in synchronized with his partner Zhang Jiaqi, took silver with a score of 425.40.

Perfect jumps of the Chinese Quan Hongchan in Tokyo.

Photo Oli SCARFF / AFP

Quan,

the youngest member of the Chinese delegation in Tokyo

, went to another level and dedicated the victory to her mother, who is ill.

"I want to earn enough money to support it," he

confessed through an interpreter.

And he remarked that to achieve those dives, he listens to his coach "very carefully" and follows "his instructions very carefully."

"It

has been a slow process

. I have been patient in my training. I do not know what to say, I am a bit speechless. I took it step by step, one movement after another, and continued my training," added who in his career already has the title of a National Springboard Jumping Championship from the 10-meter platform in October 2020.

She is 14 years old and she just did the 𝗰𝗹𝗮𝘃𝗮𝗱𝗼 𝗽𝗲𝗿𝗳𝗲𝗰𝘁𝗼: all the judges rated her 10. 🤯



Quan Hongchan was impressive!

🇨🇳 #Diving # Tokyo2020 # Olympic Games pic.twitter.com/kf6ZOaGMG0

- The Olympic Games (@juegosolimpicos) August 5, 2021

Better than the best


For his part,

although he is only 18 months older

, Chen acknowledged that his partner exceeds the level that she had at his age.

"I would like to congratulate her, I feel that she is actually even better than I was two years ago in terms of her touch, details and technique," he said.

In addition, the medalist demystified that China has a secret to master this discipline.

"We don't really have many great training methods. It's actually about dive after dive, and

practice makes perfect

. The more you practice, the more you want to get," he remarked.

1-2 Chinese with Chen (silver) and Quan (gold).

Photo EFE / EPA / PATRICK B. KRAEMER

It is important to remember that the only diving event in which China did not rise to the top of the podium in Tokyo was in the

men's synchronized

from platform

, where the British Tom Daley and Matty Lee prevailed.

"Half Chinese"

Although third place on the podium was taken by an Australian, Melissa Wu also has Chinese heritage.

"

I'm half Chinese,

" said who scored 371.40.

"I grew up with a lot of Chinese culture and I was very close to my grandparents growing up, and in fact my grandmother passed away a few months ago. She was very close to me and I think this medal is very important to me because she couldn't see me win it and I think that that would have been very important to her, "said the 29-year-old athlete who lived in Tokyo for her fourth Olympic Games and had already achieved silver on a synchronized platform with Briony Cole in Beijing 2008.

Source: agencies

Look also

Tokyo 2020: the amazing champion who lets all rivals through to beat them on his first try

Tokyo 2020: the United States left the confusion behind, is in the final and goes for the gold in basketball

Source: clarin

All news articles on 2021-08-05

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