Quan Hongchan: Top six facts about the People's Republic of China diving star
Quan Hongchan has achieved the seemingly impossible: to become the standout diving star in the People’s Republic of China.
The Asian powerhouse dominates the sport, having won all-bar-one of the gold medals on offer at the past two Olympic Games.
But somehow, Quan still manages to stand out above her compatriots.
At Tokyo 2020 in 2021, she secured three perfect 10s at the age of 14 to finish over 40 points ahead of silver medallist and compatriot Chen Yuxi in the women’s 10m platform and become her nation’s second-youngest diver ever to win an Olympic title.
The Guangdong native was so young, in fact, that she was only able to compete in Japan due to the year-long postponement caused by the pandemic.
Below, we take a closer look at the story behind Quan’s meteoric rise, and some of the lesser known facts about the diving prodigy.
1 - Motivated to pay for hospital bills
Quan was born as third of five children in the rural village of Maihe, which has fewer than 2000 inhabitants.
Her father was an orange farmer, and her mother worked in a factory until a car accident left her in poor health.
Aged seven, Quan was playing hopscotch at school with her friends, and her jumping ability was quickly spotted by a local coach from the Zhanjiang City Sports School, Chen Huaming.
“He said that I was tiny and swift, but able to jump higher and longer than the others. At that time, I was 1.20m tall and could jump as long as 1.76m,” Quan told Xinhanet.com.
“Coach Chen, who was doing his annual work to scout young talents all over the city and in rural areas, went to my home and spoke to my parents. He taught me diving at school in Zhanjiang. I had never tried any other sports before but I enjoyed playing in the water. It was a good start for me that I jumped from the platform into the water ahead of other kids without hesitation.
“I was not good at studying but I found confidence in diving.”
Quan’s motivation in sport was to get to compete at the Olympic Games and support her mother through paying for her hospital bills.
2 - Guangdong: A hotbed of Chinese diving talent
Quan's home province of Guangdong has produced an enormous amount of Chinese diving talent.
The area in southeastern China also produced the nation’s first diving world champion Chen Xiaoxia, in addition to Olympic champions Sun Shuwei, Hu Jia, Yang Jinghui, and Xie Siyi.
Hongchan QUAN
3 - Spicy snacks, arcade games, and supermarkets
Aside from her brilliance in sport, Quan has won the hearts of the Chinese public with her bubbly personality.
After looking perfectly serious during Tokyo 2020, the teenager burst into giggles after winning the gold medal, telling reporters that she would be celebrating by eating a spicy Chinese snack called Latiao.
“I want to eat my favourite snacks as much as possible, and I want to go to the amusement park and play the doll-grasp machine and grab many dolls,” she said.
“I had a wish to own a small grocery store in my hometown, but now my dream is upgraded to a supermarket.”
Gold medallist Quan Hongchan of China celebrates during the medal ceremony for the Women's 10m platform final of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games at Tokyo Aquatics Centre on August 05, 2021.
4 - A home comfort with a funny face
Tokyo 2020 was the first time Quan ever competed outside of China.
Being so young, it was important that she had some home comforts to settle any nerves and perform at her best.
That’s why she always brings a stuffed toy with a big grin on its face, which was a gift from her older brother.
"It kind of looks like me. We both have toothy smiles," she told China Daily.
5 - Quan Hongchan’s ‘desire for perfection’
Quan is frequently asked what she does differently to her peers and rivals.
A special technique? Ultra-modern training facilities? The answer to both is no. She simply trains as hard as she can, and dedicates her life to getting better with each session.
"Quan practices harder than other athletes around her age. She's the most engaged. She kept asking me whether her positions and flights were OK, whether she did well,” He Weiyi, the diving coach at the Guangdong Provincial Sports Team and Quan’s former mentor told CGTN.
“She'd get unhappy if I couldn't answer her at once. Her spirit is a desire for perfection."
6 - A Chinese word was created to describe Quan Hongchan's excellence
Sometimes, words simply don't do justice to particularly great performances.
In Quan's case, a new Mandarin Chinese word had to be created to describe her astonishing performances in diving.
The word is “水花消失术”, pronounced “shui hua xiao shi shu”, which literally means "water splash disappearance technique", reflecting her ability to meet the water with such precision that only small ripples are created.
After all, during Tokyo 2020, her second and fourth jumps were awarded a rare score of 10 from all seven judges. The last jump received 10 from six judges while the other gave 9.5.
Her final result of 466.20 is the world record in the 10m platform, and she has gone on to repeat the perfect 10s at the World Championships, Asian Games, and in the World Cup.