If you have watched the game of our national female divers, Pandelela and Jun Hoong, in the Women's 10m platform, you surely wouldn't missed this petite-size 14 years old girl from China, Quan HongChan. She might be small in size, but she is the real deal in the diving world. With three perfect 10 scored in just the final competition, she walked away with the Olympics Gold medal and set a new Olympics record.
# What a debut!
Being the youngest Olympians from China, the 2020 Tokyo Olympics is her very first big games on the international stage. Although she is only 143cm and competing against many other experienced diver, HongChan did not fret and has delivered a stunning performance, earning herself a remarkable 466.20 total score.
# Rough start, Perfect ending
During the preliminary rounds, HongChan wasn't at her level best. Despite the mistakes, she earned herself a spot in the final. She wasted no time in making adjustment to prep herself for the final round. It paid off! Out of 5 jumps, she scored perfect 10 from all seven judges in 3 of it. If you were to describe her jump, it is indeed perfectly flawless. The water seems undisturbed at all when she glides into it. Astonishing!
# The Story Behind
Grew up in Guangdong, HongChan came from a farmers family. Her parents are in poor health, and a huge portion of their savings were used on their frequent visit to the hospital. Her mum was involved in a traffic accident, worsening her health conditions, and was hospitalized for plenty of times after the incident. After hearing the news from her father, HongChan becomes more certain that she has to win the game, so that she could send back the cash prizes for her mum's treatment.
# "I'm not a genius."
HongChan started her diving training when she was 7. With only a short 7 years period, she made an impressive progress, from a beginner to the world champion. Many users on Chinese social media named her "The God of Diving", and some called her a genius. However, HongChan humbly denied the statement. "I'm not a genius, I'm not smart, my academics were really bad," she said. "My results were bad, and because of that, I chose to start practicing diving." she added when she was asked how did she decided to start dive professionally.
# She is cute!
You might noticed that when she scored perfect 10, she didn't cracked a smile. Even so, when she was in front of the reporters, her cute, young and care-free personality prevailed. Same as other kids at her age, she is full of energy and playful. Especially digital games, such as the famous PUBG and Mobile Legend. She joked that her biggest worry at the moment is that she is not legally an adult yet. "I can only play my game for an hour a day, that's only enough for 2 rounds. It's not enough! And I'm still not good at it!" She added that she gets frustrated when she has team up with some amateur player.
When she was asked what word or phrase she gets the most from her coach, unexpectedly, she answered "Why, Why." She explained that "My coach kept asking me why. I don't know how to answer him though." Such an cute girl, isn't it?
Young, but not weak. HongChen has proved to many people what a 14 y.o. girl can do. Age, after all, is just a number. Don't ever let age to deceive you.
Anyway how, we anticipate more amazing performance from HongChen in the future.
