Guo Jingjing

Guo Jingjing
2009

born Oct. 15, 1981, Baoding, Hebei province, China

      As the 2008 Olympic Games opened in Beijing, one of the top favourites to win gold was diver Guo Jingjing. The 26-year-old Guo, already a veteran of three Olympic Games, had not lost a major international event, either individual or synchronized, on the 3-m springboard since 2001 and was widely recognized as the greatest female diver in history. She did not disappoint. Standing 1.63 m (5 ft 4 in) and weighing just 49 kg (108 lb), Guo exploded off the springboard, twisting and tumbling in the air in a way that seemingly defied gravity; then, with her body perfectly aligned, she cut through the water's surface, producing barely a sound or a ripple as she entered. In the end she again walked away with the gold in both the 3-m springboard and the 3-m synchro (with partner Wu Minxia).

      Guo grew up in Baoding, a medium-sized city located about 140 km (90 mi) south of Beijing. At age seven she wasdiscoveredat her elementary school by diving coach Yu Fen, who had risen to prominence coaching Olympic champion Fu Mingxia. Guo, who lived at the sports school where Yu coached, progressed rapidly under her mentor's guidance and was selected for China's 1996 Olympic team, making her international debut at age 13 in Atlanta. She finished fifth, but it was clear that the teenager had the talent, the willingness to work hard, and a certain, undefinable flair for her sport that made her something special.

      Yu retired after the Atlanta Games. and Guo transferred to Coach Zhou Jihong, who had become China's first Olympic diving champion in 1984. Under Zhou, she won silver in both the 3-m springboard and 3-m synchro events at the 2000 Games in Sydney. Training for five to seven hours a day, she won double golds at the world championships in 2001, 2003, 2005, and 2007. It was double gold again at the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens.

      A megacelebrity in her native land, Guo appeared in commercial advertisements and gossip magazines and was often pursued by Chinese paparazzi. The attention grew ever more intrusive when she began dating another top Chinese diver, Tian Liang, a gold medalist in Athens. The couple became known asthe prince and princess of diving.” The scrutiny seemed even more intense after the pair broke up in 2007 and she began dating Kenneth Fok, the grandson of a Hong Kong business tycoon, Naturally outgoing and friendly, Guo was fiercely protective of her privacy, which, on occasion, led to clashes with the press.

      Guo announced her retirement from diving following her triumph in Beijing. With four Olympic gold medals, along with two silver, and a world championship medal collection that included eight gold and one silver medal, she departed the scene as the most decorated diver in historymale or female.

Phillip Whitten

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Universalium. 2010.

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