Golden generation

Team China's young guns steal the show in Tokyo as expectations rise of even greater success in 2024

Capping their Olympic debuts with podium finishes, a group of young stars have shone beyond their years at the Tokyo Games to leave Chinese sports looking to the future with confidence.

Two days before the Tokyo Olympics closes on the weekend, the Chinese delegation can already count its campaign a great success, not just for its massive medal haul, but more importantly for the quality and quantity of young talents who have looked so at ease on the biggest stage.

In the women's 10-meter platform final on Thursday, Chinese diver Quan Hongchan, the youngest member of the delegation in Tokyo at 14, wowed the world by scoring perfect 10s in three rounds to win the diving squad's sixth gold medal of the Games. Another Chinese teenage prodigy, Chen Yuxi, claimed the silver at Tokyo Aquatics Center.

They are among a number of Chinese Olympians born after 2000 that have contributed 10 gold medals to the total of 34 the team had amassed by Thursday, raising expectations for another bumper haul at the next Games in Paris in three years' time.