University divers aiming to make a major splash
(China Daily)
Updated: 2004-08-07 13:43

To Yu Fen, the pool she now stands beside and the students she is instructing are a far cry from what she experienced as head coach of the national diving team seven years ago.

Xiong Qingqing and He Zi of Tsinghua University Diving Team showed their form against a German university team last weekend. The school is cultivating its own divers by exchanging training experiences with foreign universities. [China Daily]

But the goal of training world and Olympic champions still remains firmly in her mind.

Yu, head coach of the Tsinghua University team since 1997, is now busy instructing a group of young divers between the ages of 6 and 22.

What makes them different is most started to receive elite training from a very young age, and they're successfully combining athletic pursuits and academic achievement.

The chance to compete with the world's best divers is rare, so these kids have to spend most of their time training at one of the nation's top colleges.

Last weekend Tsinghua hosted a competition with the German University Diving Team, marking an important step in the exchange of ideas and experiences with foreign competitors.

"When I went to Germany last year, I found they began to have training at 4 pm and finished at about 7 pm. It is the same in USA. But they still made good results in international competitions," said Li Chengwei, the men's 10-metre platform champion at the 2001 East Asian Games.

"Actually, it does not make much different whether you have training 10 hours or two hours every day. The key point is on the players themselves. As long as you are fully focused on training with your mind and body, two hours' training can match a day's training," said Li.

Added Yu: "We are always making efforts to cultivate real student-athletes. Some excellent athletes like Fu Mingxia (former three-time Olympic champion) and Li used to be members of a professional team.

"Our ultimate goal is to develop world and Olympic champions through education and training students from elementary schools."

Yu still recalls that students from Stanford University won 16 gold medals for the US at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics - matching the total of the entire Chinese team.

"To seek a balance of mind and body is beneficial to athletes and also to the sustainable development of China's sports," said Yu.

High praise

The German team, led by Stefan Nitsche, director of diving for the German University Sports Confederation who also served as manager of the German team at the 21th Universiade Games in Beijing, offers a good example.

"Some of our divers did not come to China because they are preparing for the Athens Olympics. But you see our university team members have potential and I am sure we can improve a lot from this competition,"said Nitsche.

Nitsche also saluted the way Tsinghua is bringing up future diving stars.

"I think it is a very good system for training divers in universities. It is very promising. Students will gain what they should learn in training more effectively if they are undergoing advanced education."

Nitsche, who is familiar with China's current national athletes cultivation system, denied he was making any comparison of the two.

"I do not want to say which is better. I am not trying to make a comparison," he said.

"The system in Tsinghua is common in Germany where good athletes are mostly cultivated from elementary school, high school and university."

Bidding to pursue a brand-new road to produce its own world champions, Tsinghua is putting a lot of investment in the programme.

"We are seeking to develop a new format for our country. Many athletes in China cannot find a job after retirement due to a lack of literacy," said Zhang Qiming, vice-director of Tsinghua Sports Administration.

"We hope to do something for the country and at the same time cultivate outstanding athletes with high-level education."

Zhang believes young divers have "improved mentally, and in other areas" since the team was created in 1998.

He added the whole team is now on a positive road and some of the divers are showing star potential.

Xiong Qingqing is one of them.

"It is tough to study and get training at the same time and I am under pressure sometimes. On the other hand, it is worthwhile because it makes life rich and I can learn a lot away from the pool," said the 16-year-old Xiong, who was brought to the team by his parents when he was nine and has never been home since.

At age 13 Xiong finished sixth in the 10-metre platform event at China's Ninth National Game. A year later she won the all-around title at the National Youth Diving Championship.

It remains to be seen if Xiong and these other talented kids will one day join the national team and win glory for China at the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

But Zhang believes as long as more and more excellent young divers are being produced at Tsinghua and other universities, it is only a matter of time before student athletes have a major impact on the national sports scene.

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