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author: xiao yao, a reporter from southern window

editor | zhao jinghan

in early september, diving athlete quan hongchan, who won gold medals in tokyo and paris and attracted worldwide attention, returned to her hometown, maihe village, mazhang town, zhanjiang, guangdong.

for a time, this ordinary house was surrounded by many tourists day and night, and even though quan hongchan loudly requested "don't disturb the old man's rest", the congestion and noise were still not relieved. a signboard "quan hongchan's house" was even set up at the intersection of maihe village, which sparked controversy on the internet.

despite being surrounded, quan hongchan still distributed watermelons to tourists/ source: people's daily

quan hongchan became famous, and brought fame to zhanjiang. but the biggest ripple caused by this young champion was not in maihe village, but in the diving training ground.

the diving training ground is exposed to the afternoon sun. in late august, the temperature in guangdong was still just over 30 degrees celsius. children with an average age of no more than 10 years old climbed up the three-story blue diving platform of varying heights, took off, fell into the water, and swam to shore, repeating the same process over and over again. they trained for at least 8 hours a day, and each child had to dive more than 100 times.

from the diving field to the entire sports school, quan hongchan's name and photo are everywhere: handwritten posters with black characters on a red background at the school gate, long banners hanging high after entering the gate; during the summer vacation, in the middle of the deserted teaching building, there is also an electronic subtitle "congratulations to quan hongchan for winning the paris championship" scrolling; on the iron railings outside the diving pool and in the middle of the diving platform, there are posters celebrating quan hongchan's victory. the most inconspicuous small banner uses friendly words: "xiao hong, good job!"

the handwritten poster with black characters on a red background at the school gate reads the good news that quan hongchan won the championship / photo by xiao yao, a reporter from nanfengchuang

every child who jumps into the water can see the champion's tender face and the glittering gold medal in her hand at the first moment when he raises his head from the water.

here, quan hongchan, who is only 17 years old, has become a totem. on the night of august 6, the day when quan hongchan won the championship in paris, the students and coaches of the team set off fireworks beside the diving pool.

from tokyo to paris, diving champion quan hongchan was seen by the world, and her hometown behind her was also seen - zhanjiang, located in the southern border of guangdong, a port city that witnessed the rise of the maritime silk road.

the zhanjiang sports school, where quan hongchan embarked on her diving career, has gradually become popular.

in the last week before the end of summer vacation, i went to the diving team of the sports school. during the morning training, quan hongchan's first coach guo yi kept receiving "enrollment applications". within just 5 minutes, two calls came in. the parents on the other end claimed that their children were born in 2017 and 2018 respectively, and were now about to enter primary school. they hoped to send their children to the sports school to learn diving.

quan hongchan and her first coach guo yi/photo source: zhanjiang news

"it still depends on the child's own conditions." guo yi said helplessly. in fact, this year's enrollment quota has already been filled. at present, with the original 32 children in the diving team, the number of team members will exceed 40 after school starts this year.

guangdong has always been dominant in the field of diving. from china's first world diving champion chen xiaoxia to china's first international diving referee chen guoneng, guangdong diving has created many "firsts". zhanjiang, a prefecture-level city located in the southernmost part of guangdong, has also always achieved outstanding results. in 1994, zhanjiang athlete chen lixia won the world diving championships.

apart from the glory of the gold medal, zhanjiang is actually a low-key, quiet and slow-paced city. at the end of august, the slightly salty hot wind of the island town blew in, and it was slightly cool after the rain. the sky above was pure and blue, just like the name zhanjiang.

as quan hongchan was seen, the light she shone on the world also made zhanjiang behind her visible. among them, countless children who were eager to grab a ray of light and ran hard, their sweat splashed silently for this seaside city.

the explosive power of champions

guo yi still remembers that what impressed him the most at first was quan hongchan's explosive power.

as early as 2014, chen huaming, a teacher at zhanjiang sports school, went to various primary schools to look for talents. he accidentally discovered quan hongchan, who was only 7 years old, in maihe primary school in maihe village in the west of zhanjiang. at that time, the latter was playing the "hopscotch" game with her friends. quan hongchan, who is only 1.2 meters tall, has a light figure and strong leg explosive power. she can jump up to 1.7 meters in the standing long jump.

chen huaming brought quan hongchan to the sports school. at that time, there was no formal diving team yet, but quan hongchan's talent had already surprised guo yi, the coach: "she can jump 1.7 to 1.8 meters in the standing long jump, and many boys can't jump that far." guo yi told nanfeng window that for diving, lower limb strength is very important. the lower limbs largely determine the strength of take-off, flight and entry into the water, as well as the completion of the movements in the air.

the children in the training hall all look relatively thin, but strong and powerful. in order to correct and train their leg shape, they will jump off the stage with a towel between their legs until they enter the water, and the towel cannot be removed.

children training in zhanjiang sports school / photo by nanfengchuang reporter xiao yao

zhanjiang sports school was founded in 1956. its predecessor was zhanjiang city amateur sports school. in 1985, zhanjiang city established this secondary vocational school based on the sports school, implementing a centralized school-running model, that is, combining cultural education with professional training. students live together, attend classes in the morning, train in the afternoon, and go home once a month. during the summer vacation, they train all day and sometimes in the evening.

currently, the sports school diving team has 35 athletes and 3 coaches. the average age of the children is only about 10 years old. the oldest just got admitted to college this year, and the youngest was born in 2018.

diving requires a high level of lightness. for children who want to learn diving, guo yi is particularly concerned about their age. the birth age must be accurate to the month. the age of growth, one extra month of flesh and bone, may become a disadvantage. if a child wants to become a diver, he may start training at the age of six or seven, and by the time he is a teenager, he is basically a "veteran" who is no longer at an advantage.

to this day, the diving team coach still goes out to recruit students twice a year, in summer and winter. when he sees school-age children with suitable physical fitness, he will contact their parents and invite their children to join the diving team. each coach has an enrollment quota every year. however, since quan hongchan won the championship at the tokyo olympics in 2021, the enrollment quota will basically only be exceeded, not lacked.

zhanjiang sports school teaching building/photo by nanfang window reporter xiao yao

"quan hongchan" has opened up a possible choice path that countless families have set for their children.

starting at 4:30 pm, within just half an hour, three parents came to guo yi to "seek instruction". they all wanted to send their children to learn diving and wanted the coach to see if their children were suitable. guo yi asked the children to do a few basic movements in turn. some of them lacked explosive power, some lacked flexibility, and some were too shy and had to hide behind their parents at the age of seven or eight.

"if they are too dependent, we can't accept them." guo yi told the parents helplessly that the sports school is a boarding school and students must undergo closed training and learning. even the youngest children must be able to take care of themselves.

but there are still parents who are full of expectations for their children. ms. chen, who came from beipo, zhanjiang, brought her 7-year-old son. the year quan hongchan was selected by the sports school, ms. chen said that her eldest sister's daughter was also favored by the sports school coach, but her parents thought that diving training was too tiring and finally did not want to send their daughter.

the diving training ground of the sports school / photo by xiao yao, a reporter from nanfang window

guo yi looked at the boy in the mother's arms and sighed, "the initial interview can only look at the most superficial conditions. the child's specific talent can only be discovered slowly during the training process." however, the summer training this year has already passed, and the group of children who participated in the training had already secured their places before quan hongchan won the championship. parents who want to send their children after the olympics can only wait until next year.

some parents directly mentioned quan hongchan, implying that she was a role model. guo yi smiled bitterly and said, "she is just an extremely rare example." champions are not meant to be copied, but they have inevitably planted the seeds of hope in the hearts of countless local families.

but guo yi told me that in these years, he has never met a child as talented as quan hongchan. occasionally, there are one or two relatively strong ones, one of whom is a boy one year older than quan hongchan and has now entered the provincial team for training.

talent in the water

there is a circular square called "laolishi square" in jinshawan, chikan district, zhanjiang. in the center of the square stands a large stainless steel gold-plated painted statue of a female diver jumping out of the diving platform.

lau lishi square/photo by xiao yao, a reporter from southern window

her name is luo lishi, and she is the first zhanjiang athlete to win an olympic gold medal. in september 2003, the 16-year-old luo lishi won the championship in the women's platform diving competition at the national diving championships. on august 16 of the following year, luo lishi partnered with guangxi athlete li ting to win the gold medal in the women's synchronized 10-meter platform diving at the athens olympics, becoming the first zhanjiang diving athlete to win an olympic gold medal.

earlier this year, luo lishi returned to zhanjiang sports school and used the foundation she founded as an olympic champion to donate money to the diving team and distributed clothes to the students.

this is what jia jia, a 14-year-old girl from the sports school diving team, told me. when i met her, she was wearing a white t-shirt with a blue-green pattern printed with the words of a public welfare organization. this morning, jia jia couldn't train because of her menstrual period. she sat next to the diving platform and instructed the movements of the younger children.

jia jia has been interested in swimming since she was a child. "i just like diving, i like it very much. i don't know why, i just like it," she smiled shyly, and then told me proudly that in a provincial competition not long ago, she won sixth place in four events.

like quan hongchan, jiajia has short yellowish hair. after quan hongchan "came out of nowhere", some people had already noticed that her short, yellowish hair was the result of years of soaking in water. the diving pool contains bleach, and long-term soaking can indeed cause hair to turn yellow.

on august 6, 2024, quan hongchan's hair turned yellow due to long-term soaking in water after the award ceremony. photo by xinhua news agency reporter wang peng

that afternoon, when i saw jiajia again at the training ground, she had already started training. when she entered the water, her dark wet hair could no longer be seen.

however, jiajia thinks that she is already "old". for a diver, it is difficult to achieve breakthrough results at the age of 14. guo yi said that in the entire sports school, only the diving team will accept children as young as first and second graders. most other sports require older children.

there are many athletes, but only the history of champions is often preserved in the city. according to the official website of the guangdong provincial sports bureau, when she was a child, luo lishi often followed her mother to watch her brother who practiced diving in the sports school. when she was 7 years old, luo lishi's boldness, activity and coordination were noticed by the sports school coach, who then suggested that she join the amateur sports school and formally learn diving.

2004 athens olympic women's diving synchronized 10-meter platform champion luo lishi / source: zhanjiang netcom

in zhanjiang, diving is a sport that is given special attention, not only because of quan hongchan.

just four years after luo lishi won the championship, another zhanjiang athlete, he chong, won his second diving gold medal at the 2008 beijing olympics.

he chong, who is the same age as luo lishi, won his first olympic gold medal in the men's 3-meter springboard with a total score of 572.90 points. according to public information, as early as 1993, when he was only 6 years old, he chong had already become a member of the chikan district amateur sports school diving team.

he chong, the 2008 olympic men's 3-meter springboard champion / source: zhanjiang netcom

the sports school has produced champions in the past and will likely continue to produce champions. this is the unique confidence and hope of zhanjiang people.

parents are better at discovering their children's "water talents". on the one hand, there are many water bodies in the city, and the sports that a zhanjiang child can choose in childhood naturally include water-related ones. from "playing in the water" in childhood to self-study or learning to swim, parents see it and suddenly think: this child may be suitable for learning diving.

but the mother of another 8-year-old girl told me that her daughter likes playing in the water but is prone to getting sick, so she sent her to learn diving “not expecting to win any awards” but mainly to improve her physical fitness.

huang ke, the principal of zhanjiang sports school, has clearly felt the surge in the number of students admitted in recent years.

the number of students admitted to zhanjiang sports school has increased sharply in recent years / photo by nanfengchuang reporter xiao yao

"before the tokyo olympics, there were more than 100 athletes coming to the sports school for training. after the tokyo olympics, the number of selected athletes has been more than 400 every year." however, due to insufficient degrees and beds, the admission rate had to be reduced accordingly, and the corresponding requirements also rose. "the requirements of cultural education and hardware must keep up." huang ke told south window that three or four years ago, their high school admission score was more than 300 points, and now the high school admission score has reached more than 530 points.

according to huang ke's observation, some families who want to send their children to the diving team for training think that their children are poor in academics but have good physiques, so they hope to train them into athletes. some are from single-parent families or left-behind children, and the adults lack enough time and energy to discipline the children, so they send them for closed-door training.

for children in zhanjiang, swimming and diving are indeed sports that are easier to approach and become familiar with.

the leap of the "southernmost land"

"children in zhanjiang have a natural affinity for water." huang ke said that in zhanjiang, water accompanies a child from birth to growth, just like food, clothing, housing and transportation. "the older generation said 'water is wealth', so every village used to have at least one pond." in the summer, when there was no air conditioning, the children would run to the water to play.

zhanjiang, known as the "south of the pole" since ancient times, is located between 20 degrees north latitude and 22 degrees north latitude. it runs through tropical monsoon climate and subtropical monsoon climate from south to north. summer often arrives in late march or early april and often lasts until october and november.

the diving training ground of the sports school is open for training as usual, except for some days between december and january when the temperature drops below 10 degrees. guo yi said that the total time that students don't have to train all day may not exceed one month a year.

huang ke was born in the 1970s. he still remembers that when he was a child, "i didn't need anyone to teach me how to swim. i just cut a banana tree pole and floated it in the pond, and i learned it by myself." currently, his little daughter is in the second grade and has also learned to swim without any teacher. when he takes his children to the swimming pool, they always go straight to the deep pool, "like little fish."

the movie "female diving team" shot in zhanjiang in the 1960s

zhanjiang not only has a lot of freshwater areas, but also has three coastal areas. historically, zhanjiang was not only one of the starting ports of the maritime silk road, but also one of the first coastal cities in the country to open to the outside world. located at the intersection of guangdong, guangxi and hainan provinces, it is connected to the "three souths" internally and the "five continents" externally. according to the results of the coastline survey announced by the provincial government in 2022, zhanjiang's mainland coastline is 1,195.26 kilometers long, accounting for 29.26% of the province, ranking first in the province.

connected with the superior geographical location are rich marine resources. zhanjiang's total output and total output value of aquatic products have ranked first in the province for more than 20 years. at present, zhanjiang's deep-sea aquaculture cages have increased to 3,563, ranking first in the province and accounting for 70% of the province.

seafood accounts for a high proportion of the daily diet of zhanjiang people. according to huang ke, "except for breakfast, zhanjiang people have seafood in every meal, either fish or shrimp." especially during the summer to spring fishing season, "thumb-sized shrimps are only about 20 yuan per pound."

seafood is a high-protein, low-fat food that helps the body synthesize muscle, but it is not easy to grow fat. diving is a sport that requires delicate and subtle control of the body, from taking off to flying, to completing the aerial movements and the final light entry into the water, each link requires precise control of the body's muscles.

seafood helps the human body synthesize muscle / photo by xinhua news agency reporter li xinjun

in fact, diving was originally considered a sport because people imitated water birds. fishermen saw birds diving into the water to catch fish quickly and swiftly with graceful postures, so they also learned to jump into the water from high places. agility and lightness are the starting point and requirements of diving.

as a formal sport with complete rules, diving was not officially included in the olympic games until 1951. two years later, zhanjiang city included diving as a key sport in its amateur training layout and began to train athletes to participate in international diving competitions.

in 1958, the zhanjiang diving team won the third place in the national competition; in 1960, ke yajiu and chen haiyan won the championship in the men's springboard and women's platform events in the national youth diving competition respectively. later, from luo lishi to quan hongchan, the density of the internet developed with the times brought the spotlight back to their hometown zhanjiang.

however, behind the seemingly leading results, the quiet little town is still waiting for a truly strong enough splash.

students training at zhanjiang sports school / photo by xiao yao, a reporter from southern window

at present, in addition to zhanjiang sports school, there are three other sports schools in the city that have diving training sites: chikan district sports school, xiashan district sports school and zhanjiang diving sports school. however, the most "famous" zhanjiang sports school, in fact, cannot support such a large flow of traffic and expectations for the time being due to its economic and resource conditions.

huang ke, the principal of the school, said that in recent years, almost all the government funding has been used to repair the sports field, but even if the diving board and concrete floor are renovated, it is still difficult to improve the rest of the hardware in the short term. for example, if you want to build an indoor diving field, "the cost is higher than building a building."

for zhanjiang, diving is an opportunity, but it will take time and money to transform it into a well-known brand and strength in the short term. according to data released by the guangdong provincial bureau of statistics, in the first half of 2024, the gdp of zhanjiang city was 172.561 billion yuan, which remained stable compared with last year and ranked tenth in the province.

after the excitement of quan hongchan, zhanjiang finally returned to calm. but the splashes still brought some hope and dawn to this inconspicuous little city. behind the humidity and gloom, zhanjiang is trying to get more sunlight, not waiting for the next champion, but actively stretching its wings to absorb more vitality and possibilities.