How Quan Hongchan, China’s 14-year-old diving darling, strove for Tokyo Olympics gold to support her ill mother
- Quan has amassed a rapidly expanding army of fans after her stunning gold medal win in 10m platform diving final
- Guangdong native’s playful persona wins hearts of Chinese netizens, who lap up her love for spicy snack Latiao and online gaming
A picture of her coach holding the spiky-haired teenager aloft after her win – both beaming with joy – has been flooding China’s social media. As have stories of Quan’s 400-dives-a-day routine, how close she is to her parents, and even her favourite snack, all lapped up by her new and rapidly expanding community of fans.
Quan is the youngest athlete among China’s delegation at the Games, and sealed the country’s 33rd gold medal in Tokyo.
She simply blew away the competition, delivering three perfect-10 dives and achieved a record-breaking overall score of 466.20, more than 40 points ahead of her 15-year-old teammate Chen Yuxi, who won silver.
Born on March 28, 2007 in the Mazhang district of Zhenjiang, Guangdong, Quan became the second-youngest Chinese Olympic gold medallist in diving, behind only Fu Mingxia, who won the 10m platform gold at Barcelona 1992, aged 13.
