Diving darling Quan wins nation's heart

"Hongchan was just about 7 or 8 years old. She was a little bit confused about how she was able to be there and why I had selected her," Chen told media.

"Actually, she is a very talented athlete. If you looked too hard for such a talent, you might not find one. But somehow, when you don't expect it, she just shows up in front of you.

"Honestly speaking, the condition of our school might be the worst of our province. We did not have any special equipment for Hongchan's training. It was the same for every student in our school."

After four years at the sports school, pure hard work and determination saw Quan selected for the Guangdong provincial team.

In October last year, she won her first national title as a 13-year-old, presenting her with the opportunity to represent her country.

Her participation at Tokyo 2020, however, was only made possible by the postponement of the Games due to the pandemic, thereby enabling the teenager to pass the competition's minimum age limit.

Her preparation for the Games was simple and straightforward.

"I just dived every day. Each day, I needed to practice about seven hours, and some days I practiced for 10 hours," she said.