'Absolute advantage' in diving dissolves

China's diving "Dream Team" has made every effort to cement its status as the dominant force in the sport, but a series of setbacks at the recent FINA Diving World Series and FINA Diving Grand Prix has raised doubts about China's chances of winning every gold medal in Beijing.

"I do not think we have an absolute advantage over our opponents anymore," team manager Zhou Jihong said.

"The overall level is much higher than before. It's very close among the world's best athletes. During the Olympics it will be even more competitive. Take men's platform for example - we will have at least four to five strong opponents."

Zhou tried to downplay her team's past dominance, intending to deflate the public's expectations.

"The advantage is not as big as it was before. Moreover, some key players are not in form recently. Expectations are too high and I hope people put less pressure on the team."

The biggest blow to the team's aura of invincibility was a silly blunder by world No 1 Guo Jingjing on her first dive in the women's 3m springboard preliminary at the FINA Diving World Series in Nanjing last month. It resulted in an embarrassing 21-point score and cost her a spot in the final.

Zhou surprised in her response to Guo's performance, saying she hopes Guo will get all the mistakes out of her system before the Games.

"It's not bad to reveal some problems before the Games since we have time to correct them.

"I hope Guo learns from these mistakes and gets back to her best form before the Beijing Games.

"If we makes mistakes then, the titles will slip out of our hands. In big tournaments there are always unpredictable changes and results."

Missing consecutive titles

In the latest international competition - the sixth leg of this year's FINA Diving Grand Prix in Rostock, Germany - China won only five out of eight gold medals. Germany won the other three.

It was the third time in less than two months that China lost titles it normally wins.

In the fourth leg of the FINA Diving Grand Prix in Montreal early last month, China failed to deliver in both the men's 10m synchronized platform and the women's 10m platform.

A week before the Montreal disappointment, at a World Series in Mexico, China also lost three events - the men's 3m springboard, men's 10m synchronized platform and women's 10m platform.

The two losses by top pair Lin Yue/Huo Liang in the men's 10m synchronized platform were especially surprising since the pair had not lost since 2006.

The women's 10m platform pairs also continues to pose a problem for China. It is an event China has not won at either of the past two Olympics, and this year's hopefuls - Wang Xin and Chen Ruolin - are hardly models of consistency.

"They are still too young and are not mentally strong enough in big tournaments," Zhou said. "We will try everything possible in the remaining time to make them 100 percent prepared."

Higher difficulty

Adding to the pressure on China, the dives of many foreign divers have shown the highest levels of difficulty in recent competitions.

But Chinese diving officials insist their divers don't need to increase their degrees of difficulty to ensure the team's success. They need only to improve the precision of their current dives.

"The Chinese team won't try to train for higher difficulty dives, but to strengthen the quality and stability of their dives," Zhou said.

"Some of the foreign divers are striving for the highest difficulty levels. There will be no weak divers at the Olympic Games."

At the FINA Diving World Cup in February, the highest degree of difficulty - and the highest score - in the men's 3m springboard came from 21-year-old Yahel Castillo of Mexico, who finished only 0.30 points behind China's world champion Qin Kai to take the bronze.

His 3.9 dive - the most difficult dive attempted up to that point - scored a tournament high 105.30 and lifted him into third place.

Castillo's compatriot Paola Espinosa was the only women's 10m-platform diver to attempt two dives with the current highest difficulty level of 3.4. She also claimed bronze behind China's Chen Ruolin and Wang Xin.

In the men's 10m platform, Sascha Klein from Germany grabbed gold, again with a dive of the highest difficulty.

In the men's 10m platform in Nanjing, Jose Guerra Oliva of Cuba attempted a dive with a difficulty level of 3.8 and scored the day's highest score, eventually winning a silver.

"We will face big rivals in the Olympics. We have to hold out under the pressure if some of them make amazing dives," Zhou said.

"We should get focused and make our own best dives."

(China Daily 06/13/2008 page23)