This time, Daley and Qiu pool resources

By Yu Ran in Shanghai (China Daily) Updated: 2012-10-16 16:31

British diving star Thomas Daley, center, instructs a local student as he and Chinese teen Qiu Bo attend a sports exchange program between the countries in Shanghai, Oct 15, 2012. [Photo by Gao Erqiang / China Daily]

Appearing together for the first time since the London Olympics, teenage diving stars Qiu Bo and Thomas Daley put on an exhibition for local school students here on Monday.

Qiu, the 19-year old silver medalist in the men's 10m platform and Daley, the British-born 18-year-old bronze medalist, performed dives from the 10m platform and taught a few basic skills to some keen Shanghai students.

"It was great to meet Qiu as a friend rather than a competitor on the platform," said Daley.

The Brit also said he was surprised so many people in China knew who he was after the London Olympics.

Chinese diver Qiu Bo, fourth left, and British diver Thomas Daley, fifth left, pose for a photograph with children during a sports exchange program between the countries in Shanghai, Oct 15, 2012. [Photo by Gao Erqiang / China Daily]

Spending about two hours with 20 students from Shanghai British International School and Shanghai Shangde Experimental School, Daley and Qiu expressed their delight that so many youngsters wanted to learn the sport.

"I was glad to see so many children doing amazingly well in learning the basic diving skills like jumping forwards and backwards, which normally take a couple of weeks ... they managed to do pretty well," said Daley, who is looking forward to coming back to China next year for more ventures.

Qiu, on the other hand, was a little more cautious and pointed out diving was a somewhat dangerous hobby for young children to adopt.

"If you want to learn diving, it's better to start as early as you can, but if you just want to make it a hobby, you should be very careful and perhaps even switch to less dangerous activities like swimming," said Qiu.

Being a diver and student, Daley has had to balance study and practice.

"My training routine is to take two lessons and practice for two hours in the morning and two lessons followed by a three-hour training session in the afternoon," said Daley, who will probably choose Spanish as his major at university.