Silver lining for irrepressible Chen

Much-loved Chinese diving star determined to take the positives from near-miss at Tokyo Olympics

Chen Aisen insists missing out on gold at the Tokyo Olympics has only made him more determined to return to the highest podium at the Paris Games in three years' time.

Chen and teammate Cao Yuan were pipped to the men's synchronized 10-meter platform title by Britain's Tom Daley and Matty Lee last month. The Chinese pair ranked first until the fourth round before being overtaken by the Britons and having to settle for silver.

Prior to Tokyo 2020, China had won four straight Olympic golds in the discipline, including in 2016 when Chen and Lin Yue reigned supreme. Now, Chen is determined to focus on the positives from his near-miss in the Japanese capital.

"The silver medal will just motivate us to keep training harder, and I think it's also beneficial to the growth of the sport. It's good that we have very competitive rivals on the world stage to keep pushing us to move forward," Chen told China Daily during a Douyin livestream on Friday.

"So we will not be complacent. This is good. And I really appreciate that we can have such good rivals. We can compete and learn from each other.

"This is the nature of competitive sports. If we don't have competitive rivals, the sport won't develop properly. Yes, we lost the gold medal by just 1.23 points, but we will try harder to win the gold back next time."

Chen shot to stardom at the 2016 Games by pocketing two gold medals (men's 10m platform and men's synchronized 10m platform), and admits he found the going really tough while preparing to defend his titles in Tokyo.

"Looking back over the past five years, I think the hardest time for me was the winter training in 2018.My performances and condition were really bad at that time. My teammates kept improving but I struggled a lot. I could not catch up with them," Chen, 25, said.

"I thought about retiring, but I received help from many people. The team did not give up on me. The coach and my teammates helped me to train and find my pace again. And thankfully I did not retire.

"A major reason was that my Olympic dream had not ended. Winning gold medals at one Olympics is not the end of my journey. Also being able to represent your country at the Olympics is always an honor. I hope I can keep fighting for our country at the Olympics."

The disruption caused by the pandemic and the consequent one-year postponement of Tokyo 2020 added to Chen's challenging preparations. Those inconveniences and logistical headaches remained a reality throughout the Games.

"It took a long time for us to enter the athletes' village in Tokyo. We started our journey that day at 8 am, and spent a long time in the airport, where we had to go through very complicated procedures. We finally arrived in the athletes' village about 12 hours later," said Chen.

"There was no time to rest, so we were all really tired that day. The next day we went to the aquatics center as we needed to quickly adjust to the condition of the venue. And we resumed our training before the competition."

'Vanishing splashes'

Despite failing to retain his title in Tokyo, fans were still in awe of Chen's wondrous skills－in particular his super-smooth entries into the water. One of the most popular hashtags on Chinese social media during the Tokyo diving competition was "The magic trick of vanishing splashes".

"There's actually no secret as to how to make the perfect splash, just constant practice. The splash skill is actually a very basic skill for divers," said Chen.

"Usually, we need to train six to seven hours a day. We have very comprehensive training methods－physical training, and skills training on the ground, which is very important as it can help us to have better performances on the platform. And of course there is also training on the platform and in the pool."

Chen admitted, even for him, peering down from a 10-meter platform for the first time was an intimidating experience.

"For many divers, the 10-meter platform is a pretty scary discipline when we first try it. Because when you actually stand on the platform, especially when you look down from it, you realize how tall it is, as the swimming pool is also 5 meters deep. You feel that you are jumping into the abyss," said Chen.

"You need to take your first step and try. I think you have to face your own fear directly. I remember the first time I stood on the 10-meter platform. I stood there for like ages and dared not to jump.

"I told my coach that I need to use the bathroom. So I just walked down and then returned. But I still dared not to jump. My coach asked me repeatedly, 'Will you jump or not?' I stood still, and then he just kicked me down from the platform."

Even for the experts, diving from that height remains a fraught affair.

"I remember in the very early stages of my training, I made a mistake and entered the water not hands-first. Instead, it was my back that hit the water surface first. The pressure was too high and I started to spit out blood," said Chen.

"That time my lung was injured, and I received instant medical treatment. I felt hard to even breathe at that moment. These kinds of injuries are pretty common for divers. Some need to be hospitalized, but I recovered quickly and resumed training shortly afterward."

It's toughness like that which explains how Chen has stayed at the top of his sport for so long and why another shot at Olympic gold in Paris should not be out of the question.