Asian Games 2023: Chinese fans love ‘adorable’ teen diver Quan Hongchan and the ‘zoo hanging off her backpack’ at airport
- The 16-year-old sensation is spotted leaving Asian Games at Hangzhou International Airport wearing a satchel covered in turtle toys
- Quan’s signature stuffed animals went everywhere she did in Hangzhou, and fans even threw them from the stands after gold medal win
Diving prodigy Quan Hongchan of China is an Olympic gold medallist and now an Asian Games gold medallist, but, as Chinese netizens love to point out, she is also still an adorable kid.
It wasn’t her gold medal performance for the women’s synchronised 10m platform that enamoured the audience nor was it her second gold from the individual women’s 10m platform – those victories were almost a given.
Rather, she won over hearts with her quirky anecdotes, namely involving her many, many turtle toys.
Several times during her stint in Hangzhou, the Olympian was photographed carrying turtle stuffed animals, which attracted the attention of fans. Several photographs surfaced of fans showing off their Quan-inspired turtle toys, with bags and accessories to rival the teenager’s.
Following Quan’s gold-medal performance on Tuesday, a video went viral showing a spectator throwing a turtle toy to Quan, who graciously re-gifted it to her coach Chen Ruolin.
But, even after winning gold, netizens continued the fanfare for the teen even as she left the city via Hangzhou International Airport.
Wearing her backpack adorned with the signature turtles, Quan was easily spotted among the busy airport crowd, and Chinese sports fans could not get enough.
