Paris Olympics: tearful diver Quan gives perfect example of why she’s China’s golden girl
- Quan Hongchan outduels teammate Chen Yuxi to claim women’s 10m platform title. North Korea’s Kim Mi-rae wins bronze.
A tearful Quan Hongchan survived a battle royale with Chinese teammate Chen Yuxi to claim a second straight women’s 10 metre platform Olympic title at the Paris Aquatics Centre on Tuesday.
The balletic 17-year-old Quan was awarded a set of perfect 10s from judges following a sublime opening dive.
Any thoughts of a stroll for Quan were quickly pushed aside, as Chen dived beautifully to push her teammate all the way. Quan ultimately held her nerve to surpass the 76 she needed for gold from her final dive.
Chen had to settle for a repeat of the silver medal she claimed in Tokyo three years ago. Kim Mi-rae of North Korea took bronze, but was never in the conversation over who would top the podium.
Quan and Chen were operating in tandem only six days ago, when they teamed up for synchronised 10m platform gold.
There was no quarter given during a gripping fight for the individual prize, but Chen offered her emotional teammate a warm embrace after Quan entered the pool straight as an arrow to score 81.60 points for that decisive last plunge.
