The Chinese world champions and Olympic gold medalists are about to
sweep all four diving titles at the Busan Asian Games, Zhou Jihong,
the Chinese diving team manager, told Xinhua here Friday afternoon.
All the 21 members of the Chinese diving squad arrived in Busanand
settled down in the athlete's village on Friday. In the 1998
Bangkok Asiad, China collected all the four golds in diving
competition.
"We will do it again in Busan as we do not have strong opponents in
Asia in theory," said Zhou, who took a diving gold for China in the
1984 Los Angeles Olympic Games.
Responding a question about the Democratic People's Republic of
Korea (DPRK) who had broken a world record in the women's
weightlifting in Busan, Zhou said that "DPR Korea might be a dark
horse as its athletes have some strength in platform diving and
they do not often appear in international competitions."
"But I still think the arch rivals for the Chinese athletes in
Busan are themselves. As long as they can give their normal
performance in the competition, they will be the winners," she
noted.
"Our athletes have been greatly encouraged by the wonderful
performances made by our fencers and swimmers, and all of them have
vowed to repeat their glory in Busan," she added.
(Xinhua News
Agency October 4, 2002)