A two-year break only made Xie Siyi more eager to come back. "I really want to win more medals for my country. It makes me thrilled every time," said the Chinese diver after retaining his Olympic title in the men's 3m springboard here on Thursday.

Xie, 28, who won the individual and synchronized titles at Tokyo 2020, took a break for almost two years after his triumph.

Away from the pool, he got married and completed a master's degree, yet still kept his passion for diving.

"I never stopped thinking about diving. Over the past two years, when there were competitions, I watched and tried to figure out the sport's development," Xie noted during an interview last year.

Moreover, he just missed the winning moments so much. "I was always touched when I saw my teammates stand on the podium, watching our national flag rising, and hearing the national anthem," said Xie after beating his teammate Wang Zongyuan to take the gold on Thursday.

"During that time, I hoped that I could win honor for my country again and kept asking myself if I could restart my diving career," he added.

Xie said he had discussed return to competition with his wife, "My wife just told me to go for it. She said, 'No matter how hard it would be, you just keep fighting for what you love', but injuries and the lack of physical fitness really bothered me in the past year."

"I was kind of impatient at the beginning of my comeback journey," he added. "I had to be ready for failure. I found that quite pivotal."

Although he was behind only three-time world champion Wang in both the preliminary and semifinal, Xie said that he had not shown his true capabilities.

"I need to adjust my mindset in a short time to be ready for the final," said Xie, who held his nerve to execute six dives in style in the final, while 22-year-old Wang failed to nail his dive in the fifth round.

"Of course I am disappointed," said Wang, who had finished behind Wang in Tokyo but had been unbeaten in this event since then. "But I am still young, and I look forward to coming back stronger four years later."

Will Xie compete with Wang again at the 2028 Games? "I just want to keep my diving career as long as possible," he said.

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