Beijing, China: The country’s Olympic diving team for the Paris Games is brimming with reigning world champions in all eight events on the Olympic program. With a successful performance, China could become the first nation to sweep all eight gold medals in a single Olympics.
In the past two Games in Rio and Tokyo, China won seven out of eight events, and in the last five Games, they have won six or seven gold medals. Synchronized events were introduced at the 2000 Sydney Games, effectively doubling the number of Olympic diving events from four to eight.
The team announcement made on Tuesday includes five returning gold medalists from the Tokyo Olympics: Xie Siyi (men’s individual and synchro springboard), Wang Zongyuan (men’s synchro springboard), Cao Yuan (men’s platform), Quan Hongchan (women’s platform), and Chen Yuxi (women’s synchro platform). The team comprises all eight divers who won gold medals at the previous February’s world championships in events on the Olympic program, including Long Daoyi, Yang Hao, Lian Junjie, Chang Yani, and Chen Yiwen.
Among the team, Cao Yuan, aged 29, is the most experienced diver with participation and medal wins in every Olympics and world championships since the 2012 London Games, except for the 2023 Worlds. Cao won individual Olympic springboard gold in Rio and platform gold in Tokyo and is a synchro platform title away from being the first diver to own gold medals in all four Olympic diving events. The roster announcement did not specify which divers will compete in which events but did include reigning world champions Lian and Yang for men’s synchro platform.
