Word: fu
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...Soon Fu was skimming so close to the board during her dives that her short hair sometimes brushed the end of the platform before she sliced into the water. She saw her parents once a year. Occasionally they would come to diving meets in her native Hubei province, and Fu would scan the audience from the platform trying to locate them. Usually, she knew they had visited only by the care packages her mother left in the locker room...
...January, less than a year after she re-emerged, her crisp dives captured a silver medal at the Diving World Cup. The gold went to 18-year-old compatriot Guo Jingjing, Fu's main rival in the individual events and partner in synchronized diving, a debut sport at Sydney. "Guo is China's young star," Fu says with a smile. "But don't count the big sister...
This time Fu is diving not for her country, not for her coach, not for her fans, but for herself. The nine-hour practices have been replaced by a more manageable five hours. "Practicing just for the sake of practicing is pointless," Fu says, snapping her gum. She enlivens drills by blasting pop music, thumping techno beats that she hopes will propel her past...
...Fu rebels in a thousand small ways, showing up at interviews without the usual grim-faced handler and shrugging off a 9:30 p.m. curfew in favor of a refill of iced coffee. The boyish bowl cut has been replaced by long, highlighted locks and a Sporty Spice wardrobe of tight T shirts, baggy clamdiggers and unlaced Nikes...
Despite her past successes, Fu's state salary is meager--$120 a month--although she has signed an endorsement deal with Nike. If Fu wins gold at Sydney, she could net an estimated $60,000 in rewards. But Fu insists that money isn't what's motivating her. "When I won in Barcelona and Atlanta, I was a child and it was too easy," she says. "But if I win at Sydney, it will be a medal I have earned all by myself...