Word: guo
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...Athens games, Tian told TIME: "Things are different than 10 years ago, and we should be allowed to make more money. It's a reflection of the economic reforms China has gone through." Now he has been relegated to the Shaanxi province diving team. Meanwhile, fellow Olympic gold-medalist Guo Jingjing helped safeguard her place on the team by publicly apologizing last month for her own commercial ambitions, saying that her selfishness was unacceptable because "I belong to the nation." That, it appears, is the attitude needed to participate in the most modern Olympics ever...
...Social reforms have also revolutionized China's diving team. Guo and Tian may not say whether they are dating, but she keeps photos of him stored on her cell phone and he squired her to meet his parents last year. While the mainland's table tennis authorities recently kicked players off the national team for daring to date each other, the national diving squad maintains a "don't ask, don't tell" policy on romance. "I don't approve of athletes dating because it can interfere with their concentration," says Zhong Shaozhen, Guo's coach for the past six years...
...their newfound freedom, however, Guo and Tian are still the property of the Chinese state. Unlike Western athletes, they cannot fire their coaches, who have been assigned to them by local sports authorities. A big chunk of their endorsement earnings must be donated to the national swimming and diving association, which, in today's reformist economic era, must be financially self-sufficient. Both Tian and Guo live full-time in dormitories and are given just one day off each week, if that, to spend with their families. Reveille is at 6 a.m. and lights must be out at 10-although...
...pair gears up for Athens, traditionalists within the sports system are carping that Guo and Tian need to spend less time buying property and pitching products. China's diving team was a powerhouse in Sydney, winning five of eight golds, but in recent competitions the squad's much-vaunted consistency has dipped, leaving room for the Russians, Canadians and Americans. Perhaps the most disconcerting moment came in a U.S. contest earlier this month, when Guo, a favorite for the 3-m springboard event, misstepped and ended up belly-flopping in the pool. After a series of uninspiring meets earlier this...
...Discipline seemed rigid enough last week, as Guo spent a Wednesday afternoon grimly slicing through the water to prepare for an upcoming meet in Shanghai. She plunged into the pool over and over, surfacing only to hear terse criticism from her usually upbeat coach. A few meters from where Guo was practicing, six-year-old girls from the city tossed themselves off the vertiginous diving platform, their tiny bodies tumbling through the air at up to 60 km/h. The girls were all wearing plain, baggy, black swimsuits, and some looked longingly at their famous compatriot in her sleek, purple suit...