Divers

"When I was about eight or nine, I knew I liked boys. But I soon came to the understanding that gay was not as good as straight. That it would be better to be straight and that people didn't like gays because they can't marry and had to be secretive. Nobody told me directly, but these were messages I got from society."

"Sport, in general, tends to be a good decade behind the rest of society in terms of talking about these issues. There's been a lot of progress. There's women's equality in sport, talking about depression in sport, homophobia in sport, and drugs in sport. I actually think when gay marriage is legalised, and it becomes such a non-issue in wider society, it will likewise become a non-issue in sport."

"You find that in countries where gay marriage is legalised, there's a lot less homophobic violence. It's because it's normalised. Once it's legalised it does become a lot less of an issue. And it really is such a normal thing; look at how fucking many of us there are! Society is always going to be heteronormative, there's nothing we can do about that. But if society stops demonising homosexuality and condemning it, then kids will stop absorbing messages which say who they are is wrong."

"I am already considered an elderly player on the platform during the Rio Olympics cycle. In general, my state is quite poor, and my abilities in all aspects are going down. Therefore, I can't participate in single-player competitions and continue to write new gold medal records, which is a little regretful."

"Nowadays, many people are not focusing on gold medals, but sportsmanship, the positive energy in sportspeople."

"In the end, I can have today's achievements, and it is inseparable from the coach and team leader of the national team."

"Diving is relatively niche and not so market-oriented. It is one aspect that audiences like to watch, but in terms of participation, there will be fewer people participating."

"After I finished school, I started to get in touch with the referee's work. After all, I grew up in this circle and felt that the referee's job was more interesting, so I slowly decided that the referee's work was my future direction."

"In the ’80s and ’90s, not a lot of people knew what diving was and I didn’t actually know what it meant. When I heard the word ‘water’ in the Chinese pronunciation of ‘diving,’ I had an image of families swimming happily together during the summer—and I wanted to have that."

"When I realised it wasn’t swimming I signed up for, I just went with it because I liked the challenge. It wasn’t a hobby, but I grew to enjoy it and become good at it through my training. Eventually I developed the goal of competing and winning a gold medal. Little did I know that raising my hand would lead me to where I am now"

"I began to feel like I’d failed if I didn’t win a medal, and I lost that feeling of excitement I felt when I first began."

"As an athlete, you’re only focused on yourself and it’s mainly about physical exertion, whereas as a mother I have to think not only about myself but also my child. Everything is new to me as a mother. In a way, I also feel like a baby because I’m learning bit by bit. Nobody really understands what being a mother is like until they actually become one. It changes the way you think about everything."

"I don't like discussing my private life in public. It feels strange."

"I don't care about my public figure, or gossip; It doesn't have an impact on my training or competitions."

"I feel that if we could give 100 percent effort, that is the what the Olympics are about. We cannot predict the results, but I'm happy if we could just enjoy the process."

"I will definitely continue diving if my body allows me, so I will keep training hard, keep competing and hopefully represent China more and win more titles for China."

"One year ago I was not doing that well. I'm very thankful that I didn't give up."

"It is not the gold medal that makes you stronger. It is your courage to face up difficulties and then overcome them on the road leading to the podium. It is easy for one to believe in himself in favorable circumstances, but hard in times of adversity. This might be the difference between excellence and greatness."

"I really love diving and I realised that there was no way that I could give it up."

"There are two of me in my mental state that actually fight with one another. Part of me says ‘you’re a gold medallist, you can take a break, you can be done’. Another part of me says ‘you can’t give this up, you love diving’."

"Every dive was a fear for me and I had to face all those fears one by one. I was terribly afraid that I could not dive and I could not eat and sleep well during those days. But I was very lucky, I had a great and strong team with me. Everyone in the team helped me, motivated me and encouraged me to tackle the difficulties. That is the reason why I give myself full marks for 2019, because I overcame my fears and weaknesses from the previous season and had an enlightened 2019. I am proud of myself."

"I should be grateful for the difficulties and challenges I experienced. I felt I am stronger and tougher in mind. And that is why I want to praise myself."

"I enjoy watching other sports, like tennis and golf. I’ve only played golf once, but I like it very much. I want to distract myself from diving and learn what great athletes mean to be great. Like Roger Federer, Tiger Woods and the others."

"I don’t want to waste time thinking about the result."

"I have to really take care of my mental state and make sure I don't get into a depression. I have worked with a psychiatrist or psychologist who helped me quite a bit with some of the mental stresses of being a competitive diver and dealing with depression and things like that."

"Because I have a child, because I'm mature enough to really have a grip that what we put in, on and around our bodies, is permanent. For us, and is permanent for the planet."