Born in the 1980s - Wu Minxia
Print Edition
China’s diving queen Wu Minxia was born with talent, but her achievements didn’t come easily.
She has been plagued by injuries throughout her career, prompting some to call her the “glass beauty.”
After 10 hours of hard training every day, the Shanghai native had to undergo physiotherapy for pain. Sometimes her injuries forced her to miss critical competitions.
For a long time, Wu was overshadowed by her teammate, multi-Olympic gold winner Guo Jingjing. But being No. 2 was not good enough for her.
“I would never give up my dream,” the 28-year-old says of her ambition to win an individual gold medal at the Olympic Games.
The dream really started when she was a child, watching the games on television. She saw Chinese divers win accolades for their performances in the pool and decided that’s what she wanted.
Wu lost to Guo twice in the 3-meter springboard at the Olympic Games in 2004 and 2008, pocketing silver in Athens and bronze in Beijing. Her dream of gold was fulfilled at the 2012 London Olympics. She broke down in tears after winning the coveted medal. “I did it,” she said. “My persistence over the years paid off.”
Wu was born into a blue-collar family; her father was a plasterer.
She started practicing diving when she was six years old, eventually gaining a spot on the Shanghai diving team.
“If you have dream, you should persist, overcome challenges and push yourself toward that dream,” she says, adding that her only interest in life is diving.
“I want to hold on year after year,” Wu says. “I have realized my dream of winning an individual Olympic gold medal. In the future, I think my training will be more for just my love of diving.”
She says she wants to do everything she can to promote the sport and get more people involved.
For a sports superstar, Wu is remarkably shy and down-to-earth in person.
In a two-hour training session open to the public at the Shanghai Oriental Sports Center ahead of the Barcelona world championships in July, Wu tried her best to make every splash perfect. She was attentive to teammates, some much younger than her. They call her “sister.”
“My target now is to make every diving movement splendid,” she says.
Wu and Shi Tingmao won the first diving gold medal at the Barcelona meet last month, earning Wu a record sixth world title in the women’s 3-meter synchronized springboard.
It’s too early to say whether she will compete in the Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro in 2016. “I want to take it one step at a time,” she says. “If you think long and try to plan everything, you run the risk of disappointment and loss of confidence.”
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