Daley poised to make a big splash in China
By Ni Yinbin |
October 21, 2012, Sunday
|
Print Edition
Print Edition
BRITAIN'S favorite diver, Tom Daley, came to town this week with Chinese diver Qiu Bo to teach students diving at Shanghai's Oriental Sports Center, where the pair competed in last year's world championships. Daley, 18, won the gold medal in the men's 10-meter platform at the 2009 world championships and took bronze in the London Olympics this summer in the same event. With his precocious talent, sculpted physique and sunny smile, young Englishman Daley is well on the way to becoming a household name in China, and already has more than two million followers on Tencent Weibo. He talked to Shanghai Daily.
Q: What do you think of the atmosphere here?
A: I love Shanghai. I love China as well. Diving is quite a sport in China, so we have competitions every year. We have the world series in Beijing and, of course, the world championships were here last year. I love to be in China, and the support here is amazing.
Q: How's school going? Have you decided your major at college?
A: Not yet, I'm still finishing my A-levels in high school but next year I can start thinking about a university. I don't know where. I like Spanish, so maybe I'll pick Spanish (as my major).
Q: How do you balance your school time and training?
A: It's really hard to balance school and training but I've got into a routine. I always go to school for two lessons, then to training for two hours; then to school for two lessons and to training for three hours. And then home to do my homework, eat and sleep. Every day. (laughs).
Q: What is like to coach the students here?
A: The students today have done amazingly well - such as in the one-meter forward dive. So I taught the British school students the backward dive, which normally takes a couple of weeks. They did pretty well.
Q: Are there techniques you had to remind students of, to minimise the chance of injuries?
A: Yeah, the main thing I tell people who have just started diving is make sure they jump as far away from the board as possible.
Q: What did you think of China's diving performance in the Olympics?
A: China did very well in the Olympics. Qiu Bo's incredible. In every competition he won this year, he's been amazing. But diving is so unpredictable. David Boudia won gold at the Olympics but the day before, he finished the 18th in the preliminary round. It changes every day.
Q: In the finals of the London Olympics, camera flashes interfered with your first dive and you then asked for a second chance. What was your feeling at that moment?
A: At that time I thought that (the camera flashes) was unfair and that home advantage didn't bring me any advantage at all. Referees reviewed the video record many times and decided to give me a second chance.
Q: You won the bronze medal at the London Olympics. What does that mean to you?
A: That means a lot to me. It's something to show for all the hard work, the effort, the dedication and sacrifices. I finally got something to show for it.
Q: What happened after you won the medal?
A: Since winning the Olympic bronze medal it's been crazy; the number of people supporting me, respecting me - like walking down the street you get recognized. But yeah, it's been really good fun.
Q: People say you might be the next David Beckham in Britain, which means you've attracted many young fans. What do you think?
A: The amount of support, the number of fans I've got in Britain, I'm grateful for that. And since the Olympics, in China my number of followers on Weibo has gone up to nearly 2 million, so people in China are supporting me as well - which is amazing.
Q: Since you're famous now, have there been changes in your life, like communicating with friends. Do they still treat you as a normal student friend?
A: Yeah, because I've been to the school for a long time, everybody is used to seeing me.
Q: Do you know you have a lot of female fans in China? What do you want to say to them?
A: Well, thank you for supporting me. And yeah, "Hi." (laughs)
Q: Do you have a girlfriend?
A: No. Single.
Q: Who was your favorite diver when you were a kid?
A: Alexander Despatie, Dmitri Sautin and Guo Jingjing. When I was younger, I always wanted to dive like them. I remember my first competition when I saw them. I was like, "Wow."
Q: You're a role model to many young people, many of whom have started to learn diving. What do you want to say to them?
A: People want to try diving because it's something different, something fun and interesting. For me, you've just got to give something a go and have fun.
Q: What do think of Qiu Bo?
A: Well, myself and Qiu Bo, its our first time to do synchro in the 10-meter and at the moment Qiu Bo's got a little bit of a shoulder injury, so we couldn't go head first into the water. But it was good fun. Myself and Qiu Bo are good friends
Q: Could you share with us your future plans?
A: My next competition is the national championships in February. I've got a long way to go. We've got the world series next year which comes back to Beijing, and then we've got the world championships in Barcelona.
Q: What do you think of the atmosphere here?
A: I love Shanghai. I love China as well. Diving is quite a sport in China, so we have competitions every year. We have the world series in Beijing and, of course, the world championships were here last year. I love to be in China, and the support here is amazing.
Q: How's school going? Have you decided your major at college?
A: Not yet, I'm still finishing my A-levels in high school but next year I can start thinking about a university. I don't know where. I like Spanish, so maybe I'll pick Spanish (as my major).
Q: How do you balance your school time and training?
A: It's really hard to balance school and training but I've got into a routine. I always go to school for two lessons, then to training for two hours; then to school for two lessons and to training for three hours. And then home to do my homework, eat and sleep. Every day. (laughs).
Q: What is like to coach the students here?
A: The students today have done amazingly well - such as in the one-meter forward dive. So I taught the British school students the backward dive, which normally takes a couple of weeks. They did pretty well.
Q: Are there techniques you had to remind students of, to minimise the chance of injuries?
A: Yeah, the main thing I tell people who have just started diving is make sure they jump as far away from the board as possible.
Q: What did you think of China's diving performance in the Olympics?
A: China did very well in the Olympics. Qiu Bo's incredible. In every competition he won this year, he's been amazing. But diving is so unpredictable. David Boudia won gold at the Olympics but the day before, he finished the 18th in the preliminary round. It changes every day.
Q: In the finals of the London Olympics, camera flashes interfered with your first dive and you then asked for a second chance. What was your feeling at that moment?
A: At that time I thought that (the camera flashes) was unfair and that home advantage didn't bring me any advantage at all. Referees reviewed the video record many times and decided to give me a second chance.
Q: You won the bronze medal at the London Olympics. What does that mean to you?
A: That means a lot to me. It's something to show for all the hard work, the effort, the dedication and sacrifices. I finally got something to show for it.
Q: What happened after you won the medal?
A: Since winning the Olympic bronze medal it's been crazy; the number of people supporting me, respecting me - like walking down the street you get recognized. But yeah, it's been really good fun.
Q: People say you might be the next David Beckham in Britain, which means you've attracted many young fans. What do you think?
A: The amount of support, the number of fans I've got in Britain, I'm grateful for that. And since the Olympics, in China my number of followers on Weibo has gone up to nearly 2 million, so people in China are supporting me as well - which is amazing.
Q: Since you're famous now, have there been changes in your life, like communicating with friends. Do they still treat you as a normal student friend?
A: Yeah, because I've been to the school for a long time, everybody is used to seeing me.
Q: Do you know you have a lot of female fans in China? What do you want to say to them?
A: Well, thank you for supporting me. And yeah, "Hi." (laughs)
Q: Do you have a girlfriend?
A: No. Single.
Q: Who was your favorite diver when you were a kid?
A: Alexander Despatie, Dmitri Sautin and Guo Jingjing. When I was younger, I always wanted to dive like them. I remember my first competition when I saw them. I was like, "Wow."
Q: You're a role model to many young people, many of whom have started to learn diving. What do you want to say to them?
A: People want to try diving because it's something different, something fun and interesting. For me, you've just got to give something a go and have fun.
Q: What do think of Qiu Bo?
A: Well, myself and Qiu Bo, its our first time to do synchro in the 10-meter and at the moment Qiu Bo's got a little bit of a shoulder injury, so we couldn't go head first into the water. But it was good fun. Myself and Qiu Bo are good friends
Q: Could you share with us your future plans?
A: My next competition is the national championships in February. I've got a long way to go. We've got the world series next year which comes back to Beijing, and then we've got the world championships in Barcelona.
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