The story appears on

Page A15

July 27, 2017

GET this page in PDF

Free for subscribers

View shopping cart

Related News

HomeSportsDiving

He Zi calls it quits at age 26

CHINESE Olympic champion He Zi has reluctantly retired aged 26, citing a nagging foot injury and her joy at expecting to become a mother this year.

He, who won gold in the synchronized 3-meter springboard competition at the 2012 London Olympics, said she had taken an 11-month break after the 2016 Rio Games.

But she said on her Weibo microblogging account that her injury returned recently after a three-hour walk and she could not even step on the floor barefoot after staying home for five days.

“Sometimes when I could not sleep at night I was always thinking about continuing training, but how? (The injury) relapses even when I walk. How can I continue a large amount of diving every day?” she wrote.

“Don’t ask me why I choose to leave this early under such good condition, or whether I would regret or feel pity, my only regret is that I have not fully demonstrated my value.”

The diver earned a silver medal in Rio, but the moment is best remembered by the marriage proposal made by fellow Olympic medalist Qin Kai, also a diver, who got down on one knee just after she stepped off the podium.

“I have fought for this diving career for 20 years and I should start fighting for my own small family from now on. Last year I was an athlete but this year I am a wife and going to be a mother,” He wrote on Weibo.


 

Copyright 漏 1999- Shanghai Daily. All rights reserved.Preferably viewed with Internet Explorer 8 or newer browsers.

娌叕缃戝畨澶 31010602000204鍙

Email this to your friend