Doha-bound diver Guo to retire after 2008 Olympics
(Xinhua)Updated: 2006-11-25 20:33
China's Doha-bound Olympic champion Guo Jingjing has said that she will retire from diving after the 2008 Beijing Olympics.
 Olympic diving champion Guo Jingjing (Centre) attends the press conference in Nanjing,south China's Jiangsu Province November 23,2006.Chinese diving team come to Nanjing Olympic Sports for intensive training to prepare for the upcoming Doha Asian Games staring from December 1st in Qatar.[newsphoto]  |
Guo, 25, who won two gold medals in the Athens Olympic Games, told Chinese media on Thursday after losing a warmup competition in east China's Nanjing city that she is sure to call it quits after the Beijing Games even though she still feels the passion for the sport.
She said: "I will retire after the Beijing Olympics. That's for sure. After 20 years in this sport, it's very difficult. It's time to leave no matter how much you love it.
"I am diving just for fun. I enjoy it. Diving is part of my life. It's impossible to hold on till 2008 just for a gold medal."
Love for diving is only one of the reason for the diving beauty to stay in the national team. The other is that she wants to retire in front of the home fans.
"To finish my career at home in 2008 is something very, very significant and emotional," she said.
Guo, who won two gold medals in the Busan Asian Games four years ago, will take part in the synchronized springboard event and will not defend her 3m springboard title.
"I will try my best in Doha," she said.
Guo, who started training in competitive diving at the age of seven, was
selected to the national team when she was 11. She has competed in three Olympic
Games and finally tasted the gold medal in Athens, where she took the gold
medals in the individual 3m springboard and the synchronized springboard along
with Wu Minxia.
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