By Kane Wu
PARIS (Reuters) – China’s Quan Hongchan said she was starving after she won a gold medal at the Paris Olympics in the women’s 10-metre platform event on Tuesday.
“I’m so hungry! I didn’t eat anything since breakfast other than an energy bar and some milk tea I made myself,” Quan told reporters after the victory ceremony, trying to get out of the mixed zone to get some food as quickly as possible.
She beat teammate Chen Yuxi, her partner in the synchronised event they won last week, to claim China’s fifth diving gold of the Paris Olympics.
The 17-year-old said she wasn’t nervous before the event but had overslept.
“I didn’t wake up from a nap until 11 am,” she said. “But I slept well last night.”
Quan however can be a bit restless in her sleep.
“I will move a lot in my sleep. Sometimes I will sit up while asleep all of a sudden, which scared my coach (her roommate),” she said.
From a humble background in Southern China’s Guangdong province, Quan shot to overnight fame after she won the gold medal in the women’s 10-metre platform event in the Tokyo Games three years ago at the age of 14.
News of her activities in Paris immediately became trending topics on Chinese social media. Reporters filled the mixed zone to the brim waiting for her to appear after the competition.
Quan, who collected over a dozen stuffed animals after the event – all gifts from supporters – said the excited audience on Tuesday made her a little nervous.
“I would like the spectators, the fans to keep quiet before we launch our dives,” Quan said.
“At that moment we’d go through the routine in our minds. Because they were shouting before I launched to the dive and that had a bit of impact,” she said. “But I adapted in later dives.”
(Reporting by Kane Wu; Editing by Bill Berkrot)
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