Guo Jingjing Review

Guo Jingjing Review: Guo took up diving when she was six years old at the Baoding Training Base. She started training in competitive diving in 1988, and was selected to dive for the Chinese national team in 1992. Guo first competed at the Olympics in 1996. Her coach leading up to the 2008 Olympics was Zhong Shaozhen.

During the 2004 Summer Olympics Guo got a gold medal in the 3 meter women’s synchronized springboard along with Wu Minxia, before winning her first individual Olympic gold in the 3 meter women’s springboard.

After the Athens Olympics, Guo became a Chinese national sports figure in the public eye, with a contract with McDonald’s, as well as multiple other endorsement contracts. She was later banned by the national team for excessive commercial activities, but was later accepted back to the team when she agreed to focus on diving and give up many promotional activities. Guo is the leading member of the Chinese national women’s diving team, and is known in China as “The Princess of Diving”. Guo announced on November 23, 2006, that she would retire following the 2008 Olympic Games.

Guo won two more gold medals at the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing. At the end of the Beijing Games, Guo became the most decorated female Olympic diver, and tied fellow Chinese athlete Fu Mingxia, and Americans Pat McCormick and Greg Louganis with the most gold medals (four).