By Chen Xiangfeng (China Daily)
Updated: 2008-02-28 10:09

China diving team manager Zhou Jihong felt the heat after she chose to stand by star women's diver Guo Jingjing, who came under fire for snubbing the press during last weekend's Olympic diving test event.

The file photo, taken Feb. 23, 2008, shows Guo Jingjing fiddles with a piece of jade ingoring the reporters' questions during the press at last weekend's Olympic diving test event. Guo came under fire for snubbing the press. [Sina.com]

"No surprise that they are in the same group," said Zhou Gang, a student in the respected diving program at Tsinghua University.

"Zhou also used to be a pro diver and it's an apparent truth that Chinese pro athletes lack education and most of them have no basic communication ability to deal with media."

Guo's former coach Yu Fen, who was one of China's most successful coaches during the 1990s, also expressed concerns that Guo is too pampered on the national team.

"As an Olympic champion and one of the world's top athletes, it is absolutely wrong for her to behave in such way," said Yu, who is now coaching the Tsinghua diving team.

Yu has requested a return to the national team, saying she knows many of the divers, including Guo, better than anyone. But her proposal was refused.

"Guo has been given 'extra care' in the domestic competitions. Sometimes she did not perform well but she still got a high score. Actually it does nothing good to her career. It will make her vulnerable and emotional under bigger pressure, especially in a major tournament."

Yu added the national team should not lower its standards for Guo, but Zhou disagrees. She asked the media "for their understanding", saying her diver was "under great pressure".

But her response backfired and turned the attention on her in a critical Xinhua article widely quoted in the Chinese media, which accused the coach of overprotecting her divers.

Several fans commented on the article, most expressing their disapproval of Zhou and Guo's behavior.

"There is no reason that coaches should ask their athletes to speak as little as possible to the media," said one comment. "Guo is not a kid anymore. She made a mistake and she and the coach should apologize rather than defend themselves."

Domestic media called the double Olympic diving champion "arrogant" and "impolite" when she was answering questions at a press conference, using just 20 words to answer four questions.

"It's a shame for us," said Zhang Lei from West China City Daily. "We could have very good communications with divers from other countries. Every one of them is so friendly and willing to share their feeling with us.

"But look at our divers like Guo - it's like we owe something to her, like we are begging for something from her. And she also showed impatience with us."

"As a professional athlete she represents not only herself, but the team, the sport and even the country," Xinhua said.

"No matter how brilliant her achievements or how popular she is, she still needs to ... respect others."

Another commenter on the Xinhua story said the team must take more responsibility for its athletes when they are on display for the world this summer.

"All the coaching team should reflect on this. All of them have their eyes fixed on getting good results or on winning a gold medal. They should also teach the divers how to behave like professional athletes, how to show the quality of a Chinese athlete," said another comment on the Xinhua story.

"If they still behave like what they did last week during the 2008 Beijing Olympics, they will be laughed at by viewers worldwide."