Summer Splash

Chinese diver, Olympic champion, and master of the water splash disappearance technique.

Quan Hongchan (born 28 March 2007) is a Chinese diver, national champion, and Olympic champion. At the 2020 Summer Olympics, she won the gold medal in the individual 10 metre platform event. At the 2024 Summer Olympics, Quan won the gold medal in the individual 10 metre platform event and, alongside teammate Chen Yuxi, also won gold in the 10 metre synchronized platform. Her dives have been notable for receiving perfect scores of 10 and producing minimal splash, leading to the phrase "water splash disappearance technique" being created to describe her performances.

Lore & Background

Quan Hongchan was born on 28 March 2007 in Mazhang District of Zhanjiang, Guangdong, China, the third of five children born to a family of farmers. She was discovered when a sports academy recruited a group of freshmen to participate in a summer camp for diving. Her parents were very supportive of her decision to start competitive diving. Her brother Quan Jinhua said, "She liked diving the first time she tried diving.

When we go fishing and she sees water, she likes to play in the water. She likes to go to the beach too." Quan has said that she "was not good at studying but [she] found confidence in diving." In July 2014, she was discovered by the enlightenment coach Chen Huaming while playing a lattice game on the school playground, so she began to receive diving training.

In September of the same year, she officially entered the Zhanjiang Sports School in Mazhang. Quan later trained at Guangzhou Sports Vocational and Technical College in 2018. In March 2018, she joined the Guangdong provincial team and was coached by He Weiyi. In October 2020, at age 13, she won the National Diving Championship in the 10 metre platform event.

She was encouraged by her coach to participate and had learned all the moves in the three weeks leading up to the competition. In the same month, she joined the national diving team.

Reader's Guide

Quan has mentioned making more money to treat her mother's illness as a motivation. Her mother was hit by a car on the way to work in 2017 and suffered a serious injury. She mentioned her mother was hospitalized several times but her family did not tell her because they did not want her to worry while training. Quan enjoys playing video games in her free time, particularly PUBG and Honor of Kings.

She enjoys eating spicy snacks and playing claw machine arcade games, and she has a dream of owning a supermarket in her hometown. In a 2026 interview, Quan revealed that she had been the target of cyberbullying regarding her body as she reached adulthood. She stated that negative online comments about her weight caused psychological distress and affected her confidence, leading to increased anxiety about her appearance and athletic performance. She added that she is working to cope with the pressure and remains focused on her training and competitive goals.

On the first through third of October 2021, the featured TV program Quan's Tour was broadcast on the Guangdong Sports Channel for the Chinese holiday National Day, showing Quan and her teammates visiting the Chimelong Safari Park, Chimelong Paradise and Chimelong Ocean Kingdom, where Quan watched the animal circus, rode roller coasters, and played with crane catchers. In October 2021, Quan participated in Beijing 2022 Winter Olympic Games countdown 100 days theme activities hosted by CCTV, where she performed "Together to the Future" and "See You in Beijing" with many Olympic champions and celebrities. On 26 December, the music video of "See You in Beijing" sung by 55 Olympic champions, including Quan, was released.

Did You Know?

She broke the Olympic record in the individual 10 metre platform event with a score of 466.20 points, surpassing Chen Ruolin's 447.70 from 2008.
Three of her five dives at the 2020 Olympics were perfect dives, with two earning straight scores of 10 from all seven judges.