On November 2nd, the 15th National Games diving event kicked off at the Guangdong Olympic Sports Center Swimming Pool in Guangzhou. The day before, the official website updated the list of participants, and Olympic diving champion Quan Hongyan was absent from the women’s 10-meter platform event, sparking controversy online.
Representing the Guangdong team on November 2nd, Quan Hongyan and Wang Weiying teamed up to win the first place in the women’s synchronized 10-meter platform diving event. This was Quan Hongyan’s first public appearance since May 3rd this year.
Prior to this, Quan Hongyan had been absent from several important competitions due to injuries, leading to speculation online that she might retire. Prior to the National Games, it was officially announced that Quan Hongyan would make a comeback to participate in the competition, competing in the women’s 10-meter platform individual event, women’s synchronized 10-meter platform event, and women’s synchronized 10-meter platform event. The public was looking forward to a showdown between Quan Hongyan and Chen Yuxi in the three events, especially in the women’s 10-meter platform individual event.
However, on the day before the National Games opening (November 1st), the latest schedule released by the authorities showed that Quan Hongyan’s participation had been adjusted. Instead of competing in all three events as originally planned, she would only participate in the women’s synchronized 10-meter platform (November 2nd) and women’s synchronized 10-meter platform (November 6th), skipping the women’s 10-meter platform individual event.
Quan Hongyan’s withdrawal increased the likelihood of Chen Yuxi defending her title, and the timing of the official announcement of Quan Hongyan’s withdrawal so close to the competition sparked significant controversy.
Netizens questioned, “Why is the individual event eliminated?” “Why participate in two events but not the individual one?” “It’s so unfair, they kept promoting Quan Hongyan’s participation until tickets were sold out, then announced her withdrawal. I bought tickets for the 10th, two tickets for 1600 yuan, and now I can’t get a refund, what a rip-off.” “The national team is playing the public.” “Who can remain indifferent when it comes to ticket sales? We were all looking forward to Quan Hongyan.”
“Some say it’s fine if Quan Hongyan doesn’t dive, but using her name to sell tickets and then reducing her participation, it’s really suppressing Quan Hongyan and deceiving the audience, it’s so unethical.” “She can participate in synchronized but not individual because of an injury, what a lame excuse, this time they got the ticket money, what about next time?”
“It’s outrageous, they only announced the news after selling out the individual diving tickets, is the organizing committee deceiving consumers? Every athlete wants to participate in the National Games, I don’t know why they couldn’t let her participate in the individual event, my heart aches for you, Quan Hongyan.” “What’s the point of participating in anything? They had already reserved the championship for others, Xiao Hongyan was supposed to participate in three events, now she can’t participate again.”