China's ace divers Cao Yuan, Xie Siyi are back for Paris Olympics

Cao Yuan and Xie Siyi understandably found their names on the Chinese national diving team squad announced on Tuesday for the 2024 Summer Olympic Games after the two secured qualification at the national championship last year.

Both Cao, 29, and Xie, 28, are veterans with glorious careers. Cao participated in three straight editions of the Olympic Games in 2012, 2016 and 2021 as a three-time gold medalist. Xie won the men's 3-meter springboard and the men's synchronized 3-meter springboard titles in Tokyo in 2021.

Both took a long time away from diving after the Tokyo Olympics, partly because of injuries. Cao suffered a habitual dislocation in his left shoulder and had to undergo surgery to fix it in February 2023. As a result, he missed the first Olympic trial for the Chinese national team and only had seven months to prepare for the second one.

While Cao's teammates were training to get ready for the 2023 Asian Games, Cao had to practice alone to pick up every technique again.

"I couldn't think too much at that time," Cao told China Media Group (CMG). "I could only focus on recovery and how to improve my form. These mattered the most to me. I didn't consider if I felt lonely or wonder why there were no teammates training with me. I didn't have time to do so."

Xie suffered various injuries to his feet during his diving career. He decided to go back to his life after the Tokyo Games. He got his master's degree and got married. However, as time went on, he realized that nothing could take the place of diving in his heart.

"Whatever I tried to do, I found that I love diving more than anything," Xie told CMG. "So, I asked myself: 'Did I really move past diving?'"

Like Cao, Xie missed the first Olympic trial and had to make up for an 18-month shortage of practice in eight months.

Both world champions did it and made it back to the national team, but they might have to accept a different role this time after young blood was added to the team.

"I want to give my best efforts again at the Olympic Games," Cao said. "Because I worked hard, I came back and I have come so far for it."

"My biggest opponent is myself," Xie said. "I might see others as my opponent before. I wanted to challenge others, like divers from other countries. But now, I want to challenge myself."