On Saturday, China claimed all eight Olympic gold medals in springboard diving in Paris. These historic results are the culmination of a journey that began years ago. Chinese divers have won 22 of the last 24 Olympic golds and China has won the most diving medals at any Games since 1984. It all starts with the work beforehand and what is sown afterwards, as was remembered by the Chinese trainer of artistic swimming when they take gold. 

Quan Hongchan, who won two gold medals in Paris and one in Tokyo when she was only 14, started diving at the age of seven, supposedly after a coach saw her playing in the school playground. Cao Yuan, who won the men's 10-metre platform final in Paris, started diving at the age of five.

From that perspective, Olympic success becomes part of the chain by helping to inspire younger children. That's what happened three years ago to 12-year-old Zhang Jiau, who started diving three years ago after watching Chinese diver Cao Yuan win gold at the Tokyo Games. "When I saw on TV the Chinese diving team climb to the top of the Olympic podium, I fell in love with diving and decided to give it a try," she told AFP.

At the Muxiyuan sports centre, home to the best diving school in Beijing, children as young as seven years old are training. They train hard: while most schoolchildren are on summer holiday, Zhang and her classmates train more than seven hours a day, and during the academic year, they have classes in the morning and training in the afternoon: "If you rest too much, it can affect your training," she explains.

Many have already been selected from less prestigious diving schools around the country, and the best among them will go on to compete under the Chinese flag. The Chinese coaches are mostly top national or Olympic-level divers. Coach Cao Ke is responsible for a group of eight to ten-year-old divers, among whom he tries to identify future medal winners. He looks for innate qualities, such as strength, explosiveness and spatial awareness, as well as in their sensitivity to water. 

The programme studies the attitude towards training and the competitiveness of the athletes. "Diving requires meticulous attention to detail. It takes time to perfect each move," Cao Ke says. 

"In China, they start training professionally from the age of five or six," explains Ma Jin, the Chinese coach of Mexico's national diving team. According to him, in other countries, at that age you just play, but you do not have the professionalism of Chinese training. This includes specialisation in areas such as research, nutrition, physiotherapy, training, facilities and equipment. There are even specialised cooks to prepare meals for the young athletes.