Their diving form was foreshadowed at the 2024 World Championships in Doha, when they won nine of the 13 golds at stake.

However, beyond the historic result in Paris 24, if the spotlight is opened up, Chinese divers have won 22 of the last 24 Olympic golds and China has won the most dives in any country at any Games since 1984.

All of this is the result of a careful strategy that focuses on the education of the youngest athletes with a careful selection of profiles and professional demands from the earliest years, as well as highly specialised training by elite athletes and Olympic medallists.

On the first day of springboard diving, the People's Republic of China tied with the United States as the country with the most Olympic gold medals in the history of diving with 48, thanks to the victory of Chang Yani and Chen Yiwen in the women's 3-metre synchronised springboard final. By the end of the Olympics, China had once again set the bar for the most Olympic golds in diving with 55.

On the penultimate day of Olympic diving in Paris, Chen Yiwen extended China's dominance in the women's 3-metre springboard. Her victory was the country's 10th hat-trick, meaning no other nation had won gold in this event since 1980.

China's level is so strong that we see duels between its own representatives: Tokyo 2020 Olympic champion Quan Hongchan successfully beat compatriot Chen Yuxi to win her second consecutive Olympic gold medal in the women's 10m platform. Quan was only 14 when she won gold in Tokyo, and Chen, a two-time silver medallist in the event, was only 15. After Tokyo, the two had finished 1-2 in every world championship since. Chen won in 2022 and 2023, but Quan put an end to Chen's hat-trick attempt by defeating her in February at the 2024 World Championships. The battle is expected to continue at the upcoming 2025 World Aquatics Championships in Singapore.

Outside China, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea won its first-ever Olympic medal in springboard diving when Jo Jin-Mi and Kim Mi-Rae took silver in women's 10m synchronised early in the Games. Six days later, Kim claimed North Korea's first individual medal of the Games, a bronze in the women's 10m final.

Rikuto Tamai, 17, gave Japan its first-ever Olympic medal in trampoline, a silver in the men's 10m platform, the final event in Paris.

Although second place in the medal standings went to Great Britain, with a silver and four bronze medals, Mexico was widely applauded with a silver and a bronze. The Aztec country's diving coach is China's Ma Jin.

There was also time for retirements: Britain's Tom Daley returned for his fifth Olympic Games at the age of 30 and not only became the first British diver to carry his country's flag at the Opening Ceremony, but also won his fifth medal - a silver - in the men's 10m synchro. After the Games, he announced his departure after a career begun as a teenager and a Games to which he had returned so he could compete in front of his children.