Leaping from cast-off to diving champion

By Emma Graham-Harrison

BEIJING (Reuters) - China's new diving hero He Chong has finally banished the ghost of a childhood spent as a sports reject, passed from coach to coach as competitive trainers looked for more talented youngsters to mentor.

He won Olympics gold in the three-meter springboard on Tuesday with a breath-taking display of skill and control that had the capacity crowd gasping and then dancing in their seats.

His first diving teachers were likely squirming with regret.

"When I was young, the situation was very bad. My movements, my control, were not very good so I was always changing coaches," He told a news conference after the final.

"Coaches don't want to spend long time shaping someone who is no good, they want to train a pretty good sportsman. So I was quite confused ... I even thought there was no point in carrying on training," he added.

His parents persuaded him not to give up, but when he finally mastered the moves, injury undid him again when he broke his wrist in 2001.

Eventually, after switching from platform to springboard dives, he developed the soaring leaps that have helped him to master a clutch of the most difficult dives on the circuit.

He had another obstacle to overcome -- the nerves that often let him down in big competitions. With capacity home crowds at the Games rabid for medals there were questions about how he would perform at his Olympic debut.

"The gold medal has a different meaning. I have always made little mistakes and been nervous in big events, but this time I controlled myself better," He said.

"This is what I wanted to prove," he added, fondling the medal that is China's fourth consecutive springboard gold, and the host nation's sixth diving gold of this Olympics.