Zhou Jihong (, born 11 January 1965) is a

Chinese Chinese can refer to: * Something related to China * Chinese people, people of Chinese nationality, citizenship, and/or ethnicity **''Zhonghua minzu'', the supra-ethnic concept of the Chinese nation ** List of ethnic groups in China, people of va ...

diver who won the first gold medal for Chinese diving.

Sports career

Born in

Wuhan Wuhan (, ; ; ) is the capital of Hubei, Hubei Province in the China, People's Republic of China. It is the largest city in Hubei and the most populous city in Central China, with a population of over eleven million, the List of cities in China ...

on 1965, Zhou originally practiced gymnastics before switching to diving. In 1977, she entered the Hubei diving team and began to receive professional diving training. She won the national championship in 1981 and entered the Chinese women's diving team in 1982. In 1984, during the

1984 Summer Olympics The 1984 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXIII Olympiad and also known as Los Angeles 1984) were an international multi-sport event held from July 28 to August 12, 1984, in Los Angeles, California, United States. It marked the secon ...

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

, she replaced Lü Wei, after Lü suffered from an injury. In the women's 10 metre platform, she won the gold medal with a total score of 435.51 points becoming the first Chinese diver to win a gold medal in the Olympics. On the same year, she was named the best athlete of the year in women's platform diving by magazine ''

Swimming World ''Swimming World'' is a US-based monthly swimming magazine that was first published in a magazine format as ''Junior Swimmer'' in January 1960. It concurrently runs online websites ''Swimming World Magazine'' and ''Swimming World News'', (known ...

''. In 1998, she became the team leader of the Chinese diving team. Under her leadership,

Fu Mingxia Fu Mingxia (born August 16, 1978, in Wuhan, Hubei) is a retired Chinese Diving (sport), diver, multiple Olympic gold medalist and world champion. She won the platform-diving world championship in 1991 at the age of 12, making her the younges ...

and

Guo Jingjing Guo Jingjing (; born October 15, 1981, in Baoding, Hebei) is a retired Chinese female diver, and multi-time Olympic gold medalist and world champion. Guo is tied with her partner Wu Minxia for winning the most Olympic medals (6) of any female ...

won gold and silver medals in the women's 3 metre springboard at the

2000 Summer Olympics The 2000 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XXVII Olympiad and also known as Sydney 2000 (Dharug: ''Gadigal 2000''), the Millennium Olympic Games or the Games of the New Millennium, was an international multi-sport event held from 1 ...

Sydney Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountain ...

. In the

2004 Summer Olympics The 2004 Summer Olympics ( el, Θερινοί Ολυμπιακοί Αγώνες 2004, ), officially the Games of the XXVIII Olympiad ( el, Αγώνες της 28ης Ολυμπιάδας, ) and also known as Athens 2004 ( el, Αθήνα 2004), ...

Athens Athens ( ; el, Αθήνα, Athína ; grc, Ἀθῆναι, Athênai (pl.) ) is both the capital and largest city of Greece. With a population close to four million, it is also the seventh largest city in the European Union. Athens dominates ...

, the Chinese diving team won 6 gold medals, 2 silver medals and 1 bronze medal. At the

2008 Summer Olympics The 2008 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXIX Olympiad () and also known as Beijing 2008 (), were an international multisport event held from 8 to 24 August 2008, in Beijing, China. A total of 10,942 athletes from 204 Na ...

Beijing } Beijing ( ; ; ), alternatively romanized as Peking ( ), is the capital of the People's Republic of China. It is the center of power and development of the country. Beijing is the world's most populous national capital city, with over 21 ...

, Zhou led the Chinese diving team in winning 7 gold medals. In March 2014, Zhou was appointed chairman of the Athlete Committee by

FINA FINA (french: Fédération internationale de natation, en, International Swimming Federation, link=yes) (to be renamed as World Aquatics by ) is the international federation recognised by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) for administer ...

and in November 2017, she served as the chairman of the Chinese Swimming Association. In January 2019, she served as a member of the

Chinese Olympic Committee The Chinese Olympic Committee (; IOC code: CHN) has been the officially designated body of the People's Republic of China (PRC) regarding the Olympic Games and other affiliated international sport federations since 1979, when the Nagoya Resolu ...

and in January 2020, she served as the chairman of China Diving Association. On 5 June 2021, at the FINA Congress held in

Doha, Qatar Doha ( ar, الدوحة, ad-Dawḥa or ''ad-Dōḥa'') is the capital city and main financial hub of Qatar. Located on the Persian Gulf coast in the east of the country, north of Al Wakrah and south of Al Khor, it is home to most of the coun ...

, Zhou was elected Vice President of FINA, becoming the first female vice president in the organization's history. On 14 July 2021, Zhou was assigned as the diving team leader within the Chinese sports delegation for the 2020 Summer Olympics.

Personal life

In 1986, she retired briefly in order to complete her studies in English at

Peking University Peking University (PKU; ) is a public research university in Beijing, China. The university is funded by the Ministry of Education. Peking University was established as the Imperial University of Peking in 1898 when it received its royal charter ...

. After graduating in 1990, she continued to serve as the coach of the Chinese National Diving Team. In 1992, Zhou married to

Tian Bingyi Tian Bingyi (; born July 30, 1963) is a former badminton star from China. Though he played some singles internationally early in his career, he soon specialised in men's doubles. Career From the mid 1980s to the early 1990s Tian and his regular ...

, a former Chinese badminton player and now the coach of Chinese national badminton team. In 1994, she gave birth to her son.

Controversy

In May 2022, New Zealand diving judge Lisa Wright revealed that during the

2020 Summer Olympics The , officially the and also known as , was an international multi-sport event held from 23 July to 8 August 2021 in Tokyo, Japan, with some preliminary events that began on 21 July. Tokyo was selected as the host city during the ...

, Zhou allegedly launched a verbal tirade at Wright at the conclusion of the men's 10m platform final. Wright alleged that Zhou verbally abused her for underscoring Chinese divers. As a result, Zhou was later ordered by a FINA Ethics Panel to write a letter of apology to Wright. A recommendation was also made by the Ethics Panel to disestablish Zhou's position as Diving Bureau Liaison for FINA. Former diver, judge and current member of FINA's Diving Technical Committee from New Zealand

Simon Latimer Simon may refer to: People * Simon (given name), including a list of people and fictional characters with the given name Simon * Simon (surname), including a list of people with the surname Simon * Eugène Simon, French naturalist and the genus ...

sent a whistleblower complaint to FINA's executive director Brent Nowicki in December 2021 detailing Zhou's alleged "unethical behavior" which also contained allegations that Zhou has routinely coached Chinese divers during the Olympics and has manipulated judging panels in order to benefit Chinese athletes. In their findings the FINA Ethics Panel determined it had no jurisdiction to decide on any of the complaints under the Rules of Protection from Harassment and Abuse. It also stated there was not enough evidence to sustain complaints, saying the incident during the men's platform final was "unfortunate" and led to a "misunderstanding mixed with misjudgement" between Wright and Zhou. Subsequent to Latimer's complaint, video evidence emerged and was posted online showing Zho
coaching Chinese divers
during competition sessions at the

, a behavior considered unethical given her neutral role as a FINA Vice President and Diving Bureau Liaison.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Zhou, Jihong 1965 births Living people Chinese female divers Divers at the 1984 Summer Olympics Divers at the 1992 Summer Olympics Olympic divers of China Olympic gold medalists for China Olympic medalists in diving Asian Games medalists in diving Sportspeople from Wuhan Divers at the 1982 Asian Games Medalists at the 1984 Summer Olympics Asian Games silver medalists for China Medalists at the 1982 Asian Games Universiade medalists in diving Universiade silver medalists for China Medalists at the 1983 Summer Universiade World Aquatics Championships medalists in diving Peking University alumni

Sports career

Personal life

Controversy

See also

References

External links