Olympic champion Tian Liang has retired, says coach

Two-time Olympic champion Tian Liang has retired from the Chinese national diving team, confirmed his coach on Tuesday.

The 27-year-old, dubbed "diving prince" by his Chinese fans, won two Olympic golds, three world titles and 15 World Cups in his career but had himself exiled after the Athens Games in August, 2004 due to "taking part in too many commercial and social activities".

Tian's coach Zhang Ting told Xinhua through telephone that the 27-year-old Tian applied to retire in February and was approved earlier March.

"We hardly see any divers who are still able to hit the mark while aged 27, it is just his time (to quit). Tian wanted to play low key on retirement, and the coaching staff don't want to make a splash about that either," said Zhang.

China won nine out of 10 gold medals in the diving pool at the ongoing world championships in Melbourne with the men's 10 metres platform, Tian's specialist event, as the sole regret.

"The national team has got dozens of promising divers, who are just lacking in experience. Given more time and chances to compete, they will make their names on international arena. So it is understandable for them to lose from time to time now," added Zhang.

Guo Jingjing, who won two golds this week in Melbourne, was once linked romantically with Tian and the pair were known as "Liang Jingjing", a Chinese phrase referring to "bright and brilliant", after both won golds in the Athens Games.

Guo was also hit out for her "commercial activities" but returned to the team few months later after making an apology and is a favourite for the gold at the Beijing Olympics next August.

Source: Xinhua