Yu: Tsinghua legacy safe and sound

Tsinghua University's de facto school of diving champions is not under threat of being disbanded and consigned to the annals of history, head coach Yu Fen said yesterday.

Yu, who has sent about a dozen college divers to the national camp since her acrimonious split with it in 1996, is now suing the administration for unpaid bonuses but says this has not impacted the size of her squad, which has dwindled from several dozen to four in the space of two years.

Despite the plummeting attendance rate, Yu said there was no cause for concern regarding the school's already legendary reputation or legacy.

"It's ridiculous to say the team will be dismissed," Yu said in a telephone interview with China Daily. "We should keep an eye on what we are doing right now rather than what we will become.

"The truth is we still have four students in the diving team. And some of them are very competitive in the national competitions and will be very likely to become world or Olympic champions in the future," she said. "I'm sure at the World Universiade next year, the students from my team will be the key members."

Yu left the national team following the Atlanta Games due to a row with her replacement as national team manager, Zhou Jihong. Yu went on to develop budding stars at Tsinghua and current national team members Lin Yue, Zhou Luxin and Wang Xin number among her former wards, with Lin winning a gold medal at August's Beijing Games.

Yet Yu has been tied up with legal proceedings since she accused Zhou and the sport's governing body of embezzling millions of yuan in bonuses. The wrangling got so fierce at one point that Yu began dropping hints of a possible move overseas, where her coaching skills would be highly prized.

She sounded another implicit warning yesterday by talking up the success of her current foreign students.

"Some of the overseas students have been in my team for over two years and they have shown impressive performances," she said.

Yu, who also developed diving queens Fu Minxia and Guo Jingjing, said there are some nagging inconsistencies in China's sporting sphere that need to be ironed out to avoid disadvantaging her wards.

"Athletes in Tsinghua's shooting and athletics teams have the right to compete in international tournaments directly from the college team. But it does not work that way in diving," said Yu, who once threatened to take her university divers abroad to escape this contradiction.

Vague reports have also surfaced in Chinese media that some of Yu's colleagues have collaborated with national team officials in a bid to get Yu booted off the college team.

"Yes it's true but I don't want to talk about that," Yu said.

Suspicions have centered on Li Chengwei, one of Yu's former students who has apparently set up a rival diving squad at the same university.

"He is not a member of our coaching team," refuted Yu. "We never officially hired him because I'm the head coach. He never attended any coaching clinics after graduating and no one has ever informed me of his role as a coach in the team."

Yu shrugged off the rivalry.

"I know there are some people who do not want me to stay here, but I don't care. Chief officials in the college have always given me their full support. They promise the college will continue to run the diving team.