After suffering a hip injury in 1999, Wu would get anxious before every dive, and sometimes even felt scared.

Chinese diver Wu Minxia competes during the women's 3m springboard final at the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games in the National Aquatics Center, also known as the Water Cube in Beijing, China, Aug. 17, 2008. Wu won the bronze medal in the event with a score of 389.85 points.

She would repeatedly review her dives in her head to boost confidence before she jumped.

"If you want to succeed, first you have to learn how to sacrifice," she said. "As an athlete, as long as you are strict with yourself, you will be rewarded."

Wu, a Shanghai native, sprang to fame when she earned the women's 3m springboard synchro title at the 2004 Athens Olympics with Guo Jingjing.

Few remember her silver medal in the individual event in Athens, as more attention went to Guo's lopsided victory.

Fighting shoulder-to-shoulder with Guo for years clearly taught Wu that the biggest disparity between she and Guo was in their mental strength.

"I know what my problem is. I don't want to be compared with Guo Jingjing. She is a good rival. She is there to be my goal," Wu said.

The two divers, currently world No 1 and No 2, have dominated synchronized springboard since they first teamed up in 2001.

They have bagged three world championships, claimed Olympic gold in Athens as well as China's first diving gold in Beijing on Aug 10.

National team coach Liu Henglin said Wu's advantage lies in her perfect figure, which adds elegance and fluency to her dives.

Liu said the more experienced Guo has better control of the springboard, otherwise the two are quite evenly matched.

China's "dream team" of diving has claimed 26 Olympic titles out of 40 in the last 24 years, ever since Zhou Jihong won the country's first diving gold in women's 10m platform at the 1984 Los Angeles Games.

Chinese Gao Min ruled women's springboard from 1986 to 1992, winning every world and Olympic title during the period.

Fu Mingxia dominated women's platform between 1993 and 2000, collecting four Olympic golds.

It took Guo until the 2004 Athens Games to realize her golden Olympic dreams. Now as the first diver to have won back-to-back Olympic individual and synchro titles, Guo Jingjing is ready to pass the torch.

The era of Wu Minxia has begun.

(Xinhua News Agency August 19, 2008)