China's trumpeted diving queen Guo Jingjing is set to return to the springboard in May for the first time since last year's Beijing Games, the Shenzhen-based Sunshine Daily reported yesterday.

The 27-year-old picked up her third and fourth Olympic gold medals in China's near-sweep of the diving crowns at the Summer Games in August. But she has not competed since amid rumors that she sought treatment for a chronic eye disease in Hong Kong, a report she has denied.

"My comeback competition will be the Diving Grand Prix in the United States in May," the multi world and Olympic champion was quoted as saying. "But my focus in 2009 will be on the World Championships in July in Rome, as well as (China's) 11th National Games in October."

Guo has not committed to extending her career until the 2012 London Games although she has previously stated her intention to retire at the age of 30, potentially giving her enough time to attend her fifth Olympics.

With her striking good looks and starlet's persona, Guo has proven a magnet for local sponsors and as such has made high-profile appearances at numerous commercial activities in the last six months, but not yet in the pool.

Guo said she began training last month and still retains her passion for the sport, although she is not competition-ready yet.

"I experienced some problems in the beginning, physically (due to my layoff)," she said. "My body was aching and there were some chronic injuries, but now I'm feeling much better. It'll take a little while before I'm back in top form though."

She said the reports of her myopia - she allegedly cannot focus on the springboard prior to executing her dives - are exaggerated.

"My eyes are doing well. I just have some slight eyesight problems. I know people are concerned about my health so the problem tends to get magnified."

A star is born

Born in Baoding, Hebei province, on Oct 15, 1981, Guo took up diving at the age of six. She was selected to dive for the national team in 1992 and appeared at her first Olympics in Atlanta four years later, ultimately finishing fifth on the women's 10m platform.

She said she was not a natural born water baby.

"I was afraid of the water when I first approached the sport," she said. "I still remember feeling my heart in my throat as I stood on the 10m platform for the first time."

But Guo managed to overcome all her anxieties and grow into a superstar through years of toil and dedication.

She is now the oldest athlete on the national team and is widely considered the best female diver in the world.

"I am not thinking of my role credited as the oldest, the most experienced or the No 1," she said. "I feel I'm just one member of the diving team. I'm still capable of doing the sport and I hope I can still do at the next Olympics."

Away from the pool, however, she has courted controversy due to her non-sporting activities.

After picking up her first two Olympic crowns at the 2004 Athens Games, Guo leapt at multiple endorsements including one with Beijing Games sponsor McDonald's and was criticized by local authorities for going over the top.

She was subsequently banned from the national team but later reinstated when she agreed to focus her energy on diving.

Through thick and thin

As a quadruple Olympic gold medalist, Guo ranks as China's most decorated diver along with Fu Mingxia, who retired from the sport in 2001.

Rumors swirled that Guo would follow suit late last year as she is romantically attached to the grandson of late Hong Kong tycoon Henry Fok, but she refuses to quit despite two decades of competition.

"I was thinking about it (retiring) after the Beijing Games," she said. "Four Olympics should be enough for any athlete, especially someone like me who has achieved so much.

"But when it got to crunch time I found I couldn't do it."

She said she used her six-month layoff to decide what to do with her future, having previously stated her interest in studying law.

"I was trying to find the answer in that period - to stay (with the team) or to leave? The final answer was 'Stay'".

She was quick to downplay talk that she will move to Hong Kong and marry Kenneth Fok Kai-kong.

"We are getting along very well, but we haven't discussed marriage," she said. "I think it's normal for someone to get married after 30, so that's not a distraction at this point."

(China Daily March 19, 2009)