Olympic record-setting Chinese teen Quan Hongchan collected gold in the synchronized 10m platform (双人10米跳台) event alongside her partner Chen Yuxi, at     1     Hangzhou Olympic Sports Centre on Saturday. The duo (二人组) racked up a total 375.30 points — 85.26 points more than the Japanese silver medalists. In fact, the two teens     2     (win) all major titles in the women’s 10m platform events over the last three years.

Quan was born in a small village of Zhanjiang, Guangdong, in 2007 and took up     3     (dive) at age 7. She     4     (encourage) to try the sport because of the agility (灵活) she showed while jumping when she played hopscotch (跳房子游戏) at school.

“I’d never tried any other sports before,     5     I enjoyed playing in the water,” she recalled. “From the very start, I could jump into the water     6     fear or hesitation.” The young diver is said to have initially (最初) taken up the sport to earn money     7     (support) her mother, who has an illness that requires constant care.

Journalists from around the world lined up for two hours to ask her questions. Her short and simple answers won     8     (smile) and sometimes laughs. Her longest response came when she was asked why she was carrying a toy turtle,     9     has been a hot topic at the Asiad, “Because I like it. Turtles are not good-looking, but they’re     10     (love)! I like them!”

Seemingly ageless gymnastics legend Oksana Chusovitina of Uzbekistan     1     (narrow) missed a medal in the Vault (跳马) Final in Hangzhou Asian Games on Thursday. “I still need to improve in order to quality for the Olympics, but I feel I have more energy than before,”     2     48-yesr-old told Xinhua after the match, who is still taking part in such a challenging event for her motherland despite the fact that most of her     3     (compete) are less than half her age.

Chusovitina     4     (impress) the audience as the tried a routine with a difficulty of 5.0 and she landed well to get a score of 13.533, but the difficulty in her second routine dropped to only 4.4. “I am not feeling regret     5     missing a medal in Asian Games. Life is not over and I will continue to train.” she said.

Chusovitina has a storied history at the Asian Games,     6     (win) eight medals, including two golds in 2002. When     7     (she) son was diagnosed with leukemia (白血病) in 2002, Chusovitina adopted German citizenship to compete at     8     (globe) events for a higher income and better medical treatment. After her son’s recovery, she continued her gymnastics journey out of love for the sport. With Paris 2024 fast     9     (approach), Chusovitina said she’s aiming for next year’s Paris Olympics,     10     she would be 49.

After winning the belt for the first time in 2020, Zhang Weili believed that her dream had come true. However, just one year later, failure became     1     new challenge for her. After her losing the gold, public opinion     2     (come)in waves. Some netizens acted     3     angry parents, blaming(责备)her for “not training seriously by participating in     4     (variety)of shows and posting videos on TikTok” and “    5     (lose)face and blaming the judges for her defeat”. Zhang Weili described that “Many videos on Tik Tok are talking about me”. The cruelty of losing the title was     6     (particular) highlighted at that moment.     7     (interview)by the local newspaper, Zhang Weili sighed, “Actually,     8     (competition) sports is also cruel. After you win, everyone will listen to what you say and interview you.     9     after you fail, no one will listen to what you say; your words are excuses and reasons.” In 2022, Zhang Weili experienced a comeback: she knocked out the UFC women’s strawweight world champion Carla Esparza and regained the belt,     10     brought her into sharp focus of the media again.

No matter the time or place, sports fans love to debate. When the question popped up recently about     1     is the greatest athlete of all time, people’s arguments came fast and furious as they scanned the past for their     2     (favorite). Some said Serena Williams, the American tennis champ with a record-setting 23 Grand Slam titles. Others put forth American swimmer Michael Phelps, the most     3     (decorate) modern Olympian with 28 Olympic medals, 23 of them gold.

There’s just one problem. They and many other popular candidates, like Michael Jordan, Simone Biles, Usain Bolt, and Peléto     4     (name) a few, all come from the very recent past. What about the athletes from the very distant past? If the question is sincere about“of all time,” then taking a     5     (long) view is necessary.

Take these two star athletes from 2,000 years ago: the charioteers Flavius Scorpus and Gaius Appuleius Diocles. Some quick stats (统计):     6     his 10-year career, Scorpus racked up more than 2,000 victories before dying at age 27. After a 24-year     7     (race) career, Diocles retired at age 42 with more than 35 million sesterces in winnings,     8     sum that historian Peter Struck estimates could be worth     9     much as $15 billion. Scorpus and Diocles are just two of history’s many champions, and many more     10     (wait) to be discovered.

For followers of freestyle skiing and fashion alike, the buzz surrounding Winter Olympian Eileen Gu at this year’s Games has become     1     hit.

Gu’s gold-medal     2     (perform) in the competition pushed her into the global spotlight on Tuesday, sparking     3     a craze in China that social media platform Weibo crashed. But Gu has spent years establishing herself as both a top athlete and a     4     (huge) reliable model.

Having switched her sporting devotion     5     her mother’s home country in 2019, Gu has also got her place in Chinese TV ads. JD. com is among the famous brands that she     6     (model) for in recent months. In fact, she arrived in Beijing with more than 20 commercial partnerships,     7     (range) from Beats to Cadillac.

“The fashion world has helped balance my training,” Gu said. “Just like skiing, modeling     8     (require) creativity, confidence and the ability     9     (learn) and adapt. The transition between modeling and skiing becomes a practice for each other,     10     helped me feel more motivated in each area.”