Tokyo Olympics: Chinese born diver Esther Qin cracks second Australian team

When this athlete joined a diving club after arriving from China it was to make friends and learn English. Now she’s out to make a splash in her second Olympics.

Esther Qin is heading to her second Olympic Games in Tokyo.

When Esther Qin joined a diving club after her parents emigrated from China to Australia as a teen it never occurred to her she could go to an Olympics for her adopted country.

Now, 13 years after she arrived in Australia as a 16-year-old she is heading to her second Olympic Games.

The diver from Padstow in Sydney’s south west, was one of seven named on Tuesday to compete in Tokyo at an Olympic Games delayed a year due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Georgia Sheehan and Esther Qin competing together at the 2018 Commonwealth Games.

NSW divers dominate the squad which will see Bungarribee’s Melissa Wu compete at her fourth games, Prahan’s Anabelle Smith at her third, Qin at her second and Perth’s Nikita Hains, Brisbane’s Cassiel Rousseau, Cronulla’s Sam Fricker and Bundoora’s Shixin Li all making their Olympic debut.

“I didn’t think I was that good at the start but I just slowly saw my diving ability develop,’’ said Qin, who came from Liuzhou, Guangxi, in China, and went to school in Sydney at Beverly Hills High.

Esther Qin is heading to her second Olympic Games.

“I am very grateful to Australia to have this opportunity. It means all my hard work has paid off.’

Qin, a medal contender in the 3m springboard who is studying translation , is a former world bronze medallist and has won multiple Commonwealth Games medals.

On her debut in the Olympic arena in Rio she made the finals before placing sixth.

Her teammate Shixin Li will make history in Tokyo as the oldest diving debutant at 33-year-old with Fricker just 19 and Rousseau 20.

Beijing silver medallist and triple world champion Wu, 29, joins Jenny Donnet and Loudy Tourky-Wiggins as Australia’s only four-time Olympic divers.

MORE OLYMPICS

Major bonus for triathlon’s Tokyo medal hunt

Rower has “unfinished business’’ in Tokyo

Game on. Steph Gilmore on track for Olympic success

Son on NRL hardman making his own mark

Originally published as Tokyo Olympics: Chinese born diver Esther Qin cracks second Australian team