Chinese diver making big splash at UH
By Stephen Tsai
Advertiser Staff Writer
A Chinese tradition requires a person, every 12th year, to wear a red charm bracelet to ward off misfortune.
Deborah Booker • The Honolulu Advertiser
QiongJie Huang, who was born in 1981 under the sign of the Rooster, yesterday pinched a bracelet crafted by her mother and said, smiling, "I guess it's working."
QiongJie Huang, a junior from Yue Qing, China, became the first UH diver to win an NCAA individual championship.
These days, Huang, a junior from Yue Qing, China, is enjoying the charmed life after becoming the first University of Hawai'i diver to win an NCAA individual championship. She edged two-time NCAA champion Blyth Hartley, 327.00 to 324.90, in the 1-meter springboard finals last week at the 2005 NCAA Women's Swimming and Diving Championships in West Lafayette, Ind.
"She works very hard, and we're happy she did so well," UH diving coach Mike Brown said.
It was a remarkable performance for a diver who has a wince-inducing sore right shoulder that "kept her out of the water a lot," Brown said. "She had a lot of help from the UH (athletic) trainers."
Huang's path to gold was paved with rust. She was raised in Yue Qing, a countryside town of 3,000.
At age 8, expressing an interest in water activities, she was sent to a diving club 30 minutes away, where she received lessons in diving — and swimming. "I feel good when I'm in the water," she said. "Everything is very calm. ... I enjoy diving. I like spinning in the air ... the height ... it's — how do you say? — very enjoyable."
She also studied gymnastics, but concluded: "I didn't like to flip on the dry land. I quit. Gymnastics is more painful."
Huang developed into a skilled diver, but not in the way Chinese officials had hoped. They prefer divers with angular builds; Huang, 5 feet 3, has a muscular frame, particularly from the waist down.
"They want slender, young girls who can jump and rip," Brown said.
With little hope of making one of the Chinese national teams, Huang readily accepted a scholarship offer from UH. Mike Anderson, head coach of the UH swimming team, remembered Huang from when she trained in Reno, Nev., as a 14-year-old exchange student.
Huang
It took Huang nearly a year to pass an English test for international students, the last hurdle in meeting the eligibility requirement to compete for UH. She enrolled at UH in January 2004 and, despite not having competed for several months, placed eighth, 11th and 14th at the 2004 NCAA championships. Divers are regarded as All-Americans if they finish between first and eighth in an NCAA championship meet.
"That shows what type of talent she has," Brown said.
At UH, Huang's lower-body strength has helped her in the springboard competition.
Each diver has the option of setting the tension level of the springboard. Tighter tension creates a quicker bounce.
With her strength and power, Huang can set the springboard on "loose," yet achieve a quick and high ascent. Huang regularly soars to 4 meters off a 1-meter springboard — the highest jump on the UH team — allowing her space and time to perform more difficult dives.
Off the 3-meter board, Huang can perform a forward 3 1/2 pike (translation: facing the water, with her body bent at the hips, she somersaults or twists 3 1/2 revolutions). Brown said only three divers at the NCAA meet — and no other on the six-woman, three-man UH team — can perform that dive.
"She's stronger than any female diver I've ever coached," Brown said, "and I've coached a lot. She jumps very high in the air."
Huang's speciality is off the 3-meter board, which is why she was surprised when she claimed the 1-meter title. After placing second in the morning preliminaries, Huang vaulted to a slight lead entering Hartley's final 1-meter dive. Hartley needed to average at least a 7.5 to surpass Huang.
"She was short a little bit," Huang recalled. "I never thought I would win. Everybody was running to me. The swim coaches. The other swimming team members. They were, 'Congratulations. Congratulations.' I still cannot believe I won first place."
She received the first-place plaque — her name is not inscribed on it — and took it back to her hotel room.
"I looked at it one more time to make sure it was mine," she said. "I put it back in my bag."
She keeps it in a white box that appears to contain chocolate. She said she will send it to her parents in China.
"Maybe one day I'll look at it to remember the good times I had," she said.
Huang has another year to compete for UH and two more years before earning a degree in travel industry management. She has a 3.6 cumulative grade-point average.
If she remains in this country, "I only want to live in Hawai'i," she said. "Every time we travel, I can't wait to come back here."
Most likely, she will return to China. Although she will not compete in the 2008 Olympics in Beijing, she said: "I'm studying travel industry management. Maybe I can help them with their hotels for the Olympics."
Reach Stephen Tsai at stsai@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8051.
