CHINESE sports enthusiasts have become transfixed by the colourful love life of one of the country's most glamorous Olympic athletes amid concern that her chances of winning a gold medal for diving at this summer's Beijing Games may be undermined.
Guo Jingjing, 26, who is as well-known for her appearances in gossip magazines as for her dazzling spins and somersaults from the three-metre springboard, is said to have been pining since her ex-boyfriend and teammate, Tian Liang, 28, married another woman last year.
Paparazzi shots of Guo with her current boyfriend Kenneth Fok, the playboy grandson of a Hong Kong tycoon, suggest that all is not well with that relationship either.
Internet forums have been flooded with suggestions that the pair are about to break up. Others claim they have argued about getting engaged and some even falsely suggest Guo is pregnant.
"Guo must be careful not to think about boys too much or she'll crush China's Olympic hopes," warned a blogger on Sina, the country's most popular internet message board. "She mustn't let her pretty face get in the way of her getting gold."
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When Guo, who is China's highest paid female athlete, announced that she would retire after the Olympics, fans accused her of losing interest in the sport and indulging in the fruits of her celebrity status.
After winning two gold medals in Athens in 2004, Guo was often photographed at high-society parties. Guo and Tian, who won gold and bronze at Athens, were dubbed "the diving prince and princess". In a sign that the Chinese media were developing a western-style taste for celebrity, the couple were followed everywhere by the paparazzi.
Guo has angrily denied the rumours that she is jealous at her ex-lover's marriage or heading for a break-up with Fok. "I'm angry about this fake news," she said in an interview with a sports magazine. "Whatever I say, reporters don't report it truthfully, so I might as well shut up."