Chinese diver Quan Hongchan is a delight.
Set aside for a moment her athletic dominance — quite delightful unless you're a competitor — and you have an underdog story who showcases an ebullient personality in high-profile situations despite being just 17 years old.
Quan has three Olympic gold medals following Tuesday's women's 10m platform diving final, which saw her outlast teammate and women's synchronized gold medal pal Chen Yuxi. Those came three years after she smashed records in Tokyo to claim a gold at age 14.
Her dives have been so good that she's been given a Mandarin Chinese phrase to describe it. As noted by our Cara Cooper following her latest gold, the phrase is pronounced "shui hua xiao shi shu" and it translates to "water splash disappearance technique." Water splash disappearance technique. Come on.
All the stuffed animals: Quan Hongchan collects fun
Quan's magnetism and charisma are welcome and almost seem eccentric given the general seriousness of competing at the Olympics, and charisma covers a wide spectrum.
On a scale of Noah Lyles to the Muffin Man, she's closer to the bakery than she is to bravado.
Just watch her react to meeting 20-year-old freestyle skiing double-gold winner Eileen Gu. Or watch Quan collect all the stuffed animals tossed her way by fans, a practice that springs from her mother's remarks that Quan loved the idea of getting the toys from claw machines as a kid but her family had limited means to indulge the maddening metal machine.
And just take a look at this video with German diver Timo Barthel.
Quan's charm seems so instinctive and sincere, a superpower to disarm even the most cynical of minds. We may need a Mandarin Chinese phrase for "bad vibes disappearance technique."