Rather Than Jump Off a Cliff, I'll Dive! [Olympics]

[The story begins during the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics]

Blurb:

The fallen princess Xiao Hailin led troops against the enemy, but when her resistance failed, she was driven to the edge of a cliff. In the end, she chose to leap to her death, giving her life for her country.

When she opened her eyes again, she had transmigrated from ancient times to an advanced future world and become a diver newly selected for the national team.

Before Xiao Hailin could get used to the unfamiliar electronic devices and dazzling modern world, she was ushered to the ten-meter platform.

She was horrified. Was something wrong with these people? They kept jumping from such great heights again and again!

As time passed, Xiao Hailin accepted her new identity and adapted to her life. She even grew interested in winning gold medals as an athlete.

But she still couldn't get used to platform diving. Whenever she woke from a dream in the middle of the night, all she could see was the moment she had jumped off the cliff.

By day, she would get over her fear of the platform, only for her trauma to come calling again that night.

Then one day, Xiao Hailin had a breakthrough. If jumping from a great height was the same either way, why not try treating cliff-jumping like diving?

Rather than leap from a cliff in terror, she could devote herself to training for diving!

That way, every night in her dreams, she could jump off the cliff over and over, enjoying training without any safety equipment and without any danger.

Later, at the Olympics, Xiao Hailin stunned everyone and won gold medal after gold medal.

A sports reporter asked, "Does Miss Xiao have any special training methods?"

Xiao Hailin said, "When everyone else is training, I'm training. When they're not training, I'm still training."

The reporter sighed with admiration. "You must work so hard and be incredibly diligent!"

Xiao Hailin added, "I train in my dreams."

The reporter: "?"

Seeing the reporter's disbelieving expression, Xiao Hailin felt there was no way to explain herself... because she really did train in her dreams!

Reader's Guide:

1. The heroine is thirteen when she first appears. She focuses on diving until adulthood, then falls in love after retiring. The male lead, Shen Xiu, is one year older than her. He appears very little early on and is an archer who competes in recurve. They are each other's first love, one-on-one romance, happy ending.

2. This is a fictional setting. The diving rules and competition details are based on reality, with changes to suit the setting. Any rules and techniques that have not been changed will also be explained. I recommend turning on the chapter comments. I'll add supplementary explanations of competition rules there for readers who are interested. If you don't like reading comments, you can also check the author's notes.

3. Please take competitive sports seriously and respect both real athletes and the athletes in the story. The characters are not based on real people. Please don't conflate real people with the characters.

4. Started on September 27, 2023. The author is just a sports fan with no diving experience. Please point out any factual oversights or logical inconsistencies, and I'll revise the story as appropriate.

Theme: The only shortcut to victory is courage.