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Colin Zeng's remarkable journey from China to NCAA champ

The story of University of Tennessee diver Colin Zeng's journey from a drainpipe in Beijing to NCAA gold. How the pursuit of an education led him to diving and how one family helped save his life.
Credit: Custom
Colin Zeng is the first Tennessee Vol diver to win gold in the platform.

Colin Zeng became the first Tennessee Vol to win a national championship in platform diving on Saturday.

The redshirt junior owns the school records for highest scores in platform and 3-meter and is third on Tennessee's all-time list in 1-meter.

University of Tennessee diving records

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But he wouldn’t be here if it weren’t for the Canty’s, his guardians in the U.S.

“He became one of our kids essentially,” said Earle Canty from his Spokane, Washington, home.

“He’s got wonderful parents that love him, I can’t imagine his mother, all these years, how she’s suffered to want the very best and worry about him and that she’s trusted us to love him on her behalf,” said Jolyn Canty, Earle's wife.

Zeng was born in a small town in the mountainous Fujian province of China, his parents’ third child.

“He really had no opportunities for education, they only allow first-borns to go to school,” Earle Canty said.

A government screening found that Colin had an aptitude for sports like gymnastics and diving. That opened the door for a chance at an education. A diving school in Beijing.

“That’s the only reason why the parents allowed them to take their little boy all the way to Beijing is they were promised, if you let us take your son to train in diving, the children’s diving coach will let him go to school," Jolyn Canty said.

"That was the only opportunity that they knew that there son would ever get an education.”

At 7 years old, Colin boarded a train to travel across the country.

“Colin said he didn’t know what was happening to him, where they were taking him and why and he said his father got down eye level and said, 'you don’t have to go if you don’t want to, you don’t have to do this,' but Colin told me he could tell it was very important so he said, 'I can be brave, I will do this,'” Jolyn Canty said.

“So basically, he was put in a situation where he got to come home once a year for Chinese New Year but otherwise he was being raised by coaching staff,” Earle Canty said.

VIDEO: Interview with Tennessee diving coach Dave Parrington about Colin Zeng

Education was the priority for the Zengs but Colin was so good at diving the Chinese Olympic team noticed. That came with a problem.

“None of those athletes get to go to school. They spend their day diving and training,” Earle Canty said.

“Every day, even Saturday and Sunday,” Jolyn Canty added.

“But they don’t get an education,” Earle said.

Colin was taken into the Olympic diving program and his parents went to Beijing to advocate for his education. When they left, Colin was punished and kicked out of the program, onto the streets of Beijing. He lived there for several days until another diver’s mother found him.

“She found him in a drainpipe in the Olympic training facility and she recognized him and took him home and found his parents. They didn’t know what to do because they were told he could never dive now and he could never go to school,” Jolyn said.

The woman had family in the United States and was sending her daughter to a Stanford diving camp for the summer of 2010. They procured a visa for Colin to go too.

And that’s where he met Ethan Canty, Jolyn and Earle's son.

"He came home and he said oh man, you've gotta meet him the guy Colin he's so cool and they just really bonded," Jolyn said.

The Cantys heard from several people, including former Chinese coaches, that it Zeng could not return to China.

"First we were told by the children's coach from China, she sent word through the gal that brought him here, don't let him come back. She said that two of the Chinese Olympic coaches, when it was found out that Colin did not return, they disappeared in China. And so she said something will happen to Colin, he cannot go back to China, he's not safe," Jolyn said.

"And it was Ethan that saved him. Ethan kept saying, you guys have to do something, why aren't you doing something. Do something. And so. We did."

The Cantys became Colin’s guardians. He lived with them and went to high school in California.

"When he came to live with us he couldn't speak English at all and to graduate with honors, we were so proud of him," Jolyn said.

The sport that was a means of survival became something he loved.

"I've been doing it since I was seven and I just want to try the best I can and see where I get," Colin Zeng said.

The Cantys have since moved from Northern California to Spokane, Washington.

Zeng first attended college at Ohio State, where he won his first national championship in platform as a redshirt freshman in 2016. He then transferred to Tennessee for the 2017-18 school year and won another platform gold as a redshirt junior.

Zeng procured a green card with the help of the Cantys, so he can stay in America after college.

He wants to compete for the U.S. in the 2020 Olympics but will need to become a citizen first. That usually takes five years but there are ways to expedite that process and they’re working on that now.

VIDEO: Tennessee diving coach Dave Parrington explains the process of getting Colin Zeng eligible to compete for the U.S. in the 2020 Olympic games.

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