The godfather of Chinese water polo looks to the future

While not as recognizable as sporting goods magnate and fellow Olympian Li Ning, Shanghai’s Qu Baowei has lived a life no less extraordinary.

As captain of China’s first, and to date most successful, Olympic water polo team, Qu is a national legend in the grueling, if rather obscure sport. 

From local pools to international competition

As a young boy growing up in the 1960s, Qu was an unlikely sporting hero. Raised in Shanghai's Jing’an district in the middle of the Cultural Revolution, there was little real schooling to speak of. 

“There was a man in the neighborhood who used to organize basketball games for the kids, otherwise we really would have had nothing to do,” recalls Qu fondly. Occasionally, the young basketball players would take a dip in the unheated local pool to cool off after their games. 

One chilly afternoon, the Shanghai municipal water polo team was training in the Hankou District pool as Qu and his basketball teammates looked on. When one of the goalkeepers refused to get in the cold pool, the adventurous Qu thought he’d volunteer and give the aquatic sport a try.

He took to the sport immediately, and soon realized he preferred the action of playing in the center position to being bombarded with shots in front of the goal.

The change paid off as he quickly climbed the national ranks and became one of the top players in China. By 1978, he represented China at the 8th Asian Games in Bangkok, where they took home the gold, and his team repeated the feat in Delhi in 1982.

“We were not very big or strong, because we mostly just ate rice,” says Qu, only half joking. He remains modest about the accomplishment: “I was happy to win the Asian Games two times, but now I’m most proud that many of my teammates remain close friends today.” 

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By 1984, he was marching behind the Chinese flag at the country’s first appearance at the Olympics at Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum.

The water polo competition was held at Malibu’s Pepperdine University, and made quite an impression on Qu: “I’d traveled overseas for competitions before, but I really enjoyed the action in L.A. and Malibu.”

After a surprising ninth place finish which saw China defeat Canada, Japan and Brazil, Qu retired from the games, but not the sport.

“I was only 29 and thought I had some more water polo left in me, but the Chinese sporting officials had other plans for me -- so I began to coach the Shanghai team.”

We all loved Qu, he was such a great player and great leader, but also such a cool guy. He used to ride around on a motorcycle and we all thought he looked like [French actor] Alain Delon.— Li Bia, coach of the Shanghai water polo team

Looking forward

During his two years at the helm of the Shanghai water polo team, the squad vied with national supremacy with Guangdong and Guangxi provinces. Several of Qu’s proteges would play on China’s 1988 Olympic team.

Having been involved with Chinese water polo in the pool and on the deck, Qu was ready for another challenge by the early 1990s. 

After initial plans to return to California to assist legendary coach Bob Horn at UCLA were derailed due to visa issues, Qu headed south to Venezuela, where he played and coached water polo and got involved in the import/export business. 

“Those were memorable years, l learned to speak Spanish and learned so much about business in Venezuela,” says Qu.

Sizing up today’s players

Now back in Shanghai, Qu still suits up and plays water polo with the Shanghai Sea Dragons, a team of expats and retired Chinese players who occasionally compete across Asia.

He remains involved in the import/export business and spends a lot of time on the road.

New York transplant Gene Shen is the head coach of the Sea Dragons, and marvels at Qu’s youthful vitality, joking that he is still able to “compete with the teenagers, even if he has to resort to a few underwater fouls!”

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Li Biao is the current coach of the Shanghai professional team and like many of his contemporaries reveres Qu as something like a godfather in Chinese water polo circles, both in and out of the pool.

“We all loved Qu, he was such a great player and great leader, but also such a cool guy. He used to ride around on a motorcycle and we all thought he looked like [French actor] Alain Delon.”

Qu laughs these comparisons off, preferring to deflect attention to the current players.

Today Qu avoids getting directly involved in the national team, but would like to see the Chinese team bounce back from a disappointing Olympics in 2008 where they finished last, and take home a medal from the upcoming Asian Games in Guangzhou.

The young China team has been almost entirely rebuilt since 2008 and will face stiff competition from Japan and Kazakhstan at the Asian Games.

But at this year's Asian Games, they're leading their bracket with four wins, on track to compete in the semi-finals on November 24, and possibly to take the gold medal again on November 25. Success in Guangzhou would give the team some positive momentum heading into the 2012 Olympics in London. 

As for the next Olympics, Qu Baowei leaves the impression that he would be most happy to lose the distinction of captaining the most successful water polo team in China’s history.