He Joyfully Plunges Into Being American : Diving: China’s Li, 34, can’t wait to become a citizen--and hopes to make the Olympic team.

A dozen or so coaches stood in a makeshift row at pool side, eyes trained on their young divers, blurry outlines on the 10-meter platform at Pasadena’s Rose Bowl Aquatics Center.

The coaches wore shorts, T-shirts, sunglasses and various kinds of hats--snap-brim fedoras, wide-brim straw hats and other fashion statements--or baseball caps.

It was practice time during the National Junior Olympic Diving championships, and the coaches shouted friendly suggestions to their divers as each emerged from the pool.

“You don’t need to pike your shoulders,” one coach yelled, contorting his body to drive home the point.

Another suggested: “Bend your knees more and your waist less.”

Invariably, the divers nodded.

About 200 of them--the nation’s best young divers--came to Pasadena last week for this event, which ended Monday.

Among them were youngsters such as Michelle Davison and Troy Dumais, both 13 and both aspiring Olympians. To that end, they train long hours.

Also spending the week in Pasadena was another aspiring Olympian unlike any of the others: Li Kongzheng, a diver who doesn’t have time to train.

At poolside the other day, Li wore shorts, a T-shirt, sunglasses and a baseball cap.

Like the other coaches .

Li, 34, is coach of the Texas Diving Club, and although he realizes it’s a longshot, he wants to represent the United States in the 1996 Olympics at Atlanta--not as a coach, but as a diver.

“I would like to see that,” Li said. “I guess I’m going to give it a shot.”

It’s not because Li isn’t a good diver: He won the bronze medal in the 10-meter platform event at the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics, behind Greg Louganis and Bruce Kimball; and in the 1988 Games at Seoul, he finished sixth.

Nor is it because Li is washed up: Those who saw him kidding around on the platform last week, nailing dive after dive, will attest that he can still perform competitively.

No, the real reason is that Li is Chinese.

He was a member of four Chinese Olympic teams, though he competed only in ’84 and ’88. He was a legend in China, a nation that has developed a fierce diving rivalry with the United States.

Thus it is surprising when Li, the diver, says he wants to compete on the U.S. team, and shocking when Li, the coach, says: “I like to see (my divers) beat the Chinese.”

His loyalties, blurred when he arrived at the University of Texas in 1985, now seem clear.

“I have a chance to become an American citizen this year,” Li said proudly.

Indeed, Li reflects on his eight years in the United States with uncommon reverence, pausing on many occasions to emphasize the word freedom .

“It is just that,” he said. “Freedom.”

Freedom will become even more tangible for Li if he is granted U.S. citizenship and thereby becomes able to pursue his improbable Olympic goal.

In the interim, he coaches other would-be Olympians, which he enjoys.

“When I see them growing up, I’m just happy with what they accomplish,” Li said. “Some kids have great, great talent.”

And he continues to immerse himself in American culture, trying to learn more about the United States, doing his best to improve his English.

“They know (I am) good in diving,” Li said, “but they say, ‘What is he saying? He’s talking too fast.’ I can’t teach (the divers) English. They teach me.”

The language barrier, though, has been diminished considerably by Li’s good-natured attitude, quick smile and keen sense of humor.

And his English is passable, mainly because he has followed two suggestions since arriving from China.

“First, you need to study hard, and then you must find an American girlfriend,” Li said, laughing.

In 1987, Li met his future wife, and they live in Austin, Tex., where Li coaches the next generation of U.S. divers.

“Sometimes,” he said, “I think, ‘What if, what if . . . ‘ “

His voice trailed off.

Diving Notes

Mark Ruiz and Sandy Zubrin each won their second gold medal during the last day of competition. Ruiz, 14, of Orlando, Fla., won the 14-15 boys’ three-meter springboard final, and Zubrin, 16, of Newport Beach won the 16-18 girls’ platform. Two trying for a third gold, Bryan Gillooly, 17, and Michelle Davison, 13, fell short. Davison was fifth in the 14-15 girls’ three-meter springboard, 45 points behind Kim Powers. In the platform final, Gillooly was more than 60 behind Chris Mantilla.