Mixed fortunes for Chinese divers at Olympic Games

Chinese divers won gold in the women's 10m synchronized platform but missed a second in the men's 3m synchronized springboard at the 28th Olympic Games Monday in Athens.

Lao Lishi and Li Ting, both 17, cruised to the third diving gold for China. They jumped to the lead from the very beginning and held their advantages through the five rounds of dives to win on 352.14 points.

But Peng Bo and Wang Kenan, who were leading before the final dive, blundered in their last and conceded the gold to Greek pair Nilolaos Siranidis and Thomas Bimis.

It was the hosts' first gold medal at the Games.

Siranidis, 28, and Bimis, 29, who have never won a title in major world competitions, lied fourth before the fifth and final dive with 269.70 points, 14.19 behind the leading Chinese pair.

But Wang made a fatal mistake in the final dive and their hope of winning China's 11th gold was smashed immediately. They finished bottom with 283.89 points.

"We were not anxious for a medal," Bimis said. "But in a competition like the Olympic Games, you never know that is going to happen."

His partner Siranidis said: "It was really hard because it made my work really difficult. But I saw it from the positive perspective. My family helped me a lot to overcome the problems I had."

Wang attributed hard mental pressure to the defeat.

"I just thought the gold was ours," he said. "The pressure was there. After jumping into the air, I know the gold is lost."

Zhou Jihong, team manager of the Chinese diving team, said Wang was not mentally tough at the crucial moment.

"That's his long-time weak point," Zhou said. "But this time, it cost him too much."

American tandem Justin Dumais and Troy Dumais, who was second before the last dive, also blundered at the last moment and got only 55.65 points for a total of 327.06.

The Greek men performed well in their last dive and were awarded 83.64 points, giving them a winning 353.34 total.

Germany's Andreas Wels and Tobias Schellenberg won the silver in 350.01 and Australia's Robert Newbery and Steven Barnett got the bronze in 349.59.

Li said after winning title: "I am so happy to win the Olympic gold. I was not nervous at all before the competition."

"I will be relaxed when I am competing in the individual platform," she added.

Her partner Lao agreed as the pair of Olympic debutantes both qualified for the individual event.

"I won't have any burden on me when I am in the individual event," Lao said.

Russian pair Cassandra Cardinell and Sara Hildebrand took silver on 340.92 points, while the bronze medal went to Canada's Blythe Hartley and Emilie Heymans in 327.78.

Source: Xinhua