China's Chen wins second diving gold at worlds?
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Xinhua, July 21, 2011
Olympic champion Chen Ruolin recapured the women's 10m platform title for China at the 14th FINA World Championships here on Thursday.
Chen, 19, runner-up of the event in 2007 and 2009 World Championships, collected 405.30 points from five solid dives to top the final. Her campariot Hu Yadan, 15, took the silver at 394.00, while defending champion Paola Espinosa of Mexico brought home a bronze at 377.15.
"I was defeated by Hu Yadan at the World Cup, and it harmed my confidence," Chen said. "The key to my victory today is consistency. Hu is still young, she needs to take part in more competitions to mature. Next I will focus on the London Olympics."
"It's my third World Championships and I also felt very nervous," said the winner. "I didn't do well in my fifth dive, and I will improve it in my training."
Despite some minor errors, Chen won the title with overwhelming consistency. She once trailed Asian champion Hu in the third round, however Hu made a mistake in her fourth dive and dropped to the third place. Chen made two clean dives then to secure the gold.
Chen gave her coach Ren Shaofen a hug after her last dive. "I didn't cry," she said. "I just felt nervous. I couldn't remember what I was thinking when I stood on the platform."
With the gold medal, Chen became the first Chinese diver to collect the women's 10m platform title from Olympic Games, World Cup and World Championships. However the girl said it was not her goal.
"My goal was not the grand slam," Chen said. "My goal is the London Games. Winning the title will be an encouragment for my future competition and make me more confident."
The 15-year-old Hu made an almost perfect dive in the last round to secure the silver, which earned her several 10s and hit the highest score of the day.
"I felt so nervous that I floundered on Dive two and four," said Hu, who made a perfect international debut by defeating Chen in the event at the 2010 Diving World Cup at an incredible age of 14. "I did not think too much before the last dive, just hoped I can dive at my normal level."
"It's a pity that I did not win the gold. Chen Ruolin is more experienced than me," said the teenager.
Espinosa ranked the fourth in the fourth round but managed to outclassed Canadian diving star Meaghan Benfeito to take the bronze.
"I'm very satisfied with my performance today," said the 22-year-old. "I stood on the podium as I did last time. I'm happy to compete with the strong Chinese divers, and they are very nice to me."
Benfeito took the fourth at 375.50.
"It's hard because it was so close," Benfeito said about the final. "But anyway, I am qualified for the vacant spot for Canada."
The women's 10m platform title has always been a challenging one for the host. China lost the gold in both 2000 and 2004 Olympic Games after Fu Mingxia's retirement, and Chen managed to win the title back at 2008 Beijing Games. However, at the 2009 Rome worlds, Chen lost it to Mexico's Espinosa.
Earlier Thursday, Chinese divers He Chong and Qin Kai made a 1-2 finish at the men's three-meter springboard semifinal.
He, 25, winner of the event at 2008 Beijing Olympic Games and 2009 Rome worlds, collected 523.50 to lead the semifinal, while Qin, who claimed the 3m synchro event with Luo Yutong on Tuesday, trailed at 523.25. Russian Ilya Zakharov was the third with 470.50.
"I made some changes on fifth dive (407C)," said He. "My diving in preliminary and semifinal was not good enough, so I would try to fit in later on. Maybe I cared about difficulty at first but now I hope I can get higher score with lower degree of difficulty."
"I feel very tired today," said Qin, 26, winner of the event at 2007 Melbourne worlds. "He Chong deserved to win because I didn't show my best level. I think the Chinese divers have advantage in this event. The final will be a close battle between me and He since both of us are in top form."
Mexico's Julian Sanchez finished fourth with 467.15 while American veteran Troy Dumais ranked fifth at 466.80.
"Today I did a good job," he said. "I am getting better and better. I will enjoy the water and board in tomorrow's final. I like diving very much. It's not my career, but my hobby. I like competing and try to be the best."
Qin and He also dominated the preliminary earlier Thursday, where Qin was the first and He finished second.
The final will be held on Friday as well as the women's 3m springboard preliminary and semifinal.
