China won seven of the eight diving events at the Tokyo Olympics, including to Cao Yuan’s victory on the men’s 10-meter platform on Saturday.
To his credit, he made history by being the first diver to ever win gold in three separate Olympic events.
Men’s 10m Platform Diving Olympics 2021
The Chinese team came in second place in every event except the men’s platform synchro. Chinese ladies were victorious in all four events. China’s supremacy was further validated by the fact that the country placed first or second in all four individual competitions.
The sum of Cao’s six dives was 582.35 points. Teammate Yang Jian scored 580.40, good enough for silver.
Tom Daley of Britain placed third with a score of 548.25. After the most recent Olympics, he won four medals overall (one gold, three bronze).
Over the Course of the Final Three Dives, Cao and Yang Fought it out.
At the last dive, Yang got 112.75 points for the most difficult dive of the night, a forward 4 1/2 somersaults pike with a 4.1 degree of difficulty, edging out Cao by a mere 0.25 points. For his final dive, he received scores between 9.0 and 9.5.
When Yang finally raised his head above water, he pumped his fists in triumph.
However, Cao was just too competent.
In response, he did a back 2 1/2 somersaults with 2 1/2 twists pike, which was not as challenging as Yang’s prior dive but still earned him two 10s. Cao’s overall score of 9.55 outdid that of his rival by 1.95 points thanks to a 9.5 average.
After falling short in the Tokyo final, Canadian athlete Jessica Zsombor-Murray has her sights set on the 2024 Games.
Nathan Zsombor-Murray, a diver, is still young and inexperienced on the world stage, but he hopes to use what he learned on his voyage to Tokyo to help him succeed in Paris in 2024.
The 18-year-old from Pointe-Claire, Quebec, didn’t make it to the final of the 10-meter platform, but he showed that he has the capacity to compete with the best divers in the world.
After missing the finals by 2.55 points, Zsombor-Murray remarked, “I’m absolutely unhappy, but I think I’m much more driven for Paris and the following three years.”
“Coming in at number 13 in the world when I was only 18 means I have plenty of time to train and develop my skills.”
Most importantly, the Canadian learned how to regulate his effort levels over the course of an extended Olympic competition.
I gave it everything I had in the warmups,” he remarked. “It was challenging for me to return to that routine today (Saturday). I need to be more deliberate about allocating my resources so that I can offer some effort in the preliminary rounds, more in the semifinals, and my all in the final.”
Zsombor-Murray, who finished in fifth place after Friday’s preliminary round, got off to a great start in the semi-finals. In the preliminary dives, he had the highest score.
His second dive, a forward 4 1/2 somersaults in tuck position, was a failure. The judges only gave him 49.95 out of 50, placing him dead last.
“That pushed me to work hard to go back to 12th and make it to the final,” Zsombor-Murray said. “When you fail to successfully complete a dive, your self-assurance plummets and maintaining motivation becomes more challenging. Regardless, I felt confident in my last three dives. While I did finish on a positive note, it wasn’t enough to go to the final round.”
Last Words
He was competing against some of the top divers in the world, and it was too tough for him to claw his way out of 17th place. Not only was the situation complicated by the Canadian’s diving choices, but they were also poorly executed.
