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FINA diving meet in Changzhou Friday

Thursday, 26th March 2009 ~ Maggie ~ Link ~ Comments (0)

After table tennis, diving was the sport that China dominated most during the 2008 Beijing Olympics. So when the city of Changzhou hosts the China stop on this year's FINA Diving Grand Prix series, a good spectator turnout is expected, as well as some very high-caliber diving.

At the Olympics last August, the host country won all but one gold medal--the men's 10-meter platform title was snatched from Zhou Luxin (周吕鑫) by Australia's Matthew Mitcham, whose execution of a 3.8 degree of difficulty dive earned him the highest score in the history of Olympic diving.

FINA has not released a day-by-day schedule or a lineup of competitors, but most of the big names were out for last week's meet in Doha. Zhou barely beat Mitcham in the 10-meter platform, and China won all eight gold medals at the event. China's other winners at Doha were:

Wang Feng/Kai Qin (men's three-meter springboard synchro)

Chen Ruolin/Li Kang (women's 10-meter platform synchro)

Zhang Xinhua (men's three-meter springboard)

Lin Yue/Huo Liang (men's 10-meter platform synchro)

Wang Han/He Zi (women's three-meter platform synchro)

Chen Ruolin (women's 10-meter platform)

Wu Minxia (women's three-meter springboard)

China's "diving queen," four-time gold medalist Guo Jingjing (a three-meter springboard diver), has still not returned to competition. She has reportedly said she expects to compete beginning in May.

Tags: Changzhou, diving, FINA, Matthew Mitcham, Zhou Luxin

Aussie denies China diving sweep

Sunday, 24th August 2008 ~ Maggie ~ Link ~ Comments (0)

Matthew Mitcham of Australia
Matthew Mitcham of Australia
Going into the final dives of the men's 10-meter platform competition, it looked like China was about to sweep all eight diving gold medals, with Zhou Luxin and Huo Liang in first and second place. But Australia's Matthew Mitcham, trailing the leader Zhou by more than 30 points, went for broke with a 3.8 degree of difficulty dive, a back two and a half somersault with two and a half twists. He got four perfect 10s and scored 112.10, the highest score in the history of Olympic diving, to snatch the gold from his Chinese competitors. According to this Shanghaiist post, Mitcham is the only openly gay man competing at these Olympics.

Image: BOCOG

Tags: Beijing Olympics, diving, Huo Liang, Matthew Mitcham, Olympics, Zhou Luxin