China denied diving sweep at world championships
Monday, 20th July 2009 ~ Maggie ~ Link ~ Comments (0)
China also ceded the women's 1-meter springboard title, which was claimed by Julia Pakhalina of Russia, with Wu Minxia taking the silver. Qin Kai won the men's 1-meter springboard competition, with Zhang Xinhua coming in second. Australia's Matthew Mitcham, the platform diver who spoiled China's diving sweep aspirations at last summer's Olympics, came in third. Qin also won the 3-meter synchro springboard competition the following day, with partner Wang Feng.
One of China's biggest sports stars and the most-decorated Olympic female diver of all time, Guo Jingjing, opens competition today in the 3-meter individual event, and is expected to be a contender in the finals tomorrow. The diving competition ends Saturday, July 25, with the men's 10-meter synchro event. A complete list of starts and results can be seen on the FINA Web site.
Water polo and synchronized swimming
Water polo play kicks off Monday as well. The Chinese women opened against Hungary, losing 10-7 after coming out to a strong start that had them in a 4-4 tie in the second quarter. China came out of nowhere last summer to place fifth in Olympic competition, with surprising wins over Russia and Italy, and one-point losses to powerhouses Australia and the United States. The men are not as strong--expect them to get walked over by Montenegro (population 678,000, to China's 1.3 billion) Tuesday.
In synchronized swimming, China took bronze in the team technical event Sunday. There are six more competitions to go, with one gold medal awarded every day from Monday through Saturday.
Image: FINA.org
Tags: Chen Ruolin, diving, FINA World Championships, Guo Jingjing, Qin Kai, Wang Feng, water polo, Wu Minxia, Zhang Xinhua
Diving gold medal brings China's total to four
Sunday, 10th August 2008 ~ Maggie ~ Link ~ Comments (0)
China's "diving queen" Guo Jingjing ( 郭晶晶) and her partner Wu Minxia (吴敏霞) won gold in the women's 3-meter synchronized springboard event. It was the fourth gold for China in these games, and the fourth career gold for Guo, who is China's third highest earning athlete.Guo and Wu dominated the competition, taking a nearly insurmountable 17-point lead into the fifth and final round of dives. The pair finished with a score of 343.5. Runners up Russia totaled 323.61, and Germany landed bronze with a strong finish and an overall score of 318.9.
Here's a recap of their 2004 gold medal run (from Beijing TV, commentary in Chinese):
Guo and Wu are expected to go head-to-head in the springboard individual final next Sunday, August 17 at 8:30 p.m.
Tags: Beijing Olympics, diving, gold medal, Guo Jingjing, Olympics, synchronized, Wu Minxia
Guo Jingjing Wins Two Golds at Sheffield
Friday, 30th May 2008 ~ Maggie ~ Link ~ Comments (0)
Sheffield, England—Any chance at truth in the rumors that Guo Jingjing is pregnant and leaving the national team were laid to rest as she joined the team at the FINA Diving World Series in Sheffield, England, and took the gold medal in the 3-meter springboard competition.Guo also won the 3-meter synchro gold with her teammate Wu Minxia. The men took three of the four gold medals on offer, winning the 3-meter springboard synchro (Wang Feng and Qin Kai)10-meter platform (Huo Liang) and 3-meter springboard (He Chong). The only event where no Chinese diver won a medal was the women's 10-meter synchro.
Tags: diving, Guo Jingjing, He Chong, Huo Liang, Qin Kai, Wang Feng, Wu Minxia