Three more medals for next generation of Chinese divers

Here again, representatives from three reputable diving countries prevailed. Another gold medal went to young Chinese aquatic ambassador Han Wang (total score of 497.15), who could someday be a national hero; while the Canadian team in Aachen celebrated its first trip to the podium with the silver medal performance of Jennifer Abel (total score of 475.55). In third and fourth were two Russian divers, Svetlana Filippova and Maria Smirnova, with scores of 473.20 and 444.15 respectively.

These girls were also the top-four finishers in the preliminary round, except with slightly different positioning. It was Abel who was originally in the lead, with Wang in second, followed by the two Russians in the same order as they finished in the final. It may have stayed that way too, except for a weak start by Abel in the final. For her first dive, an inward 2 ½ somersault pike, the judges gave her scores averaging at 6.5 (total score 60.00). When Wang executed the same first dive, she received average marks of 7.5 (total score 66.00) and therefore had a much better start.

The programmes of Abel and Wang were of the same degree of difficulty (the highest out of all the finalists), and they chose to perform the same dives, only in a slightly different order. Thus it is easy to follow how Wang out-performed Abel, except on the final dive of both, a forward 2 ½ somersault 1 twist pike, for which Abel garnered three 8.5’s to out-score her opponent. But it was already too late. Like her elder Chinese predecessors, many of whom are fresh Olympic heroes at home, Wang’s precision under pressure gave her the win.

Meanwhile the Russians crept along, especially Filippova, who fought nobly for the silver but couldn’t manage to squeak by Abel with a programme that was slightly less difficult and marks generally in the range of 7.0. Smirnova, in the end, finished in fourth and well out of medal contention, despite having a great opening dive.

New Zealand's Alice Wylie-Van Eerd placed 25th out of 33 in her first international competition. 

Overall, 33 girls from 23 different countries competed in the preliminary of this event, of which 12 advanced to the final.