China excels in a missed final for Great Britain

The lead of the Asian powerhouse was never threatened during the entire final, despite a mistake in the fourth round. It was the first Olympic medal for both Xie Siyi and Wang Zongyuan, diving together for the first time in a major competition. Xie had been 2019 world champion in this event, and silver medallist in 2017 – on both occasions with Cao Yuan. Wang had one world title, also from 2019, in the individual 1m springboard. The remaining places on the podium in Tokyo went to USA (Andrew Capobianco/Michael Hixon, silver, 444.36) and Germany (Patrick Hausding/Lars Rudiger, bronze, 404.73).

For China, this gold means the return to a successful tradition since the inception of synchro events in the Games’ programme in 2000. After winning in Sydney, the title went to Greece in 2004, at home, and then once more to China in 2008 and 2012. Five years ago, in Rio, Cao Yuan and Qin Kai had committed some mistakes in the Maria Lenk pool and the Olympic title went to Great Britain, thanks to Jack Laugher and Chris Mears.

GREAT BRITAIN

Laugher was again in action today (pairing with Daniel Goodfellow) and there was a natural expectation for a medal on the side of team Great Britain. But this afternoon, the British duet was not inspired. The tone of the final was given already in the first (easy) dive, where Laugher slightly over-rotated, missing the verticality in the entry. After a second regular round, the problems remained, with Goodfellow severally over-rotating in the third combination, the synchronisation missing in the fourth round, and again problems with the entry in the fifth dive. The only consolation was the sixth and final attempt, a complicated (DD 3.9) forward 2 ½ somersaults 3 twists (pike), for which they got an honourable 91.26 from the judges. But this was far too late to remedy the previous problems encountered during the final. In the end, the British duet finished in a very disappointing (and surprising) seventh position, only “saved” by a final missed dive from the Russian team.

RUSSIAN OLYMPIC COMMITTEE

In fact, Evgenii Kuznetsov and Nikita Shleikher were doing a regular final (third at some stages and fourth at the end of round five), but a huge mistake spoiled that entire previous effort: Shleikher lost the balance on the board and completely missed his dive. Severe verdict of the judges: 0 points, and the last position of the final, in 331.08. Russia had won this event at the 2017 FINA Worlds and was three times silver medallist in the Games (2000/2008/2012).

USA

While Russia and Great Britain endured their difficulties, the US pair shone by its regularity and absence of major mistakes. The highlight of their programme was a beautiful forward 4 ½ somersaults, their last combination, worth 88.92 from the judges. Previously, they had three dives over 80 points, and were also quite solid in the first two rounds, with limited DD. This silver replicates the ranking of the Rio 2016 Olympics, where Hixon had paired with Sam Dorman. In 2012, in London, USA had been third in the event.

BRONZE MEDAL: GERMANY

The most undecided medal of the final was the bronze, with Mexico and Germany fighting for the last podium position. Going into the last round, the Latin American duet (third) had a slight advantage over the Europeans (only sixth), but a challenging forward 4 ½ somersaults (tuck) only gave 66.12 points to Mexico. For the same combination, the Germans got 85.50, this sealing the outcome for the bronze medal. Mexico then finished fourth, slightly over the 400 points (400.14). This would have been the first Olympic medal for the Mexicans in this event, where they got the bronze at the 2019 Worlds (with the same two divers).

For Germany, it is the second medal in this event, after the silver at the 2004 Games. It is also a brilliant career finale for Patrick Hausding (32 years), thus becoming the only diver in his country with three Olympic diving medals. Before Tokyo, he had been on the podium in Beijing 2008 (silver 10m synchro) and in 2016 (bronze in the individual 3m). Moreover, he has four medals at the FINA World Championships. 

The Tokyo Games should also be the last ones for veteran Ken Terauchi, from Japan. Diving with teammate Sho Sakai, and at almost 41 (to be completed on August 7), Terauchi finished fifth in 393.93, still better than Italy, sixth in 388.05. Kerauchi has a bronze medal in the 3m individual event from the… 2001 FINA World Championships in Fukuoka (JPN)!

GOLD

Xie Siyi (CHN):

On winning gold and his partnership with Wang:

"We are very happy to get the gold medal. We didn't have very long to practice together, but from the moment we met, we understood each other very quickly and very well, so there were no problems for us."

Wang Zongyuan (CHN):

On winning a gold medal and participating in his first Olympics:

"I've been waiting for this moment for nine years. I was so happy with our brilliant timing. I have a lot of emotions in my head right now. To participate in an Olympic Games for the first time was not so hard for me. It felt a little bit different, but I knew I had to do what I do well, and I did."

SILVER

Andrew Capobianco (USA):

On having HIixon as a partner:

"I think a lot of it was just having someone to look up to and almost chase in practice a little bit. It was just great to have the best diver in the country in your pool every day. To have him to look up to and learn from - he's taught me so much about competing and just being a world-class diver, so it's been great."

On how silver in the synchronised event has given him confidence going into the individual event:

"It definitely makes me confident going into individual. I'm happy that the judges were able to see a little bit more of me heading into there. I'm going to take it one step at a time. It definitely takes a little bit of the nerves off, but at the same time I do have expectations for individual as well."

On hearing fellow divers and coaches in the stands cheering for them:

"When we were walking out for the walk-out, I heard them in the stands. They did a quick 'USA' cheer and that kind of got me going, and I felt kind of ready. It was amazing to have them up there - after every dive we heard them cheering."

Mike Hixon (USA):

On how silver at the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020 compares to his silver at Rio 2016:

"I honestly haven't even thought about that. Right now I'm just living in this moment and it's incredible."

On watching the Chinese do their last dive and whether they thought there was a chance they could win gold:

"It's diving: anything can happen, you've just got to wait and see. Obviously they stepped up, so congrats to them. They were incredible the whole day."

On diving with Capobianco:

"He's one of the best synchro divers in the world. The four dives we do, we knew we were doing them two years ahead of time. He is incredible at those four dives."

BRONZE

Patrick Hausding (GER): 

On taking bronze with his final dive of the event with Lars Rudiger:

"I didn't really follow the scores throughout the competition. I don't know if Lars did - I don't think he does it either. We were focusing on ourselves but we also knew that we didn't perform as well as we wanted to. Until the last round, we felt quite sure that there was no way for us to still win a medal. Our coach encouraged us really hard, saying we should give everything we've got. I saw in his gestures that there might still be a little chance that we could make it. We threw everything into our last dive and it's just overwhelming to get away with bronze in the end."

On the pressure he felt to win a medal:

"I was flagbearer at these Olympic Games and our girls, three days ago they won bronze, so the pressure was so high for us. I couldn't sleep very well last night, I couldn't rest very well because I was so excited and nervous, because the pressure from outside is at least as strong as my own pressure. The competition today was just surreal - so many things happened. We didn't perform as well as we wanted to but others made huge mistakes. That's diving; within a millisecond, anything can happen."

On why China is so dominant in diving:

"In China, diving is a major sport. I've been there many times for competitions. When you see them practising and the amount of little kids they have that are practising, there are so many of them that when they practise, in Germany it would look like nationals. They have so many divers, and of course the selection (pool) is then much bigger. They have so much choice between good athletes, excellent athletes, and world-class athletes. It's a very famous sport, it's always on TV. They are celebrities back in China."