Diving ain’t easy, and we have defending gold medal Ilya Zakharov to prove it. Mexico’s Rommell Pacheco finished second with 469.70 points, and Zakharov’s teammate Evgeny Kuznetsov finished third with 468.35 points.
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Ilya Zakharov of Russian Federation competes on the three-meter board.
Zakharov won gold at the London Olympics in the men’s 3m springboard, but the diver failed to reach the finals of the event in Rio after botching his fourth dive of the semifinals on Tuesday.
Leon Taylor, while commentating for BBC Sport, described Zakharov’s effort as “dismal” and a “complete knee tremble”. You will see him out, zeros, failed dive.
2012 gold medalist Ilia Zakharov scored a 0, did not advance to the 3m springboard final.
Afterwards, he said he was “just unlucky in open-air pools”. His launch off the board looked awkward from the start, with his knees buckling a bit, and he did not get enough elevation to finish his dive before bellyflopping into the water.
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Zakharov generated a huge splash when he hit the water on all fours, as well as quite a response on social media.
