China have dominated the individual competition since Seoul 1988, winning every gold since then and every silver since Sydney 2000. “Because it’s the Olympic final, wanting to win it affects your state of mind”.
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Cook churned up a large splash on her second attempt for a 41.85 and could not recover despite a strong close to her list.
“It’s never over till it’s over”, Cook said. It can be hard in the Olympic Games after you miss a dive and you think it could be over. “I’m just happy and I’m enjoying this moment because I lost two medals in London by very few points”.
Johnston, meanwhile, scored between 60 and 70 points on each of her five attempts.
He had provided a stern test in the first two rounds, matching her compatriot’s scores of 81, before she tailed off and ended some way adrift of the formidable Shi.
“I feel really good about the way I dove tonight”, Johnston said.
The eventual gold medallist and double world champion wasn’t completely satisfied with her performance, however, claiming she would “probably score myself 80 out of 100 because my scores were not that stable and my performance was not that stable”.
“This morning in his room he was reciting something and I didn’t notice (what it was)”.
He placed second in the 3-meter springboard – her teammate, Shi Tingmao, placed first – and, immediately following the medals ceremony, her boyfriend, fellow Olympic diver Qin Kai, proposed to her. The 26-year-old Duke medical student was recently engaged and plans to retire following the Olympics.
“Today I can finally relax”, Shi said after the competition. He wasn’t able to match the round 3 onslaught, though, and fell to a solid second.
Shi was more in the loop as she had the inside track on Qin’s plans.
The following divers were eliminated from contention: Kassidy Cook (USA), Uschi Freitag (NED), Kristina Ilinykh (RUS), Dolores Hernandez (MEX), Tina Punzel (GER), Anastasiia Nedobiga (UKR).
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As expected, China won another gold in the 2016 Rio Olympics diving competition, this time in the Women’s 3m springboard.
