Fifth world gold for China’s young diver Chen

BARCELONA - Agence France-Presse

Chen Ruolin (R) and Liu Huixia from China pose with their gold medals.

Chinese diver Chen Ruolin collected her fifth world championship gold medal and a fourth consecutive win in the women’s 10m synchronised platform as she and partner Liu Huixia blew away the field in Barcelona on Monday.
Liu was Chen’s fourth partner in her four successes in the event over the past six years, but the result was again inevitable as the pair surged ahead with their first dive and led throughout to record a final tally of 365.28 points.

“To win my first medal at this level in Barcelona is a great feeling,” said a delighted Liu afterwards. “Even if I don’t have so much experience, I keep learning a lot with Chen”.

And there could even be more to come for Chen later in the week as she looks to retain her title in the individual 10m platform which begins on Wednesday.

From zero every time

“Our coach often tells us: when you step down from the podium, you start again from zero,” she said. “The experience is important, but it is not enough to get a medal - you have to continue working hard.” Meaghan Benfeito and Roseline Filion snatched silver for Canada behind the Chinese duo with a dramatic final dive to edge out Malaysians Pandelela Rinong Pamg and Mun Yee Leong by less than three tenth of a point as the
Chen and Liu’s success rounded off a good day for the Chinese as reigning champion Li Shixin also claimed gold in the men’s one metre springboard final earlier in the day.

Best dives

The 25-year-old struggled early on and was only fifth in the standings after four of the six rounds, but he saved his best for last as his final two dives received the best two marks of the competition to launch him past Ukrainian Illya Kvasha and Mexico’s Kevin Chavez, who took the silver and bronze respectively.

Another defending champions was victorious in the 10km open water event as Greece’s Spyridon Gianniotis held off Thomas Lurz of Germany and 5km champion Oussama Mellouli of Tunisia to claim gold in the first event of the day in the Moll de la Fusta harbour.

And there was even something for the home crowd to cheer as Spain claimed their third medal of the championships with silver in the team technical routine of the synchronised swimming with Russia claiming gold and Ukraine the bronze.