Chinese pairs unbeatable

SYDNEY, SEPT. 28. China added a third Olympic diving gold to its collection here on Thursday as Australia ended its 76-year medal drought by winning bronze in both the men's and women's synchronised diving events.

Veteran Xiong Ni, who retained his Olympic springboard title on Tuesday, teamed up with Xiao Hailiang to win the men's synchronised 3m springboard and score his second victory over arch-rival Dmitry Sautin of Russia.

The Chinese dominated the eight-team field from the outset to achieve 365.58 points after five dives, ahead of silver- medallists Sautin and Alexandre Dobroskok (329.97) and Australians Dean Pullar and Robert Newbery (322.86).

An ailing Sautin, who also won gold in the synchronised platform with teammate Igor Lukashin and bronze in the springboard, said that he now wanted to concentrate on defending his Olympic platform title.

Earlier Li Na and Sang Xue routed their rivals in the women's synchronised platform with 345.12 points, a lead of 33.09 points over Emilie Heymans and Anne Montminy, who won Canada's first Olympic diving medal, a bronze, in the individual platform earlier in the week.

Rebecca Gilmore and Loudy Tourky won bronze, giving the host its first Olympic diving medal since Dick Eve won the gold medal for the plain high dive at the 1924 Paris Games.

Placed fourth with one dive to go, Gilmore and Tourky overhauled the Austrian team to claim a podium place with 301.50. Li, who was already a platform silver, credited their win to Xiong's inspiring against-the-odds springboard victory. The 16-year-old, who is competing in her first Olympics, said that the reality of the event was very different from what she had imagined.

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Section  : Sport
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