Coming out of prelims in the men’s synchronized 10 meter, Americans David Boudia and Nick McCrory looked in solid medal position. The two former college rivals placed 2nd in the prelims with a whopping 447 points: trailing only China’s 477. The pair was cruising through three rounds in the finals, where they were about even with their score in prelims, but their decision to reverse the order of their last three dives might have cost them.
On their 5th dive, 207B – a back 3. 5 somersaults pike – McCrory smacked his legs on entry which earned them execution scores as low as 2’s and 3’s for a total of 57.24 points. That’s a dive that sealed up their top three position in prelims when they put up a huge 86.4 points.
Ultimately, as the Americans slid to 5th-place, the Chinese pair of Bo Qiu and Liang Huo put on an even more impressive performance. Their best dive was their second, which received five 10’s and nothing lower than a 9.5. Overall, the Chinese scored eight 10’s in the competition, and only one other pair (the Ukrainians) earned even one. Throughout this competition, nobody really challenged the Chinese, who took the win with a huge score of 480.03 to guarantee a spot on the program in London.
IOC President Jacques Rogge nailed it when he observed that the Chinese divers were similar to their table tennis players, where they simply don’t make mistakes and give anyone an opportunity to challenge them.
The other two squads who earned automatic bids in London were the Germans (Patrick Hausding and Sascha Klein) for silver with 443.01, and Oleksandr Gorshikovozov from the Ukraine for bronze with 435.36.
Women’s 3-meter prelim
Meanwhile, during the women’s 1-meter springboard prelim, both Americans placed in the top 12 to earn a spot in the final. Kelci Bryant, the defending NCAA Champion, recovered from a poor first dive to finish the early round in 11th place, while Duke’s Abby Johnston (who was only 5th at NCAA’s) led the way for the Americans with a 282.40 for 5th. The Chinese divers Han Wang (306.60) and Tingmao Shi (294.65) are sitting first and second. Han is the favorite in this event as the only returning medalist from 2009, where she took bronze.