Green-water mystery as Chen ties mark
Print Edition
CHEN Ruolin shrugged off an inexplicably green Rio diving pool to tie teammate Wu Minxia’s two-day-old record of five career diving gold medals on Tuesday.
China’s divers stayed unbeaten at the Olympics as Chen and Liu Huixia won the women’s 10-meter synchronized competition, making it 3-for-3 in the country’s bid for an unprecedented eight-event sweep.
But much of the attention at the event was directed at the diving well’s bizarre transformation from light-blue the day before to a murky green.
Venue spokesman Simon Langford said water tests found “no risk whatsoever to athletes’ health”.
“We are investigating to determine what the cause of the situation was, but we are happy to report that the competition was successfully concluded.”
It ended happily for the often under-appreciated Chen, 23, who is now firmly among the sport’s greats.
On Sunday, the 30-year-old veteran Wu became the first to the five-gold milestone by taking the women’s 3m synchronized springboard with Shi Tingmao, passing legends like American Greg Louganis and former Chinese diva Guo Jingjing.
Chen paid tribute to the senior Wu as her “idol”.
“I know she won five gold medals and that is very, very incredible. But to be honest I haven’t personally thought much about that. All of us have tried very hard in our training and we have won our medals because of our dedication.”
The Chinese fought off a spirited challenge from Malaysian silver medalists Pandelela Rinong and Cheong Jun Hoong, while Canada’s Meaghan Benfeito and Roseline Filion replicated their London 2012 bronze.
With the typical Chinese combination of grace and muscular precision, Chen and Liu held on to a slim early lead to finish at 354.00 points, just 9.44 points clear of the Malaysians.
It was a three-peat gold for Chen, who won with different partners in Beijing and London. She also ruled the individual 10m platform in those Games, but is not entered for Rio.
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