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Tian Liang Wins Men's Platform Gold
Tian Liang of China won China the fifth diving gold after beating teammate Hu Jia in an exciting contest at the Auqatic Center on Saturday.
Tian Liang totalled 724.53 points in the men's 10 meters platform, beating Hu Jia to the second place at 713.55. Russian Dmitri Saoutine finished third at 679.26.
It is the fifth diving gold for China in these Olympic Games, which saw the debut of the men's and women's synchronized diving in both the platform and springboard events.
Tian Liang, who entered the final with the second highest score of 201.45 points, jumped to the first place with a dive which gave him 93.12 points.
But he didn't make his following two dives well and legged behind Hu Jia, the last-minute replacement for injuried teammate Huang Qiang.
Hu Jia scored 99.00 points in his third dive, a backword 3 1/2 somersaults at tuck position. He looked unbeatable at the time as he led Tian Liang by more than 30 points.
But the first-time Olympian immediately dropped to the second place when he collected only 51.84 points in his fourth dive.
Tian Liang took the chance to shrug off the pressure and dived to the contest's highest of 101.52 points.
After the fourth round of hte final, it was clear that Chinese divers would definitely sweep the top two places of the event as they led Dmitri Saoutine by more than 50 and 30 points respectively.
Saoutine, the Olympic defending platform champion who only managed a synchronized diving gold at the Sydney diving pool, appeared tired and could not find his usual form which made him the world's most successful diver in recent years.
Saoutine had only one 90s and three 80s from six dives. He made mistakes in his third and fourth dives, collecting 67.32 and 77.22 points respectively.
Saoutine took part in all the four men's events at the Sydney Olympic Games. He won the men's 10m platform synchronzed diving gold, beating Hu Jia and Tian Liang to the second place in that event.
China pocketed five out of eight gold medals on offer at the Olympics. Russia took two golds and the remaining one went to the United States.
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