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China Takes Two More Golds at Goodwill Games
China picked up two out of the three gold medals on offer and added two silvers at the opening night of the diving competition at the Goodwill Games Friday in Brisbane.
Guo Jingjing started China's gold medal run in the women's one meter springboard. The three meters springboard world champion successfully completed a reverse two and a half somersault, the most difficult dive for a woman, to finish a total of 301.86 points.
Guo edged out her compatriot Wu Minxia to second place with 287.58. Wu also finished second at the 2001 world championships in Fukuoka of Japan last July. The divers who beat Wu at that championship, Blythe Hartley of Canada, could only manage a fifth placing here in Brisbane.
It was Russia's Vera Ilyina who came in third with the bronze in 283.65.
In the women's 10 meter platform synchro diving, twin sisters Li Rao and Li Ting brought China the second gold when the 14-year- old pair dominated the platform with 315.36 points with flawless performance.
The twins were almost 30 points ahead of Russia's Yevgeniya Olshevshaya and Svetlana Timoshinina who scored in 287.10. The Russian duo added the Goodwill Games silver to their 2001 world championships silver.
Rebecca Gilmore and Loudy Tourky of Australia were tied for second spot with the Russians after four rounds but did not score enough points for their last dive of 3.0 degree of difficulty. They won the bronze with 284.10.
Dmitri Sautin of Russia again showed why he is one of the world best divers by easily grabbing the men's three meters springboard with 487.71. The Russian world champion defended his Goodwill Games title and winning 5,000 U.S. dollars in prize money.
Peng Bo of China attempted to challenge Sautin but the Russian 's consistency proved too strong. Peng finished with 464.07 points to win the silver, while Aleksandr Dobroskok picked up another bronze medal for Russia in 448.50.
The medal tally after Friday's competition saw China at the top with tow golds and tow silvers. Russia takes one gold, one silver and two bronze.
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