China's Xie wins gold in the men's 3m springboard at Tokyo Olympics

Xie Siyi and Wang Zongyuan gave China another 1-2 finish in Olympic diving, taking gold and silver in men’s 3-meter springboard.

Published : Aug 03, 2021 13:26 IST

Siyi Xie broke down in tears when marks for his final dive were posted, a string of 9.0s and 9.5s that clinched the gold with 558.75 points.

Xie Siyi and Wang Zongyuan gave China another 1-2 finish in Olympic diving, taking gold and silver in men’s 3-meter springboard.

The Chinese divers held the top two spots after both the preliminaries and the semifinals, and it was more of the same in the finals.

Xie broke down in tears when marks for his final dive were posted, a string of 9.0s and 9.5s that clinched the gold with 558.75 points. Wang came over to hug his teammate.

 

The biggest drama was for the silver, but Wang nailed his final dive to hold off Britain’s Jack Laugher with 534.90.

 

Laugher was only 2.05 points behind Wang going to the final round but over-rotated his entry a bit, leaving him with the bronze at 518.00.

Long the world’s dominant diving nation, China has been near-perfect at the Tokyo Aquatic Center with five gold medals in six events.