(Saint-Denis) China won its sixth gold medal in diving on Thursday at the Paris Olympics, continuing its quest for perfection in the eight events in this discipline.
China has dominated diving for decades, but has never managed to win eight gold medals.
Xie Siyi won gold in the men’s 3m springboard and his compatriot Wang Zongyuan finished second, repeating the results from the Tokyo Games three years ago. Mexico’s Osmar Olvera rounded out the podium.
Xie scored 543.60 points for his six dives, followed by Wang at 530.20 and Olvera at 500.40. American Carson Tyler finished just off the podium at 429.25.
No Canadian divers were entered in this competition.
China has won seven of the last eight Olympic events in the men’s 3m springboard. The only misstep came at the London Games in 2012, when Russia’s Ilya Zakharov triumphed. Russian swimmers are barred from the Paris Games because of the invasion of Ukraine that began two years ago.
Including Thursday’s results, China has now won 53 of the 70 diving gold medals since the 1984 Los Angeles Games, where it topped the podium in the event for the first time. If counted back to the 2008 Beijing Games, then China has won 33 of the 38 available diving gold medals.
The Olympic diving programme will culminate with the women’s 3m springboard on Friday and the men’s platform on Saturday.