Seventh Diving gold looking good for China with Chen leading in Platform

August 21st, 2008 | 17,192 Views

World No. 1 Chen Ruolin of China dominated the semifinal of the Women’s 10m Platform with a total of 444.60, finishing the day ahead of Mexico’s Paola Espinosa by more than 40 points. Chen’s partner in the Synchronized Diving event, Wang Xin, enters the final in third place with 388.55 points. Canadian diver Emilie Heymans, silver medalist in Sydney , came in fourth with 374.10 points. They lead eight other divers heading into the final, which takes place on Thursday night at 8:00 (UTC/GMT +8).

Chen, the favorite, had previously claimed the gold medal in the event at the 16th FINA World Cup in Beijing. She wrapped up Thursday morning’s competition with a perfect somersault-twist combination dive that scored 96.90 points, the highest of the semifinal session.

Paola Espinosa, the flag bearer for Mexico, dropped all her 3m Springboard events at the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games to concentrate on the 10m Platform events. She’s won gold over two legs of the World Series this year (Sheffield and Tijuana), and her strong semifinal finish shows she may be in position to upset China in Beijing.

Chen’s teammate Wang Xin is the reigning world champion. She and Chen clinched China’s third Diving gold in the Synchronized 10m Platform earlier in the Games.

Emilie Heymans missed her third dive to fall to fourth place. American veteran Laura Wilkinson, who is now 31, finished in fifth place to qualify for the final. She took gold in Sydney 2000 in this event.

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