It was a changed mentality that resulted in the loss of the
Olympic men's 3m synchronized event, said Chinese diving team
leader.
Greek pair Nilolaos Siranidis and Thomas Bimis emerged as
surprise winners in 353.34 points Monday night to take their
country's first ever diving gold in the Olympic history after
leading pair Peng Bo and Wang Kenan of China scored zero in their
last dive to finish the bottom of the field.
Peng and Wang jumped to the lead after third dive and
collected283.89 points, over 12 ahead of second-placed Justin
Dumais and Troy Dumais before the fifth and last round.
But Wang fell into the water bending while he was doing forward2
1/2 somersaults and two twists and the pair were awarded a
"no-dive".
"As long as they could dive into the water head first, we would
have won the gold but they entirely failed it. Clearly the athlete
thought too much before he made the move," said team leader Zhou
Jihong.
"If you think too much, you will not be able to have a good
control over your body," said the 1984 Olympic champion in
women's10m platform.
"It is what the Olympics is like. The technique is in second
place while a tough and steady mind is the decisive element in
thecompetition," she said.
Wang admitted that he was too anxious to win.
"I wanted it so much that I got swayed by the thought of gain
and loss," said the 24-year-old Olympic debutant.
"The moment I leapt from the springboard, I knew I would
blunder. Then I lost control in the air and fell into the water,"
he said.
The Dumais brothers also flopped at the last moment after
worldchampion Dmitri Sautin made a serious mistake.
Germans Andreas Wels and Tobias Schellenberg took the advantage
of the favorites' blunders and bagged a silver while Australian duo
Robert Newbery and Steven Barnett were third.
(Xinhua News? Agency? August 18, 2004)?