Divers rise to occasion after disaster strikes teammates
DIVING: There was agony then ecstasy for Australia as divers Esther Qin and Georgia Sheehan won gold in the 3m synchro springboard yesterday.
Rio bronze medallists Maddison Keeney and Anabelle Smith had been tipped to open the four-day diving program with gold for Australia.
And the pair stuck to the script when they led the seven-strong field before the fifth and final dive of the medal event. Then disaster struck.
Disrupted by delays in competition due to technical scoring glitches – which at one stage forced judges to revert to old school numbered cards for scoring – Keeney and Smith registered a failed dive, and no points, to finish last.
Assistant coach Chava Sobrino summed up the mood as he sat poolside with his head in his hands in shock.
But Qin and Sheehan – fourth in the competition after four dives – ensured he was all smiles again when they clinched gold with their final dive.
They took gold with 284.10 points ahead of England’s Alicia Blagg and Katherine Torrance (276.90) and Malaysia’s Mun Yee Leong and Nur Dhabitah Sabri (264.90).
Asked what went wrong in her final, an emotional Keeney said: “I don’t really know where to start. It was all over the shop for everyone with all the delays and technical stuff going on.”
Sheehan said the swirling winds at the outdoor venue also made it tough but couldn’t be used as an excuse.
“Everyone is in the same boat,” she said.