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Chinese divers extend dominance in the discipline
Hamilton calls for action after Piquet’s racist slur
Chinese diver Wang Zongyuan claimed his second gold medal at the FINA World Championships after beating fellow Chinese Cao Yuan in the men’s 3- meter springboard final on Tuesday.
Later in the men’s 10- meter synchronized, Yang Hao and Lian Junjie added another gold for the diving powerhouse.
Wang took the lead from the first dive and finished with 561.95 points to complete the double victories in both the singles and synchronized events of the men’s 3- meter springboard.
“In the preliminary stage, I made some mistakes. But I adjusted well in the semifinal and final,” Wang said. “The first two and the last dives in the final were pretty well, but for the other three, I think I could do better.”
Wang competed in the event at Tokyo Olympics last year, where he sat behind another Chinese diver Xie Siyi to finish with the silver.
“During the competition, I only focused used on my own dives. You shouldn’t shouldn t think hink about others’ points or the changes hanges in the ranks. All you have to do o is to think about the technical al things th hings and dive one by one. ne. This T was what I did in the match,” the 21- year- old added.
Cao, Wang’s title- winning partner in the synchronized, ranked second with 492.85 to pocket his 13th medal at the worlds and Olympic Games combined – only Russian legend diver Dmitriy Sautin ( 17) has won more medals than him in these two tournaments.
The three- time Olympic gold medalist has clinched at least one medal in the recent three Olympic Games and five aquatic worlds.
“No matter whom I compete with, I tried to treat the event in the same way,” said the 27- year- old veteran. “Today I think I could do better in the height of my jump, if so, maybe the points would be higher.”
Tokyo Olympic bronze medalist Jack Laugher bounced back from his poor fourth dive to take the bronze with 473.30. The Briton slipped to the sixth place after collecting only 37.80 in the fourth round but clawed back to the podium with a 91.20 in his fifth and a 97.50 in the last dive.
China extended its dominance in the discipline by winning the title for a record nine times, including at each of the recent eight editions. The most recent non- Chinese athlete to win the title in this event was Alexandre
Despatie of Canada in 2005.
In the platform final, top finishers Yang and Lian collected 467.79 points to secure China’s fourth gold from as many events at worlds. British pair Matthew Lee and Noah Williams took the silver with 427.71, and Canada’s Rylan Wiens/ Nathan Zsombor- Murray completed the podium with 417.12.
“We have just teamed up for a short time, and in fact our performance today was not good enough for a premier event like worlds,” said Yang Hao, who had won the gold in the same event five years ago in Budapest with another partner Chen Aisen, a two- time Olympic champion and three- time world title winner.
“Chinese team failed to secure the gold in this event at Tokyo Olympics, so we are happy that this time we won it back,” the 24- year- old added.
British diver Lee won the men’s 10m synchronized gold in Tokyo with his former partner Thomas Daley, beating Chinese duo Cao Yuan and Chen Aisen.
Lewis Hamilton said the “time has come for action” after being the subject of a racially offensive term used by three- time Formula One world champion Nelson Piquet.
Formula One and motorsport’s governing body the FIA condemned the 69- year- old Brazilian, who made the comments during a podcast.
“It’s more than language,” Hamilton tweeted. “These archaic mind- sets need to change and have no place in our sport.
“I’ve been surrounded by these attitudes and targeted my whole life. There has been plenty of time to learn. Time has come for action.”
In a separate tweet, Hamilton posted in Portuguese, “Let’s focus on changing the mindset.”
Piquet, who won the world title in 1981, 1983 and 1987, was discussing an accident between Hamilton and Red Bull’s Max Verstappen on the first lap of last year’s British Grand Prix when he used the term.
His daughter, Kelly, is Verstappen’s partner.
“Discriminatory or racist language is unacceptable in any form and has no part in society,” Formula One said in a statement.
“Lewis is an incredible ambassador for our sport and deserves respect.
“His tireless efforts to increase diversity and inclusion are a lesson to many and something we are committed to at F1.”
In a statement, the FIA said, “The FIA strongly condemns any racist or discriminatory language and behavior, which have no place in sport or wider society.
“We express our solidarity with Lewis Hamilton and fully support his commitment to equality, diversity and inclusion in motor sport.”
Hamilton, the only black driver on the grid, has been an outspoken campaigner for greater diversity in the sport.
The seven- time world champion regularly displayed “black lives matter” on his apparel and took the knee before races in the 2020 season following the murder of George Floyd in the US.
Hamilton has also campaigned for LGBTQ+ rights and on environmental issues.
“We condemn in the strongest terms any use of racist or discriminatory language of any kind,” Mercedes, the British driver’s team, said in a statement.
“Lewis has spearheaded our sport’s efforts to combat racism, and he is a true champion of diversity on and off track.
“Together, we share a vision for a diverse and inclusive motorsport, and this incident underlines the fundamental importance of continuing to strive for a brighter future.”