BENFEITO SAVES THE BEST FOR LAST
Diver earns her first major solo medal and her second bronze of Games
Meaghan Benfeito didn’t look at the scoreboard all day. She didn’t want to know where she stood, didn’t want to think about what each dive might mean, didn’t want to consider the stakes. Just dive. Through four rounds on Thursday afternoon, the strategy worked perfectly. The 27-yearold from Montreal was in third place with one dive to go, though she didn’t know it, after she just kept focusing on — and making — good dives.
And then, as she climbed the 10-metre platform for her final dive, she found out where she stood.
“I peeked at it by accident,” Benfeito said. When she gets on the board, she always looks to make sure the correct dive is posted. “I slightly looked to the right, and I was like, ‘Oh no, I’m third,’ ” she said, drawing out the noooo for a couple of seconds. “But I was able to stay calm,” she said. “My last dive is usually my best dive, that’s why it’s last. Obviously, it was a little miss, but it was enough.”
It was enough for a bronze. Benfeito, a synchro bronze medallist in London 2012 and again here in Rio with partner Roseline Filion, had never won a major individual medal until Thursday. She took third place with 389.20 points behind Chinese divers Ren Qian (439.25) and Si Yajie (419.40), both of them still teenagers.
Australian Melissa Wu still had a chance to catch Benfeito with her last dive, but it was clear right away that she wouldn’t get the huge score she needed to jump past the Canadian.
“As soon as she hit the water, that’s when Arturo (Miranda) jumped in my arms,” Benfeito said of her coach. “He was, like, ‘We got this! We finally got this!’ ”
Benfeito insists she didn’t know her position until that final peek.
“I was hearing the cheering and I knew it was loud,” she said. “My goal today was to finish with a smile and know that I gave everything I had. If I finished with that score and would have finished fourth, fifth, sixth, I would have been really pleased knowing that I gave everything. Winning a medal was just incredible.”
After it was clear she would make the podium, there were tearful hugs all around, with the coach, and with her synchro partner. Filion, who finished sixth in the event, could barely get through answering a question before she would start crying with happiness for her friend.
“It’s amazing,” Filion said. “It’s another medal for diving and for Canada. She worked so hard for this, so she deserves all of the success she’s having right now.”
Filion dove well Thursday and could have challenged for a medal herself were it not for her fourth dive, which earned just 47.85 points.
“I’m really proud of my performance tonight. Obviously I missed my fourth dive, but the four other ones were perfect. It was a super strong final, and I’m really proud of myself,” she said. “This is my last Olympics. I had an amazing career. I’m really proud of how I managed the strong event tonight.”
As for getting an individual bronze to add to her two with Filion, Benfeito said: “It does feel a lot different. I’ve never medalled in a world cup or world championships individually, so to come out with an Olympic medal means even more.”
It was pointed out that this event was a fine time to break that streak.
“Yes,” she said, still beaming. “A good time.”
I used to fight a little bit ... and get in a bit of trouble. Every year they had a tournament in my local town, where two footballers would fight off against each other. So the coach approached me and I said I was game. I trained for seven weeks and won by TKO ... and never looked back. AUSTRALIAN HEAVYWEIGHT BOXER JASON WHATELEY