Delirious duo win Britain’s first diving gold
Miracle man Mears has ‘come from death’s door’ Flatmates’ win ends China’s long reign
Call it the miracle of the green lagoon. Jack Laugher and Chris Mears had promised to shock the world which is precisely what they did as they won Britain’s first ever diving gold medal at the Olympics in the synchronised 3m springboard.
Even though Britain led from the third round through to the last, there were as many twists and turns on the scoreboard as there were from the boards. A final round dive of 91.20 took their total score to 454.32 to see off a strong American duo of Sam Dorman and Mike Hixon (450.21) as well as China’s world champion pairing of Qin Kai and Cao Yuan (443.70), who had to settle for bronze.
Although the celebrations were not quite as raucous as that following Tom Daley and Dan Goodfellow’s bronze in the synchronised 10m platform, they were every bit as emotional. For Laugher, who competes again in the individual 3m springboard, it righted a few wrongs from London 2012 when he botched a dive in what he describes as his lowest moment.
Mears, meanwhile, has had to overcome far more than a bad score. In 2009, the 23-year-old was rushed to hospital after rupturing his spleen in competition. He was given a five per cent chance of survival. Despite being pulling through and being discharged from hospital, he would later suffer a seven-hour seizure that left him in a coma for three days. “I’ve come from death’s door to here, I’m pretty proud,” Mears said. “I still can’t believe it’s happened, I’ll think about it in the future probably. When I went into London and competed well there, that was emotional because of what had happened to me.”
Other setbacks have beset the Leeds-based flatmates. There have been family tragedies, ended relationships and plenty of injuries. “To come from that place in London 2012 to here is why I was so emotional on poolside because that was my lowest moment and now I have had my highest moment in two separate Olympics,” Laugher said.
“We only [ just] found out it was the first ever gold. We are so overwhelmed with what we have done this year, with all the setbacks and the massive risk of putting that hard dive into our list. The dream has happened and it has paid off and we are ecstatic.”
Perhaps the miserable wind and rain that was sweeping around the Rio Aquatics Centre was a peculiarly British omen. Together with an algae-stained diving pool, the scene was less Rio than Rotherham community lido.
“Being from the UK, we are very much used to rain, wind and all that stuff,” Mears said. “We have been assured the green water is safe. We actually quite enjoyed it. It is different to normal, it is very easy to see. It did help us in a way. It just so happens on the day we came out on top. It is a culmination of everything that we have done over the years.”
While Laugher and Mears were both confident in their own ability, few seriously thought they would break the Chinese monopoly on the event – the nation won it at both Beijing 2008 and four years later in London. Kai and Yuan won the world title in the competition where Mears and Laugher took bronze.
But the British pair had vowed to perform without fear, which meant debuting a dive at the Olympics – their forward two and half somersault with three twists – that had never been attempted by another synchronised pair. “The fifth round dive was the hardest dive in the world currently done on three metre,” Laugher said. “We did it good today.”
After the first two rounds the British pair were in second place, which is when the fireworks began. For the third round, Mears and Laugher took the lead with a forward two-and-a-half somersault, two-twist pike, which was marked 84.66 while the Chinese pairing uncharacteristically scored lowly.
The Britons consolidated their lead in the fourth round, a inward three-and-a-half somersault tuck scoring 85.68. It was a precarious advantage, however, with the Americans three points back and China a further three.
The door was ajar for something special and Laugher and Mears smashed the hinges off in the fifth round with their party piece. Laugher had complained that it had been undermarked at the European Championships because the judges did not know what they were seeing, but here they were duly rewarded with an impressive score of 86.58. The gold medals seemed to be halfway around their necks only for Kai and Yuan to go even better with 90.30. The gap remained at a precarious three points.
The hearts of British fans were then in their mouths when Dorman and Hixon produced the dive of the competition, earning a score of 98.04 with a forward four-and-ahalf somersault tuck. The Americans started celebrating and Laugher and Mears were left needing to reach an imposing 87 in the same dive to regain the lead.
They did not blink. Their synchronisation was perfect in a score of 91.2. China could still be overtake them with a score of 94. Everyone held their breath.
To the naked eye, it seemed that the world champions did not nail the final dive, but the suspense was still biting as everyone waited for the scores. They flashed up on the big screen: 83.22. Britain had its first ever gold medal in the diving.