China wins first diving medal at Beijing Olympics

BEIJING (AP) First, Michael Phelps got going on his pursuit of eight Olympic swimming gold medals. Then the Chinese took over the Water Cube and opened their own bid to sweep eight golds - in diving.

Guo Jingjing and Wu Minxia won the women's 3-meter synchronized springboard title Sunday in the sport that has produced China's most Olympic medals.

Like Phelps, the Chinese are trying to sweep the gold medals for the first time since the Olympics expanded to eight diving events.

"We weren't as relaxed as you all think," Guo said. "Everyone thinks we only have to turn up to be champions, but we have put in a lot of work, we've put in a lot of sweat. We train hard every day. For this competition, we prepared from morning to night."

Guo and Wu, the current world champions, defended the 3-meter synchro title they won four years ago in Athens, finishing with 343.50 points.

They led through all five rounds of the competition, and were cheered wildly by their red flag-waving countrymen.

After completing their final dive, a backward 2½ somersault, Guo and Wu climbed out of the pool and Guo gave herself a fist bump to the heart before the duo took their traditional bows.

"I'm satisfied with our performance today," Guo said. "I'm very happy to be home in China, our country. I'm proud we won the gold medal. I'm also excited to have so many people cheering us on."

Julia Pakhalina and Anastasia Pozdnyakova of Russia took silver with 323.61, and Ditte Kotzian and Heike Fischer of Germany earned the bronze with 318.90.

Americans Kelci Bryant and Ariel Rittenhouse missed a medal by 4.5 points, finishing fourth with 314.40. The United States hasn't won a diving medal since 2000, having been shut out in Athens.

"We could have done better," Bryant said, "but we can always come back in four years and hopefully get gold next time."

Bryant and Rittenhouse were tied for first after the opening round and tied for second through the next two rounds before dropping to third. U.S. fans booed when the duo's marks for execution - ranging from 6.0 to 7.5 - were posted after their fourth dive.

"We went out and did the best we could do," Rittenhouse said. "I mean, it's tough that it was so close. It just makes us want to train harder and come back in four years to get the gold."

Bryant and Rittenhouse were tied with the Germans going into the fifth and final dive, but the Germans earned the third-highest score of the competition, 76.50, to take the bronze. The Americans totaled 72.00 points on their last dive.

"I was thinking about my dive," Bryant said. "I wasn't saying, 'We have to do better than what they just did.' Before I even really looked at the scores, I saw the German team jump up and go crazy, so I said, 'Oh, shucks.'"

The Chinese fans were especially boisterous when Guo and Wu received three 10s for synchronicity on their backward dive in the second round.

Guo and Wu shook hands with the other medalists before being introduced as champions again. Flashbulbs popped all over the pool as they took their place on top of the medals podium.

"We've seen under pressure that they make mistakes. But previous Olympics have shown that Guo Jingjing doesn't make mistakes," Pakhalina said. "I don't think they did as well as they could. But who cares? They won."

Pakhalina returned to the podium for her third Olympics, though, this time with a different partner. The Russian won gold in the event at Sydney and silver in Athens with Vera Ilyina, who later retired.

"I'm going to enjoy my silver medal. It's like a gold to me," said Pakhalina, who lives part-time in the U.S.

Fischer and Kotzian finished second to Guo and Wu at last year's world championships.

Guo and Wu will go up against each other later in the individual 3-meter competition. Four years ago, Guo won the gold and Wu was second.

At 26, Guo plans to retire after the Olympics, although she said she hasn't thought about her future. She is a huge star in China, where her relationship with a wealthy Hong Kong businessman is gossip fodder.

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