Tokyo Olympics: Cao Yuan earns redemption and a piece of diving history for China with 10m platform gold
- The 26-year-old becomes first diver to win gold in three events, and second to medal in all four Olympic competitions
- Tom Daley threatens to be thorn in his side again, but Briton settles for bronze this time as Cao outduels teammate Yang Jian
The 26-year-old scored an overall total of 582.35 points, outduelling teammate Yang Jian for the gold meal by just 1.95 points at the Tokyo Aquatics Centre,
He had to earn it, for sure, performing a final dive which scored 10s from two of the judges, and 9.5s from the rest.
Britain’s Tom Daley had denied Cao and Chen gold alongside Matty Lee on July 26, beating the Chinese pair by another slim margin of just 1.23 points.
Daley threatened to be a thorn in Cao’s side again, leading at the halfway stage after three successive 90-plus points scores.
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But the four-time Olympic medallist had to settle for his third overall Games bronze, and his second in this specific event, after an 80.5 score from his fourth dive dented his hopes of an elusive individual gold.
The 27-year-old ended on a total of 548.25.
“I try not to think too much about the scores. Instead I put the focus on myself to stay calm,” Cao said, regarding Daley’s hot start. “I make sure that the next dive that I perform has no errors, and I try not to let what other divers do to get into this.”
And so, with Cao’s individual triumph, China’s diving “Dream Team” settled for seven out of eight golds on offer in Japan – not a bad haul, by any means, despite the country’s ridiculously high standards.
Victory also saw the Hunan native become the first diver to win gold medals in three different Olympic events, and just the second diver to medal in all four, after Russia’s Dmitriy Sautin.
Cao added to the golds he won in the 3m springboard at the Rio 2016 Games, and the 10m synchro at the 2012 London Olympics. He also won Olympic bronze in Brazil, in the 3m springboard synchro with Qin Kai.
Despite missing their lofty target, the Chinese still confirmed their diving dominance in Tokyo, ending with one-twos in all four individual events, three golds and two silvers in the synchronised finals, and a clean sweep of all four women’s events.
