China piles up more diving gold medals

Qin Kai of China competes in the 3-metre springboard diving final at the World Aquatics Championships in Melbourne March 23, 2007. Qin Kai took the gold medal in the event. [Reuters]

MELBOURNE, Australia - Even a string of perfect 10s by a Russian couldn't keep China from another diving gold medal.

Qin Kai defeated defending champion Alexandre Despatie of Canada on the men's 3-meter springboard Friday night, giving the Chinese their sixth victory in the world championships.

Dmitry Sautin of Russia received 10s from all seven judges on his fifth dive, but Qin was too far ahead and Sautin finished third.

China's He Zi won the women's 1-meter springboard title over two-time champion Blythe Hartley of Canada.

Qin earned two 10s on his final dive, having taken the lead from teammate He Chong after two rounds. Qin finished with 545.35 points.

Qin climbed out of the pool, did his traditional bow to the crowd and pumped his right fist, knowing he had claimed his second gold in Melbourne. Qin and Wang Feng won the 3-meter synchronized title.

"This is a fierce competition," Qin said.

Despatie, who swept the 1-meter and 3-meter titles in Montreal two years ago, couldn't make up enough points on his last dive. He edged Sautin by 1.58 points for the silver.

"I knew it was going to be a very hard event, and there was no space for not being perfect," Despatie said. "Kai was flawless."

Despatie totaled 518.65 points. He got behind early, falling into seventh place before rallying.

"These guys don't let us do any mistakes," Despatie said. "It was especially hard because I had to dive after a living legend."

He was referring to Sautin, who won the 2001 world title.

Sautin, the old man of the competition at 33, received all 10s on a reverse 2? somersault from the pike position. He threw his arms in the air while most of the crowd gave him a standing ovation.

"There was such a good crowd, I didn't hear the scores," said Sautin, who found out from teammate Aleksandr Dobroskok. "I didn't pay a lot of attention because I still had one dive to go."

But Qin was already too far ahead and even perfection didn't budge Sautin higher than third, where he had been lodged since the fourth round.

Five different divers received 10s during the six-dive final.

He Chong, the 1-meter silver medalist here, saved the hardest dive of the final for last - a forward 2? somersault with three twists. His marks ranged from 7.5 to 9.0, but it wasn't enough to make up for badly missing his fourth dive. He ended up sixth.

American Troy Dumais was seventh, failing to match the silver medal he won two years ago. He was fourth going into the last round.

"I didn't do my last dive like I needed to," he said. "That's usually one of my best dives and I didn't perform it as well as I can. If I'd gotten 9s on that, I'd be 30 points higher and that would put me in third place."

In the women's final, He won with 316.65 points - 5.45 better than Hartley, who was the champion two years in Montreal and in 2001 in Fukuoka, Japan.

Yuliya Pakhalina of Russia took the bronze with 304.60.

He, a 16-year-old diving in her second major international meet, overtook Hartley for first place on her fourth dive. He's reverse 2? somersault received 72.00 points - her highest score of the five-dive final. The dive had a 3.0 degree of difficulty, and along with her third dive worth 3.1, He pulled off the toughest two dives of the final.

He made her international debut last December at the Asian Games and won a silver medal, but she looked like a veteran against her older competition in the non-Olympic event.

"She is a girl who was absolutely fantastic," Hartley said. "I have a lot of respect for her."

Hartley led through three rounds and earned mostly 8.5s for her fourth dive. But He, diving last, did the more difficult dive, which propelled her into the lead for good.

"I was incredibly nervous on my fourth dive. It could have gone a little better," Hartley said. "There is always pressure to come in as a world champion and to defend your title."

He's teammate, Li Ting, failed to qualify for the final.

Irina Lashko, the 2003 champion while diving for Australia, finished fifth. The 34-year-old, who also won in 1998, recently cut ties with her adopted country and returned to competing for her native Russia.

The only perfect 10.0 score in the final went to Anna Lindberg of Sweden, who received it on her final dive, lifting her into fourth.

"You could tell that they (the judges) wanted to make her third, so I decided not to let them have their fun and take things into my own hands," said Pakhalina, who received mostly 9.0s on her last dive.

Pakhalina said she heard other divers complaining about the judging.

"I don't really know, but everyone's saying that they were holding me down," she said. "We're talking about a dive that takes seconds; anything can happen. Someone wins, someone comes third."

American Allison Brennan was never in contention and finished last among six divers.

Also at Albert Park, the U.S. women's water-polo team defeated Greece 8-6 to finish group play with a 3-0 record. Erika Lorenz scored two goals and goalkeeper Elizabeth Armstrong made eight saves for the Americans.

Russia continued its domination in synchronized swimming when Anastasia Davydova and Anastasia Ermakova won the duet free. It was Russia's fifth gold in six events.

Davydova and Ermakova finished with 99.333 points, well ahead of the Spanish team of Gemma Civil Mengual and Paola Sanchez Tirados, who had 97.667. Japan's Ayako Matsumura and Emiko Suzuki took the bronze.

The two Russians also won the duet technical on Tuesday, with Spain and Japan also second and third. Synchronized swimming ends Saturday, with the team free in which Russia is again heavily favored.

Americans Christina Jones and Andrea Nott finished fifth.