China basks in Dubai sweep
Source: Agencies |
March 19, 2012, Monday
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Print Edition
Print Edition
ACTIONS spoke louder than words for Chinese diver Qiu Bo on Saturday as he sealed a clean sweep of medals for China at the World Series meet in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, and then refused to be drawn on whether his country's dominance was good or bad for the sport.
"No comment" was his answer to reporters through an interpreter when asked the question after he won the 10-meter platform to complete China's haul of eight gold medals over the two days of competition at the Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashid Sports Complex.
China's success follows last month's World Cup in London where it again won all eight diving golds available, and at last year's world championships in Shanghai its athletes claimed all 10 titles on offer.
Britain's Tom Daley, who came second to Qiu in Dubai, was more forthcoming on the subject of China's vice-like grip on the top of the podium which, if continued, would result in a significant medal haul at the Olympic Games in London later this year. "It has got good and bad points," he told reporters as he sat next to the 19-year-old who took his world title in Shanghai.
"I guess you know the outcomes (of competitions) in many cases before they happen but it puts pressure on the Chinese as well because they are not used to (other divers) getting close to them."
Closing the gap
Daley showed signs of closing the gap on Qiu, the 2011 FINA Male Diver of the Year. The Briton finished 29.85 points adrift of his Chinese rival which was a significant improvement on the 80-point margin between the two in Shanghai when Daley came fifth.
However, Qiu showed outstanding form to win on Saturday, securing a 10 from one of the judges for one his dives, one of two perfect scores awarded during the final competition of the meet. The other 10 was earned by American bronze-medalist David Boudia.
"Qiu has shown dominance for a long time," said Daley, who was competing in his first individual event since last year's world championships after recovering from a thumb injury.
"I first came up against him in a junior championship in 2008 and he beat me by two points and in the senior world championships the next year the result was reversed."
China's three other golds were won by Wu Minxia in the women's 3-meter springboard, Qin Kai and Luo Yutong in the men's 3-meter synchro springboard, and Chen Ruolin and Wang Hao in the women's 10-meter synchro platform.
Shanghai native Wu, the FINA Women's Diver of the Year in 2011, beat her 3-meter synchro springboard partner He Zi by 0.7 of a point as she continued her build-up towards her third Olympics where she will attempt to win an individual gold to go with the two synchro golds she already has. Third place went to Italy's Tania Cagnotto.
"No comment" was his answer to reporters through an interpreter when asked the question after he won the 10-meter platform to complete China's haul of eight gold medals over the two days of competition at the Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashid Sports Complex.
China's success follows last month's World Cup in London where it again won all eight diving golds available, and at last year's world championships in Shanghai its athletes claimed all 10 titles on offer.
Britain's Tom Daley, who came second to Qiu in Dubai, was more forthcoming on the subject of China's vice-like grip on the top of the podium which, if continued, would result in a significant medal haul at the Olympic Games in London later this year. "It has got good and bad points," he told reporters as he sat next to the 19-year-old who took his world title in Shanghai.
"I guess you know the outcomes (of competitions) in many cases before they happen but it puts pressure on the Chinese as well because they are not used to (other divers) getting close to them."
Closing the gap
Daley showed signs of closing the gap on Qiu, the 2011 FINA Male Diver of the Year. The Briton finished 29.85 points adrift of his Chinese rival which was a significant improvement on the 80-point margin between the two in Shanghai when Daley came fifth.
However, Qiu showed outstanding form to win on Saturday, securing a 10 from one of the judges for one his dives, one of two perfect scores awarded during the final competition of the meet. The other 10 was earned by American bronze-medalist David Boudia.
"Qiu has shown dominance for a long time," said Daley, who was competing in his first individual event since last year's world championships after recovering from a thumb injury.
"I first came up against him in a junior championship in 2008 and he beat me by two points and in the senior world championships the next year the result was reversed."
China's three other golds were won by Wu Minxia in the women's 3-meter springboard, Qin Kai and Luo Yutong in the men's 3-meter synchro springboard, and Chen Ruolin and Wang Hao in the women's 10-meter synchro platform.
Shanghai native Wu, the FINA Women's Diver of the Year in 2011, beat her 3-meter synchro springboard partner He Zi by 0.7 of a point as she continued her build-up towards her third Olympics where she will attempt to win an individual gold to go with the two synchro golds she already has. Third place went to Italy's Tania Cagnotto.
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