Daley rules out Chinese sweep in diving at 2016 Rio
Source: AFP |
August 14, 2012, Tuesday
|
Print Edition
Print Edition
Olympic bronze medalist Tom Daley believes China will no longer be the dominant force of diving by the next Games in Rio de Janeiro.
China won six of the eight titles on offer in London but failed to secure its target of a clean sweep, as it did at last year's world championships in Shanghai.
In Beijing, only Australia's Matthew Mitcham denied the hosts a sweep by winning the 10-meter platform, and again in London, favorite Qiu Bo suffered one of the shocks of the Games when he lost out to American David Boudia.
Russia's Ilya Zakharov also out-dived the Chinese for springboard gold.
"The Chinese domination is slowly coming to an end. Qiu Bo this year has been unstoppable and that's why it was such a surprise for him not to win. That was a big shock," said Daley, 18, who took bronze on the 10-meter platform.
"Definitely the Chinese divers don't necessarily like pressure. If you constantly apply that pressure they sometimes falter. That's what happened in Rome in 2009 when I won the world championships.
"With myself and David (Boudia) challenging him (Qiu) that is great for the sport.
"Hopefully the Chinese domination will go away into the future.
"Now everyone is catching them up they don't have anywhere to run. They don't have many more somersaults that they can fit in."
Daley believes he will be a contender for gold in Rio and beyond.
"The peak age for a diver is between 22 and 24. So for me Rio 2016 is going to be the peak-performance Olympics," he said.
"I've already been doing my dives for two years and going into Rio six years and then the one after that, wherever it may be, I will have been doing them for 10 years.
"Hopefully after 10 years of doing the same dives I should be pretty consistent and accurate."
China won six of the eight titles on offer in London but failed to secure its target of a clean sweep, as it did at last year's world championships in Shanghai.
In Beijing, only Australia's Matthew Mitcham denied the hosts a sweep by winning the 10-meter platform, and again in London, favorite Qiu Bo suffered one of the shocks of the Games when he lost out to American David Boudia.
Russia's Ilya Zakharov also out-dived the Chinese for springboard gold.
"The Chinese domination is slowly coming to an end. Qiu Bo this year has been unstoppable and that's why it was such a surprise for him not to win. That was a big shock," said Daley, 18, who took bronze on the 10-meter platform.
"Definitely the Chinese divers don't necessarily like pressure. If you constantly apply that pressure they sometimes falter. That's what happened in Rome in 2009 when I won the world championships.
"With myself and David (Boudia) challenging him (Qiu) that is great for the sport.
"Hopefully the Chinese domination will go away into the future.
"Now everyone is catching them up they don't have anywhere to run. They don't have many more somersaults that they can fit in."
Daley believes he will be a contender for gold in Rio and beyond.
"The peak age for a diver is between 22 and 24. So for me Rio 2016 is going to be the peak-performance Olympics," he said.
"I've already been doing my dives for two years and going into Rio six years and then the one after that, wherever it may be, I will have been doing them for 10 years.
"Hopefully after 10 years of doing the same dives I should be pretty consistent and accurate."
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