Golden girl Si, 14, storms onto world stage
July 27, 2013, Saturday
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CHINA'S 14-year-old Si Yajie and two-time Olympic gold medalist Chen Ruolin ran away with the gold and silver medals in the women's 10-meter platform at the World Swimming Championships on Thursday in Barcelona, Spain.
The final quickly became a duel between the two Chinese divers, making sure the world's pre-eminent diving power collected its sixth gold in seven events .
The difference between Si and Chen was non-existent until the fourth and penultimate dive that broke the deadlock in Si's favor.
Si became world champion in the youngster's first major international competition, while 2011 world champion Chen settled for silver to go with her gold in the 10-meter synchronized she won on Monday with Liu Huixia.
Si ended with 392.15 points, while Chen had 388.70. Ukraine's Iuliia Prokopchuk claimed the bronze with 358.40.
Si looked a lot more comfortable teetering in a handstand on the edge of a towering piece of concrete in front of thousands than speaking about her newly conquered world title.
"I fell pretty excited," she said, later adding she considered herself an "introvert."
"I just had a little mistake in one of them. But overall I feel OK."
This was 21-year-old Chen's eighth career medal at a world championship to go with her four Olympic golds. All have come in either the 10-meter platform individual or synchronized events.
Chen appeared to take her disappointing second place in stride and said she plans to continue on and compete in the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Summer Games.
"You can't be on top all the time," Chen said. "The key is how you face your failures. You have to always be looking toward to your long-term goals and not the immediate."
Si joined her local diving team at the age of seven and has competed on the Grand Prix circuit since 2011. She had shown signs of being ready to compete for a medal after finishing the semifinals in third place.
Chen said that she erred on that critical fourth dive because she hadn't had enough time to get it down pat.
"I had only done that particular dive once before I came to Barcelona," she said. "I wasn't sure even up to the competition how to perfect that dive."
Britain's Sarah Barrow, who finished fourth, said: "The Chinese are totally different. We're so used to them beating the competition. It's pretty much the same every time."
In synchronized swimming, Russia made it five-for-five as Svetlana Romashina and Svetlana Kolesnichenko easily won the duet, adding to their victory in the duet technical. Jiang Tingting and Jiang Wenwen of China earned the silver, while Spain's Ona Carbonell and Margalida Crespi Jaume settled for bronze.
(AP)
The final quickly became a duel between the two Chinese divers, making sure the world's pre-eminent diving power collected its sixth gold in seven events .
The difference between Si and Chen was non-existent until the fourth and penultimate dive that broke the deadlock in Si's favor.
Si became world champion in the youngster's first major international competition, while 2011 world champion Chen settled for silver to go with her gold in the 10-meter synchronized she won on Monday with Liu Huixia.
Si ended with 392.15 points, while Chen had 388.70. Ukraine's Iuliia Prokopchuk claimed the bronze with 358.40.
Si looked a lot more comfortable teetering in a handstand on the edge of a towering piece of concrete in front of thousands than speaking about her newly conquered world title.
"I fell pretty excited," she said, later adding she considered herself an "introvert."
"I just had a little mistake in one of them. But overall I feel OK."
This was 21-year-old Chen's eighth career medal at a world championship to go with her four Olympic golds. All have come in either the 10-meter platform individual or synchronized events.
Chen appeared to take her disappointing second place in stride and said she plans to continue on and compete in the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Summer Games.
"You can't be on top all the time," Chen said. "The key is how you face your failures. You have to always be looking toward to your long-term goals and not the immediate."
Si joined her local diving team at the age of seven and has competed on the Grand Prix circuit since 2011. She had shown signs of being ready to compete for a medal after finishing the semifinals in third place.
Chen said that she erred on that critical fourth dive because she hadn't had enough time to get it down pat.
"I had only done that particular dive once before I came to Barcelona," she said. "I wasn't sure even up to the competition how to perfect that dive."
Britain's Sarah Barrow, who finished fourth, said: "The Chinese are totally different. We're so used to them beating the competition. It's pretty much the same every time."
In synchronized swimming, Russia made it five-for-five as Svetlana Romashina and Svetlana Kolesnichenko easily won the duet, adding to their victory in the duet technical. Jiang Tingting and Jiang Wenwen of China earned the silver, while Spain's Ona Carbonell and Margalida Crespi Jaume settled for bronze.
(AP)
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