Diving

[mrinalini]

So, Hu Yadan decides to bomb her first 3 dives and then nails the 2 highest-scoring dives of the day. Strange to see such inconsistency from the Chinese.

Go Pandelela!

[Tesla]

Yay Pandelela! I was getting so nervous for her! I so hope she medals.

[ioana]

Yay Pandelela! I was getting so nervous for her! I so hope she medals.

bronze it is . Sad for Paola, but she really under-performed here like Braulio mentioned earlier.

And this has been a v. good Olympics for Pandelela. First female Malaysian flag bearer -and Olympic medalist now. All at the the ripe old age of 19.

[mrinalini]

And Malaysia gets its first medal outside of badminton!

[Tesla]

Yay Pandelela!

[jlai]

Thrilled about the Malaysian bronze!

[ssminnow]

Chen Ruolin now has, what, 4 gold medals? Only 19 years old too. Here's hoping that she sticks around. Maybe some day she will become China's all-time leader in Olympic golds, a title currently held by FSU favorite Zou Kai (with 5)

[Fridge_Break]

Maybe some day she will become China's all-time leader in Olympic golds, a title currently held by FSU favorite Zou Kai (with 5)

Keep going Chen!

I was a bit dumbfounded by the diving finals. It seemed that nobody wanted the remaining two spots on the podium. SO many dives were getting 6.0's and 6.5's (and some of those were a bit generous), definitely didn't feel like an Olympic final to me.

[jlai]

Just out of curiosity, how come so many divers are doing split tucks? There used to be a time when split tucks got a deduction. But then some people were saying that split tucks shouldn't get one, and perhaps they got their say in this. I prefer non-split tucks--those are beautiful.

(I blame it on the Chinese split-tucking divers back in 2000 or 2004)

ETA: I've just looked at the scores, and holy cow, Chen had this one handed to her by her rivals. No one else wanted a medal or something. Oh, and the Aussie gal is pretty cute.

[walei]

I have a question...

After watching all the different sports contested at the Olympics, the male divers are really cut and lean compare to athletes from most other sports. How come that is not the case for female divers?

[museksk8r]

Some surprises brewing in the Men's 10M Platform Prelims. David Boudia is currently in danger of not qualifying for the semis.

ETA: Boudia will nab the last qualifying spot, 18th. He had 1 missed dive and a couple of less than stellar dives.

[vesperholly]

Bizarre performance from Guerra of Cuba. Penultimate qualifier counted a dive of 21 points but had THREE dives that got over 90 points - and they were beautiful dives.

Daley didn't do so hot. Looooved the Mexicans. Two Germans in the top 5, do they have a strong diving program? I don't follow the sport much.

[museksk8r]

Men's 10M Platform Semifinals Qualifiers:

1. Qiu CHN
2. Lin CHN
3. Klein GER
4. Wolfram GER
5. Sanchez MEX
6. Garcia MEX
7. Bondar UKR
8. McCrory USA
9. Mitcham AUS
10. Aguirre CUB
11. McCormick CAN
12. Zakharov UKR
13. Ortega COL
14. Minibaev RUS
15. Daley GBR
16. Galperin RUS
17. Guerra CUB
18. Boudia USA

[Buzz]

Might as well give the Chinese the gold and silver right now and have everyone else compete for bronze.

[mrinalini]

Might as well give the Chinese the gold and silver right now and have everyone else compete for bronze.

I wouldn't say that. Only Qiu Bo looks like a sure bet for gold, and even he has shown some inconsistency in the past. Based on the scores from prelims, I'd say silver and bronze are totally up for grabs, with the Germans, Mexicans and the other Chinese as top contenders.

Sascha Klein has been looking very sharp - all it'll take is one bad dive from Qiu Bo and I can see him getting the gold.

Tom Daley needs to back up all the big talk and media attention with way cleaner dives than what he showed today.

[millyskate]

I wouldn't say that. Only Qiu Bo looks like a sure bet for gold, and even he has shown some inconsistency in the past. Based on the scores from prelims, I'd say silver and bronze are totally up for grabs, with the Germans, Mexicans and the other Chinese as top contenders.

Sascha Klein has been looking very sharp - all it'll take is one bad dive from Qiu Bo and I can see him getting the gold.

Tom Daley needs to back up all the big talk and media attention with way cleaner dives than what he showed today.

Tom Daley has been doing his best after winning many championship medals at a young age, having a major growth spurt, losing his dad to cancer, narrowly missing out in the synchro, and receiving so much media attention it couldn't end any other way but going pear-shaped...

[Cachoo]

And Malaysia gets its first medal outside of badminton!

...caught her interview with the NBC reporter---a sweetheart and so young...
she has one bright future.

[kwanfan1818]

Long and Dong were the heavy favorites in Men's Trampoline, until Ushakov was all kinds of wonderful and earned Silver

[skateboy]

I love diving, but am I the only one who cringes every time I see someone setting up a HANDSTAND on the edge of a 10m platform?

[misskarne]

Might as well give the Chinese the gold and silver right now and have everyone else compete for bronze.

Matt is saving up for the final. You all thought China had in it Beijing, too!

I love diving, but am I the only one who cringes every time I see someone setting up a HANDSTAND on the edge of a 10m platform?

Nope. Every time I have to cover my eyes. Surely that's going to go badly wrong for someone one day.