Springboard, Women

Since they won their first medal in 1984, China had won every springboard gold medal and there was nothing to suggest this run would come to an end in Tokyo. China’s Shi Tingmao was the only woman to win two gold medals in Rio and was a clear favourite to add another in Tokyo. At the 2019 World Championships Tingmao and Wang Han occupied first and second place in the springboard event, just as they had done two years earlier. They were also fresh from winning the synchronised title at Tokyo 2020.

It was hard to imagine anybody, other than the two Chinese divers, occupying the gold and silver position, but the best chance of the bronze medal was with the Canadians Jennifer Abel and Pamela Ware. Abel had finished second, with Mélissa Citrini-Beaulieu, behind Tongmao and Han in the synchronised event three days earlier. Abel medalled behind Tingmao and Han at the 2017 World Championships, but beat the two Chinese divers to win the 2019 World Series. Kim Su-Ji of Korea was third in the 1-metre springboard event at the 2019 World Championships and was a possible threat to the Canadians for the bronze medal.

Tingmao and Han dominated the preliminary round, scoring 350.45 and 347.25 respectively, with Abel and Ware next, but approximately 20 points behind. Japan’s Sayaka Mikami was fifth while the leading American was Hailey Hernandez. Tingmao led from the first round of dives, and while Han dropped to fourth at one stage, she pulled herself back into it with good fourth and fifth dives.

The Chinese pair dominated the semi-final that reduced the field from 18 to 12, but it was Han who led after the first three dives, with Tingmao down in joint seventh after her opening dive. Dive four, however, saw her outscore Han by more than 18 points and leapfrog her into first place. She stayed there, with Tingmao qualifying for the final in second place.

Abel always looked like qualifying and was never lower than third place. Her fellow Canadian Pamela Ware, however, was eliminated in 18th place after failing to score with her last dive. She was forced to abandon the dive after mis-stepping on the board and just jumped feet first into the water instead of possibly injuring herself if she dived. A similar thing happened to Mexico’s Arantxa Chávez during her third dive in the preliminary round.

For the Chinese pair, the final was no different, with Tingmao dominating proceedings from the first dive and winning her fourth gold over the past two Olympics, by 34.75 points from Han. A delighted Krysta Palmer of the United States, a mixed team bronze medallist in the 2018 World Cup, took bronze thanks to a forward 2.5 somersault with two twists with her final dive that yielded 73.10 and put her ahead of Malaysia’s Nur Dhabitah Binti Sabri. Abel was a favourite to secure bronze going into the final and after two dives was in the bronze medal position. After a failed reverse 2.5 somersaults in the third round, she scored just 39.00 points and slipped to ninth, never recovering.

China won their ninth consecutive springboard gold medal, and Shi Tingmao re-confirmed that she was the leading female diver in the world and two further golds in Tokyo took her total of Olympic and World gold medals to 12.