Platform, Women

Chen Xiaoxia was considered China’s best in this event, but she had had trouble with nerves, missing the medals at the 1982 World Championships. At that event Zhou Jihong had won a bronze medal, as the gold went to American Wendy Wyland, who also won at the 1983 Pan American Games. Zhou had won the 1983 FINA World Cup.

Chen led the finals through five dives, but on her sixth dive, a forward 3½ pike with the highest degree-of-difficulty of any dive in the event, she faltered and dropped back to third. Chen would continue to struggle and drop out of the medals to place fourth. Zhou took the lead in the sixth round with a back 2½ pike and was never headed winning the gold medal, for which she virtually apologized, “I think that I performed to my potential, but unfortunately my teammate did not. She normally would have done better than me.” Silver went to American Michele Mitchell, who had surprisingly won the US Olympic Trials, while Wyland earned the bronze. Mitchell would return in 1988 to repeat her silver medal, and in 1987 was Pan American champion on the platform.