Aussie black horse spoils China´s dream of diving gold sweep

Source: Xinhua | 08-23-2008 22:10

BEIJING, Aug. 23 (Xinhua) -- Aussie Matthew Mitcham outscored top favorite Zhou Luxin at the last second in the men's platform final of the Beijing Olympics, spoiling China's dream of a clean sweep of all Olympic diving golds for the first time in over 50 years.

Matthew Mitcham of Australia performs a  dive during Men's 10m Platform Final of  Beijing 2008 Olympic Games diving event  in Beijing, China, Aug. 23, 2008. Matthew  Mitcham claimed the gold of the event.  (Xinhua/Liu Yu)

Mitcham trailed Zhou in the first five dives, but still over 30 points behind before the last attempt.

However, he nailed an unbelievable back two-and-a-half somersault and two-and-a-half twists, with a 3.8 degree of difficulty, achieving four perfect 10s to outscore Zhou who made a glitch in his last attempt.

The World No. 3 compiled a total of 537.95 points to bag the gold.

Zhou, winner of the 2006 World Cup and second of the 2007 World Championships, was left a silver medal with 533.15 points.

World champion Gleb Galperin of Russia settled for the bronze with 525.80.

Editor:Xiong Qu