China

Divers say nothing is impossible

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2007-03-20 08:38

Former world champion failed to dive into the water twice. It was true at the FINA World Championships on Monday and the divers on the scene said nothing is impossible.

Jia Tong and Chen Ruolin of China take part in the preliminary round of the 10-metre synchronized platform diving competition at the World Aquatics Championships in Melbourne March 19, 2007. Jia and Chen took the gold medal in the event. [Retuers]

Russian pair Alexksandr Dobroskok and Gleb Galperin led the first three rounds in the men's three-meter springboard synchronized diving on Monday, and seemed ready to keep their consistency all along.

However, Dobroskok shockingly failed to jump into the pool in the fourth round and just came down the springboard without score.

Although the "zero point" had pulled them out of the contention earlier, the duo managed to earn a satisfying 84.66 points in the following round.

But the drama was not over yet.

The 24-year-old diver, who had won this event with legend Dmitri Sautin at the 2003 Barcelona World Championships, made almost a replay of the fourth round, watching his partner Gleb Galperin dive into the water alone.

Dobroskok and Galperin said nothing, but Tobias Schellenberg hinted something.

Being asked how would he compare themselves with the dominant Chinese divers, Schellenberg, the bronze medallist said, "The Chinese divers are strong, but the Athens Olympic Games showed that they were not unbeatable."

In the same event at 2004 Athens Olympics, Wang Kenan of China unbelievably made a mistake in the final dive and failed to score along with his partner Peng Bo.

Then the gold just slipped out of their hands and Greek duo Thomas Bimis and Nikolaos Siranidis picked up after a series unthinkable mistakes of other divers.

Schellenberg and his partner Andreas Wels were the runners-up in the bizarre final. It should also be credited to Dobroskok and Sautin, as Sautin was also among the divers "losing controls" in the last round.

Canadian "Golden Boy" Alexandre Despatie also thought it possible to happen. "I didn't really see what happened in the competition," said the silver medallist, "when I knew it, I really thought it was rare in such major finals. But it's possible to happen on them. It could happen on us and also the Chinese divers