I observe - I analyse - I debate
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One of my must sees for Rio 2016. Daley said he would only enter the 10 meter syncro if he found a partner he could win a medal with. Daley paired with Dan Goodfellow back in October and put on a great show.
A thrilling final filled with medalists. Germany’s Patrick Hausding and Sascha Klein were silver medalists from Beijin 2008, Mexico’s Ivan Garcia and German Sanchez, silver medalists from London 2012 and one half of the American Bronze Medalists due from London in David Boudia with his new partner Steele Johnson. Daley was so close to winning a medal in the London Syncro with partner Peter Waterfield missing out on the Bronze by 8.82 points.
Starting of easy with the first two rounds capped at a difficulty rating of 2. Daley and Goodfellow were last to dive starting with an Inward 1.5 Somersault which scored 8.5s for synchronicity and a 8.5 and 9.0 for execution scoring 51.6 . This placed them 3rd behind America and their Forward Pike which scored 54 and China, represented by Yue Lin and Aisen Chen who scored 57 for the same dive.
After the second round of the capped degree of difficulty dives favorites, China took their position at the top with 114, USA in second on 107 and GB third with 101.4.
There was little movement in the third round with China opening the lead with a 92.82 from a reverse 3.5 somersault. The US took 83.52 with an inward 3.5 somersault. Daley and Goodfellow posted 79.68 with an inward 3.5 Somersault with tuck.
There was a wobble in the 4th round which saw Germany and Mexico overtake Team GB after the silver medalists from Beijing posted a 92.88 from a backward 3.5 somersault. and the silver medalists from London posted a 82.14 from a forward 4.5 somersault.
Just two dives left to go but the pressure didn’t show and Daley and Goodfellow didn’t stay in 5th for long after scoring a 92.13 from a forward 4.5 somersault with tuck. China opened up a 6.6 point lead on second place America, with Team GB.
The Final Round, and host nation Brazil, represented by Jackson Rondinelli and Hugo Parisi found themselves at the bottom of the table on 368.52. Russia represented by Viktor Minibaev and Nikita Shleikher fell to 7th place with 417.57. Ukraine, represented by Maksym Dolgov and Oleksandr Gorshkovozov came 6th on 421.98. Mexico’s silver medalists came 5th with 423.3. America were first to secure a medal scoring 95.04 from a Back 2.5 somersault 2.5 twist in the Pike position, totaling 457.11. China Germany in their final dive, a Back 2.5 somersault with 2.5 twist scored 86.4 Posting 438.42. It was enough to keep them in contention. China were to dive before Daley and Goodfellow and the lead was a large one, only an error which never came would’ve taken them down the rankings. China took a near 40 point lead over America after a brilliant Back 2.5 somersault 2.5 twist in the pike position.
The fight was on for Bronze between Germany who had their 438.42 which meant that Daley and Goodfellow needed to score above 80 points to push Germany down into fourth. A Back 3.5 somersault in the Pike position was the final dive. It looked good, but was it good enough? The camera focused on Daley and Goodfellow as they waited for the scores for what felt like 5 minutes. The jubilation from Daley and Goodfellow told us that they had done it before the score appeared on the screen. Daley had reversed the fortune from London 2012 by securing the Bronze medal with his new partner, Dan Goodfellow. Beating Germany by 6.03 points totaling 444.45 Team GB’s second Bronze in a matter of hours. Goodfellow’s first medal at his first Olympics and Daley now becomes a double Olympic Bronze medalist.
Tom Daley will be back in the Individual 10 meter Platform on Friday 19th August at 8pm (BST).
Jack Laugher and Chris Mears will be in the 3 meter Synchro event on Wednesday 10th at 8pm (BST).
