ROME, Italy, June 16. CHINESE athletes largely dominated the seventh and last meet of the 2008 FINA Diving Grand Prix, held in Rome (ITA) from June 13-15, by obtaining all the eight gold medals at stake.
Confirming their supremacy in the 2008 season, and a couple of months before the Olympic Games, at home in Beijing, China's divers even got a one-two in three out of four individual events. Tania Cagnotto, the local star, was the only non-Chinese individual silver medalist in the women's 3m springboard.
Besides Italy and China, the other nations with a podium presence in Rome included Spain, Romania, Ukraine, Colombia, Sweden, Australia and Great Britain.
The 2008 FINA Diving Grand Prix comprised seven legs in: Madrid (ESP, January 18-20), Shenzhen (CHN, February 29-March 2), Moscow (RUS, April 10-13), Montreal (CAN, May 1-4), Fort Lauderdale (USA, May 8-11), Rostock (GER, June 6-8) and Rome (ITA, June 13-15).
Results
Men
3m springboard: 1. Zhang Xin Hua (CHN) 520.10; 2. Li Shixin (CHN) 459.75; 3. Javier Illana (ESP) 448.70
10m platform: 1.Ying Hong (CHN) 520.15; 2. Liguang Yang (CHN) 519.60; 3. Constantin Popovici (ROU) 429.20
3m springboard synchro: 1. Luo Yu Tong/Zhang Xin Hua (CHN) 435.57; 2. Tommaso Marconi/Nicola Marconi (ITA) 401.88; 3. Yuri Shlyakhov/Oleksiy Prygorov (UKR) 390.09
10m platform synchro: 1. Ying Hong/Zhang Chen (CHN) 460.41; 2. Juan Uran/Victor Ortega (COL) 418.83; 3. Constantin Popovici/Catalin Preda (ROU) 382.50
Women
3m springboard: 1. He Zi (CHN) 378.80; 2. Tania Cagnotto (ITA) 331.20; 3. Anna Lindberg (SWE) 328.25
10m platform: 1. Wang Hao (CHN) 417.70; 2. Cao Jing Zhen (CHN) 364.85; 3. Yulia Prokopchuk (UKR) 336.30
3m springboard synchro: 1. Wang Han/Qinxin Zhao (CHN) 318.00; 2. Noemi Batki/Francesca Dallape (ITA) 302.10; 3. Anna Pysmenskaya/Mariya Voloshchenko (UKR) 291.60
10m platform synchro: 1. Wang Hao/Kang Li (CHN) 350.94; 2. Olivia Wright/Natasha Cocker (AUS) 300.42; 3. Helen Galashan/Carol Galashan (GBR) 284.64
Special thanks to FINA for contributing this report.