Chinese Dominance Continues In Women’s Platform

Photo Courtesy: Robert Deutsch-USA TODAY Sports

Editorial Coverage Sponsored By FINIS

By Erin Keaveny, Swimming World College Intern

China’s Ren Qian is coming home from her first Olympics with a gold medal. A medal she won with a dominating performance, finishing twenty points ahead of her teammate Si Yajie, who captured silver. Meaghan Benfeito of Canada won the bronze. This is Benfeito’s second bronze of the Rio games. She shared her first with partner Roseline Filion in synchronized platform last week.

The top two spots were earned by the future of China’s diving program. Ren is fifteen, and her ‘senior’ teammate is only two years older then she is. Both girls made their Olympic debut in Rio. This is now the third consecutive Olympics where the Chinese women have won platform. They will be looking to defend that title in 2020 and beyond. This is not the last we will see of the newly ordained olympic champions.

Jessica Parratto was in third place after the first two rounds in finals. But after her second dive, the Olympic rookie seemed to have succumbed to the pressure presented by the medal round. She missed her entires on multiple dives, and finished in tenth place, more than seventy points behind Ren.

Diving will continue tomorrow with men’s platform preliminaries.

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