DALEY AND ALDRIDGE MEDAL TO SEAL OLYMPIC PLACE
Thirteen-year-old British diver Tom Daley and partner Blake
Aldridge stepped forward to deliver Britain's first medal
of the FINA Diving World Cup in Beijing and with it a place
for the nation at this summer's Olympic Games.
Daley (Plymouth Diving) and 25-year-old Aldridge (Southampton)
delivered a mature performance given their years and the fact
their partnership is still very much in its infancy, to take
the bronze in a hard fought contest for medals.
With so much riding on the event, with a top eight finish
and Olympic qualification the target, the pair faltered in
this morning's preliminaries but showed absolutely no nerves
at the Water Cube tonight as they captured the hearts and
minds of an enthralled Chinese audience.
Out in front from the very first dive, China took the gold
on a total of 482.46, Germany collected the silver with a
score of 466.74 and Britain, ahead of some very big names
within the diving world, took the bronze in 446.07.
"It all come together tonight, we dived really well and
I just can't believe we won a medal as well as qualifying
Britain for the Olympics," said Daley.
"It's been an absolute rollercoaster of a ride today.
We didn't dive at all well this morning and at one stage looked
like we might not make it. We eventually finished ninth, made
the final and then come away with a bronze. It's totally amazing.
"There are still no guarantees we'll be at the Olympics
though. Blake and I will have to face Leon (Taylor) and Pete
(Waterfield) in June for the selection decider and that will
be really interesting."
The enormity of their achievement wasn't lost on Aldridge
who, unlike his young partner, had been to international meets
of a similar calibre before and who appreciates how difficult
it is to perform with precision and consistency.
"To finish third in the world against such quality teams
and with so much at stake is just an unbelievable achievement,"
said Aldridge.
"All of the hard work that we've done has definitely
been worth it. We work tirelessly on getting it right time
and time again so when we come to events like this we have
the confidence as well as the ability to see it through.
"This medal is so special to me but I'd love the chance
to come back here for the Olympics and fight for one of those."
China were always out in front, despite a late surge by the
Germans, but there was very little between the top eight teams
with any mistakes seeing positions and medals changing hands.
With the quality of competition being so high mistakes were
a rarity as the pressure mounted on those searching for Olympic
selection.
Aldridge and Daley began strongly to draw scores of 9.5 off
their first required dive, a forward, one-and-a-half somersault
in the pike position, to place fourth.
They followed suit with their next inward one-and-a-half somersault
to lie fourth going into their four optional dives, with a
greater difficulty rating, which would ultimately decide Britain's
Olympic fate.
The pair's forward, three-and-a-half drew appreciative gasps
from the Chinese crowd, who regard diving as a national treasure,
and had the same effect on the judges to see them fifth on
a 186.60 total after round three.
In the morning preliminaries Daley missed his back, three-and-a-half
but made no mistake in the final as he and Aldridge exorcised
the demon with precision to score 88.11 to lift them to fourth
on the leader board once again.
They gave themselves a slight cushion and a quick glance at
a possible medal on round five with a solid reverse, three-and-a-half,
a new dive for the pair with increased difficulty, but they
saved their very best til last with a back, two-and-a-half,
with two-and-a-half twists delivering an 88.74 for a score
of 446.07.
In the Women's 3m event Jodie McGroarty narrowly missed out
on a top 18 place and the guarantee of an Olympic place for
Britain with a 21st place finish.
The Sheffield diver scored 275.60 when a score of 280 would
have seen her progress to tomorrow's semi-final. Team mate
Louise van Hoof (Southampton Diving) struggled in the competition
to finish 45th on 205.45.
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