DALEY MAKES HISTORY WITH OLYMPIC QUALIFICATION
Diver Tom Daley made Olympic history in Beijing today when
he became the youngest British male ever to qualify for the
Games.
The 13-year-old platform diver needed a top eight finish
in the FINA World Cup Men’s 10m and duly delivered with
a seventh place which was finally secured with the second
highest scoring dive of the competition – 100.30 including
four 10s.
Peter Waterfield also pre-selected himself to the British
Olympic team by virtue of the fact he had achieved a top 12
finish at both last year’s World Championships and again
today in the Water Cube when he came eighth.
“To know that your going to an Olympics after all the
hard work and speculation is unbelievable,” said Daley.
“I’m totally overwhelmed. It’s something
I’ve dreamt about but this was meant to happen in 2012
and not in 2008.
“I’m so happy with the way I dived, especially
that last one. I missed one but that’s what happens
sometimes. You try not to make mistakes but if you do it’s
about how you respond and I’m pleased with how I did.
“I’m going to go the Olympics and enjoy every
minute of it. It’s going to be an amazing experience
and one that I was desperate to have before the London Games.
“Beijing for me will all be about gaining experience.
I want to come back here to this amazing venue and just enjoy
my diving.
“I’m not looking at medals. My list of dives
isn’t difficult enough at this stage to give me the
scores I need to win a medal. That will come as I get older
and that’s where I want to be when London comes along
in 2012.
“Tonight has been just phenomenal. To make it to an
Olympics and be able to call yourself an Olympian is what
I’ve always dreamt about and now I’ve done that
I find it so hard to actually believe.”
In this morning’s semi-finals it was Waterfield (Southampton
Diving) who was the pick of the British divers qualifying
fourth out of 18 with Daley (Plymouth Diving) in ninth
But Daley began in impressive fashion tonight, drawing as
much appreciation from the Chinese crowd as their own divers.
He scored 9.0s on his opening dive - back two and-a-half somersault,
one-and-a-half twists – to place second into round two.
Daley scored 8.5s on his forward, three-and-half to keep
in touch with a field whose absolute class was immediately
apparent especially Germany’s Sascha Klein and China’s
Zhou Lu Zin who set the standard impeccably.
By the half way stage Daley lay fourth and Waterfield was
eighth with their most difficult dives to come.
Daley was always going to be at a disadvantage going into
the final three dives as the degree of difficulty of his routines,
at this stage in his career, is less than those above him
who therefore have the ability to produce some very big scores.
With the pressure mounting, Daley missed his armstand back
triple to make the job of a top eight finish and making his
mark in history much more difficult.
With Daley seventh and Waterfield eighth going into round
five, the younger athlete kept himself in contention for the
Olympic spot with a solid back three-and-a-half but Waterfield
closed the gap with his most difficult and highest scoring
routine - a back two-and-a-half, two-and-a-half twists.
Daley kept the expectant Chinese crowd waiting until the
very last round to see whether they would definitely be seeing
the young star return to Beijing this summer and he removed
all doubt from the issue with a powerful reverse three-and-a-half
which scored four 10s.
Gold went to Klein of Germany with 566.85, Zhou took the
silver with 543.40 and David Boudia of the U.S. was third
with 526.65. Daley scored 480.40 and Waterfield 465.30.
Britain’s women also stepped up to the challenge and
qualified Britain for a place in the Women’s 3m Synchro
courtesy of a best-ever performance for Hayley Sage (City
of Sheffield) and Tandi Gerrard (City of Leeds).
The women required a top eight finish from a final field
of 12 and a highest ever score off their two required dives
got them off to a confident start.
They performed their optional dives strongly without missing
anything to finish the competition in sixth place with a score
of 308.79
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