Springboard, Men

The favourite for the Olympic title was the man who had been undefeated in major championships since before the Beijing Games – He Chong of China. Chong’s form in the early part of 2012 gave little doubt that he would retain his Olympic gold as he won both the Diving World Cup at London’s Olympic aquatics centre and was dominant in World Series events. However Chong’s first dive of the Olympic final was slightly below par and he struggled to make up the gap between himself, compatriot Qin Kai and Russian Ilya Zakharov. Kai and Zakharov swapped the lead throughout the competition with the fate of the Olympic championship only being decided on the last round of dives. The Russian nailed his final dive and won gold by a healthy margin of 14 points. To his efforts he was named FINA World Diver of the Year for 2012.

Unluckiest diver of the event was Germany’s Stephan Feck. He slipped on the board, became hopelessly lost in mid rotation and landed flat on his back to “score” a rarely seen total of zero points. His performance became an internet sensation.