Springboard, Men

The 1991 World Champion was American Kent Ferguson but he struggled in Barcelona, placing 12th in qualifying to barely make the final, and finished fifth overall. This seemingly left it open for China’s Tan Liangde, the silver medalist from Los Angeles and Seoul, who had also finished second to Ferguson at the 1991 Worlds, and he led the qualifying.

The early lead in the final was taken by Germany’s Albin Killat, bronze medalist from the 1991 Worlds. But dive seven was a disaster for him and he dropped from the lead and would eventually finish 10th, after belly-flopping his eighth dive, as American Mark Lenzi took the lead. He had been trailing Tan as well, but Tan also over-rotated his seventh dive which kept him out of the top spot. Lenzi had been silver medalist at 1991 Worlds on the 1-metre springboard. He did not falter in Barcelona, holding the lead to the end to win an upset gold medal. Tan repeated his silver medal from 1988 while Dmitry Sautin of the Unified Team won bronze.

Lenzi would return in 1996 and add an Olympic bronze medal on springboard. For Tan it was his third consecutive silver medal in the event. Sautin was making his first Olympic appearance, but far from his last. He competed through the 2008 Olympics, winning an Olympic record eight diving medals, including gold in the 1996 platform and 2000 synchro platform. He also won nine medals at the World Championships (1994-2007) and 18 at the Europeans (1991-2010).