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Olympics Diving results, August 18: China’s women dominate preliminary round

By Brad Weiss

China's Ren Qian competes in the Women's 10m Platform Preliminary at the diving event at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games at the Maria Lenk Aquatics Stadium in Rio de Janeiro on August 17, 2016. / AFP / Martin BUREAU (Photo credit should read MARTIN BUREAU/AFP/Getty Images)
China's Ren Qian competes in the Women's 10m Platform Preliminary at the diving event at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games at the Maria Lenk Aquatics Stadium in Rio de Janeiro on August 17, 2016. / AFP / Martin BUREAU (Photo credit should read MARTIN BUREAU/AFP/Getty Images) /
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The 2016 Rio Olympics Women’s 10m platform preliminary round took place on Wednesday, and to no surprise, China dominated once again.

Coming into the 2016 Rio Olympics, China was supposed to dominate the diving events. In fact, many believed they would sweep all eight events. While it has not been that bad, they have proven to be the class of the sport, and Wednesday was no different. The top two divers in the preliminary round were both from China, and they look to have a stranglehold on this competition.

The highest total score of the day came from Si Yajie, who nearly hit 400.00 points during her five dives. Yajie scored better than 80.00 points twice, both on her last two dives, and finished with a score of 397.45. She was the favorite coming into the event, and is clearly the favorite after the preliminary dives.

Fellow countrywoman Ren Qian had the second highest score, posting a total of 385.80. Incredibly, that score was nearly 40 times better than Jessica Parratto of the United States, who had the third-best mark on the day. Qian also had two dives over 80.00 points, and should join Yajie on the podium on Thursday.

Of the other 26 divers in the competition, only two had a score of 80.00 or higher, and both only did it once. Tonia Couch of Great Britain, who finished fifth overall on Wednesday had a mark of 80.00 on her third dive, while Mexico’s Paola Espinosa’s fourth dive went for 81.60.

The field will now be cut to 18 women, who will compete in the semifinals on Thursday. From there, only 12 divers will move on to the final round, which will take place later on in the day on Thursday. This is the final women’s diving event of the 2016 Rio Olympics, and China is sure to take more gold.

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There have been six diving events so far during the 2016 Games, and China has won gold in five of them. The only event they did not finish first was the Men’s 3m synchronized springboard, which was won by Great Britain. The women have won every event.

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