Woody's Diving Blog

USA Diving will send 16 athletes to compete at the 2008 Junior World Championships in Aachen, Germany. Heading the list will be Kristian Ipsen, Michelle Michelle Cabassol, and Kaylea Arnett. The championships will take place from September 16-21.

After watching the Olympics, every diver should come away inspired. Especially after watching the dramatic come from behind victory by Matthew Mitcham. Inspiration is what gets a diver out of the house and into the pool, but there are some lessons to be learned from watching the competition. Check out these five important aspects of diving that every diver should take away from the Olympic Games.

Aussie diver Mathew Mitcham was Awesome, winning platform gold by four points over Zhou Luxin of China. His win gave Australia its second medal of the 2008 Games, and prevented the Chinese sweep of the gold medals. Mitcham won in dramatic fashion, with a final round dive that scored an UNBELIEVEABLE 112.10 points. He received four 10's, two 9.5's and a 9 on a back 2 1/2 with 2 1/2 twists, a dive with a degree of difficulty of 3.8. Heading into the final round, he was 32.5 points behind Zhou and the Chinese sweep looked secure. Even after Zhou's dive, Mitcham was still 107.27 points behind, but he put up his big dive, and just like that, the Aussie goes home with gold!

American's David Boudia and Thomas Finchum were no where to be found in the finals, and finished in 10th and 12th. U.S. divers have now gone two Olympic Games without a medal, and three Olympics with only one - Laura Wilkinson's gold in 2000. (Australian Matthew Mitcham Photo: Jamie Squire/Getty Images)

Huo Liang will be the last diver for tommorow's finals in men's platform, earning that right by finishing first in the semifinals at the Water Cube. The leader after prelims, Zhou Luxin, finished in third - even with those horrible feet, and Aussie Matthew Mitcham took the second spot. Both U.S. divers, David Boudia and Thomas Fincham qualified for finals, finishing in fifth and seventh.

Huo looked good over the course of his six dives, but make no mistake, this event is wide open. Mitcham especially looked good, definately good enough to unseat the Chinese. Boudia and Finchum improved their performances from prelims, and if either of them gets on a role, they can be in the medal hunt. The only casualty from the semifinals was 2008 FINA World Cup Champion Sascha Klein. Ther German fell apart after three dives and finished 18th. Finals begin at 7:00 am EST, on August 23. (China's Huo Liang Photo: Shaun Botterill/Getty Images)

Will China go eight for eight? Sure looks that way. Zhou Luxin leads the prelims by 30 points over Australian Matthew Mitcham, with 2007 World Champion Gleb Galperin in third. David Boudia and Thomas Fincham both advanced to the semifinals, finishing in sixth and seventh. No big surprises except that China's Huo Liang is in eighth. Huo was a last minute substitution for Lin Yue who won a gold medal in synchro platform. (Russia's Gleb Galperin Photo: Phil Walter/Getty Images)

Can anyone beat the Chinese? It doesn’t look good for the rest of the world as 15-year-old Chen Ruolin moved China closer to a sweep of the Olympic diving gold medals with a 10-point victory over Canada’s Emilie Heymans. Heymans definitely put the pressure on Chen. She needed over 89 points on her final dive to close the deal . . . she got over 100. Chen’s teammate Wang Xin grabbed the bronze. Despite not winning a medal, Mexican divers had a good showing with Paola Espinosa in fourth, and Tatiana Ortiz in fifth.

Laura Wilkinson’s medal hopes disappeared early as she again could not put her back 3 1/2 pike on her head, fading to ninth. (China's Chen Ruolin Photo: Ezra Shaw/Getty Images)

It wasn’t pretty, but Laura Wilkinson advanced to the finals of women’s platform. Actually, it wasn’t pretty for many of the divers as the semifinal saw misses by many of the top divers. For Wilkinson, it was her back 3 1/2 pike that put her under the gun. She received 4, 4.5 on the dive and for the second straight competition missed it, but still advanced in sixth place. Haley Ishimatsu was not so lucky, she started out great but missed her final three dives to finish 14th.

One of the few divers to stay on track, Chen Ruolin of China leads heading into the final. Her teammate Wang Xin finished third and Paolo Espinosa of Mexico grabbed the second spot. Even Canada’s Emilie Heymans missed a dive, but still finished in fourth. You can feel the pressure mounting from here! (Mexico's Paola Espinosa Photo: Ezra Shaw/Getty Images)

It is getting old saying the same thing over and over, but yes, China has the top two qualifiers in women's platform. The two teenagers, Chen Ruolin and Wang Xin, finished 1-2 with Canadian Emilie Heymans taking the third spot. U.S. hopeful Laura Wilkinson again had problems with her back 3 1/2, and finished in fifth. Haley Ishimatsu had a shaky first dive but rallied and qualified for the semifinals in 10th. (Australia's Melissa Wu Photo: Jonathan Ferry/Getty Images)

He Chong continued China's dominance with his victory in men's springboard diving. He finished 36.25 points ahead of Alex Despatie of Canada, who won his second springboard silver. He's teammate Qin Kai finished in third, six points behind Despatie. Veteran Dmitri Sautin, who was aiming for his ninth Olympic medal, finished in fourth.

U.S. divers Troy Dumais and Chris Colwill were never really in medal contention. Dumais finished sixth for the third straight Olympics. Colwill finished in 12th in his first Olympic Games. (Men's Springboard Medalists Photo: Streeter Lecka)

He Chong stepped up his game and will be the top qualifier for the finals of men's springboard at the Water Cube. He had to step up his game because Canadian Alex Despatie stepped up his. The man the Chinese consider their biggest threat, moved from ninth in prelims to second and with this list, probably removed a lot of the doubt about whether his broken foot has heeled. Qin Kai rounded out the top-three.

Both American divers advanced, led by Chris Colwill in sixth place. Troy Dumais was in third with two rounds left, but finished with two poor dives and dropped to 10th. Dumais' diving has been erratic through the first two rounds and that is not what you would expect from a three-time Olympian who has never finished lower than sixth. Scores are erased for the final and every starts with zero, so it's anybody's game beginning at 7:00 EST.