Just as was the case with the women’s platform, there will be quick turnaround going from prelims to finals, so just like the divers here is an expedited review of what happened … in bullet points!
- In an interesting oddity, China finished 1-2, Germany finished 3-4, and Mexico finished 5-6. I cannot say that I can remember something like that ever happening!
- China, Germany, Mexico, Ukraine, Cuba, Russia and the United States all qualified two divers for the semifinals.
- Qui Bo of China put on a clinic. He blitzed the field and finished almost 32 points ahead of teammate Lin Yue. Whereas Lin Yue was like a yo-yo - up and down in the contest (not that much up and down, he did finish second), Qui Bo was steady and good. Two dives in the 80’s and the rest were 90 points plus.
- Lin Yue had the highest scoring dive of the contest, a back 3 ½ in pike that received scores of 9, 9.5, and one 10. He scored 100.80 points. He
- Martin Wolfram of Germany may be one of the surprises of the platform event. The 20 year-old finished fourth behind teammate Sascha Klein and could be dangerous in semifinals. After his opening two dives that were pretty good, he rattled off four dives that were over 80 points including a 94 point explosion on his front 4 1/2.
- Ivan Garcia of Mexico received 77.9 points on a front 4 1/2, getting scores of 6 and 6.5. Pretty good but the potential of that dive is limitless. He ducked his head and rolled past vertical on the entry, but he makes the dive so easily that if he does get a good entry ... wow.
- Several accomplished divers, and medal threats, had very poor dives that almost cost them as spot in semifinals. Tom Daley, David Boudia, Jose Guerra, Gleb Galperin, and Victor Minibaev all missed a dive that put them in a hole that they were forced to crawl out of. Fortunately all did just that, but none of the above finished in the top-12, where they will need to be to make finals.
- The pressure on Tom Daley must be enormous. He is the poster child of British diving, one of the most recognized athletes in Britain, and is expected to do well at the Games. He looked very nervous on his opening dive.
- Host country Great Britain will only have one diver competing in semifinals as Peter Waterfield failed to make the field of 18. Waterfield had finished third at this pool in the 2012 World Cup, a test event for the London Olympics.
- Nick McCrory of the U.S. dived very consistent in his first Olympic experience. He only had one dive that averaged scores in the 7 to 7.5 range, that was his forward 4 ½ in tuck. He still scored close to 80 points (77.7) due to the high degree of difficulty (3.7). His other five dives averaged 8 or above.
- U.S. diver David Boudia qualified in 18th position and did not look all that sharp. He completely missed a reverse 3 ½ in tuck (307C) and was the last diver who qualified for semifinals. He was not assured a spot in semifinal until the final dive of the contest.
- Aussie Matthew Mitcham, the defending gold medalist from Australia looked okay in the first few rounds but then looked to loose some steam in rounds 4-6. Could it be that he hasn’t trained enough? He still finished in ninth but he needs to improve greatly to defend his title. He will be the only diver representing Australia in the semifinals as countryman James Connor failed to advance.
- All scores are wiped out after prelims, and each diver begins from zero in semifinals.
The semifinals for the men's platform competition will take place at 5:00 am EST, and will be steamed live by NBCOlympics.com.
- Qiu Bo (China) – 563.70
- Lin Yue (China) – 532.15
- Sascha Klein (Germany) – 525.05
- Martin Wolfran (Germany) – 496.80
- German Sanchez (Mexico) – 495.85
- Ivan Garcia (Mexico) – 491.70
- Oleksandr Bondar (Ukraine) – 481.65
- Nick McCrory (United States) – 480.90
- Matthew Mitcham (Australia) – 457.20
- Jeinkler Aguirre (Cuba) – 453.50
- Riley McCormick (Canada) – 452.75
- Anton Zakharov (Ukraine) – 451.35
- Victor Ortega (Colombia) – 450.60
- Victor Minibaev (Russia) – 449.05
- Tom Daley (Great Britain) – 448.45
- Gleb Galperin (Russia) – 445.60
- Jose Guerra (Cuba) – 440.90
- David Boudia (United States) – 439.15
- Bryan Nickson Lomas (Malaysia) – 434.95
- James Connor (Australia) – 427.45
- Vadim Kaptur (Belarus) – 420.60
- Sebastian Villa (Colombia) – 419.25
- Peter Waterfield (Great Britain) – 412.45
- Nordal Gismervik (Norway) – 401.55
- Christofer Eskilsson (Sweden) – 375.30
- Park Jiho (South Korea) – 370.50
- Francesco Dell’Uomo (Italy) – 370.25
- Andrea Chiarabini (Italy) – 367.75
- Eric Sehn (Canada) – 363.90
- Hugo Parisi (Brazil) – 363.70
- Timofei Hordeichik (Belarus) – 350.05
- Ri Hyun Ju (North Korea) – 331.30
Men’s Olympic Springboard Diving Preliminary Results
Top 18 divers advance to Semifinal Round