Americans Abigail Johnston and Kelci Bryant scored silver in women’s 3-meter synchronized springboard diving, finishing 24 points behind the dominant Chinese and five points ahead of the Canadian team.
China’s Wu Minxia and partner He Zi took gold, the third in a row in this event for Wu, who now has six medals.
Wu is considered to be the best female diver of all time, so no one expected the Chinese to finish anywhere but first. The Americans missed the medals entirely at Beijing, so silver is a huge triumph for Johnston and Bryant.
The Americans were close to perfect in most of their twists, tucks, and somersaults; their entries into the water were not as precise as the Chinese divers’. Despite the scores, the American divers looked to be much more coordinated than the Canadian team of Emilie Heymans and Jennifer Abel, which took bronze.
Heymans has now won diving medals in four consecutive Olympic Games, the first diver to do so.
