KB News Desk
North Korea won the silver in the women’s synchronized 10-meter platform event to capture the nation’s first ever Olympic diving medal, while China continued its dominance of the sport with another gold.
Chen Yuxi and Quan Hongchan took a commanding lead from the start Wednesday to secure China’s 50th Olympic diving gold medal all time.
The women led by nearly 14 points after two of their five dives, making it a competition for silver and bronze behind them. Chen won the same event in Tokyo, partnering with Zhang Jiaqi.
Chen and Quan scored a 359.10. The North Korean pair finished far behind at 315.90. It marked North Korea’s second medal of the Paris Games after winning a silver Tuesday in mixed doubles table tennis.
Jin Mi Jo and Mi Rae Kim hope to one day make a run at mighty China.
“We really wanted to give gold to our country but the performance was not done as we expected, as we tried, so we regret that,” Kim said through an interpreter. “The next time we do it we will try hard for the gold.”
North Korea skipped the Tokyo Games, citing concerns about the COVID-19 pandemic.
Andrea Spendolini-Sirieix and Lois Toulson of Great Britain took bronze with a score of 304.38.
“It was a tough competition, we knew before it that China was the team to beat and that Great Britain and the Canadians were going to be hard to defeat, but watching videos our coach told us to be aware of North Korea, and they did very well,” said four-time Olympian Alejandra Orozco of Mexico, who finished fifth. (AP)
