AP News, March 26th, 2007
Guo Jingjing and Wu Minxia combined to dominate the women's 3-meter synchronized springboard event Monday and earn China its eighth diving medal in nine world championship events.
Guo and Wu combined grace with pinpoint timing to finish with a score of 355.80 points, well ahead of silver medal winners Ditte Kotzian and Heike Fischer of Germany with 318.45.
Australia's Sharleen Stratton and Briony Cole finished third with 313.14 after coming in second in the morning's prelims.
Guo and Wu led throughout the final, taking a big lead of more than 30 points over the Germans after four of the five rounds of diving on the final day of the meet.
Americans Ariel Rittenhouse and Kelci Bryant, who qualified in fourth, finished 10th with 286.80 points.
The partisan Chinese fans, many waving Chinese flags or wearing red clothing, erupted in raucous applause whenever Guo and Wu performed their dives, easily eclipsing their rival cheering sections _ including the host Australians.
The Chinese women showed their appreciation by bowing to the stands from the pool deck after each dive.
On Monday, Guo won a record fourth 3-meter springboard title to became the first diver in world championships history to win four consecutive individual golds. She surpassed the record shared by Americans Greg Louganis and Phil Boggs, who each won three consecutive world titles.
The only gold medal China hasn't won so far was in the men's 10-meter platform Sunday when Russian Gleb Galperin beat out China's Zhou Luxin and Lin Yue.
Despite the glitch, China has totally dominated the meet, earning four silvers and a bronze.
Later Monday, David Alasdair Boudia and Thomas Finchum will attempt to win the United States' first diving medal in Melbourne after leading favorites China and Russia in the men's 10-meter springboard preliminaries. The American pair won silver in the event at the last year's World Cup in Changshu, China.
