• Abstract and Figures
• Public Full-text

4 olympics MONDAY, AUGUST 6, 2012 CHINA DAILY Wu equals medals record with 3m triumph By ROBERT SMITH in London Agence France-Presse China’s Wu Minxia won the women’s 3m springboard diving gold medal to draw level with Guo Jingjing as the most-decorated div- er at the Olympics with six medals on Sunday. World champion Wu totaled 414.00 points from her fi ve dives to beat teammate He Zi (379.20) and Mexico’s Laura Sanchez (362.40). Wu’s victory was China’s fi ft h gold medal from fi ve events as it attempts an unprecedented sweep of all eight diving medals in London. China won seven out of eight diving events at the Beijing Games four years ago, having won all 10 diving gold medals at last year’s Shanghai World Championships. Wu reeled off an impeccable back 2.5 somersault on her last dive to clinch the gold medal with a score of 85.50. She led aft er the opening round with 79.50 for a back 2.5 somer- sault from Italy’s Tania Cragnotto and He. He nailed 83.70 for a forward 3.5 somersault to take the lead from Wu (79.75) with Cragnotto drop- ping back to third. But Wu retrieved the lead with a gem forward 3.5 somersault that netted her 85.25. Another exquisite dive, a reverse 2.5 somersault, earned Wu 84.00 to give her a 13.50 points buffer over He going into the fifth and fi nal round. Wu, who won the synchronized 3m springboard with He, made sure of her fi rst individual Olympic gold medal with her showstopper fi nal dive to beat her teammate by 34.80 points. China begins its bid for a sixth diving gold at the London Games with the preliminaries of the men’s MARTIN BUREAU / AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE 3m springboard on Monday. China’s Wu Minxia (right) poses on the podium with her gold medal alongside silver medalist China’s He Zi after winning the women’s 3m springboard fi nal on Sunday. Zhou heaves a world record for gold By BARNABY CHESTERMAN as she missed out on gold by 30kg more than Kashirina, she attempt at 190kg. in London just 1 kilo. needed to surpass the Russian’s Behind the top two, Beijing Agence France-Presse Hripsime Khurshudyan of total rather than match it or she champion Jang found her- Armenia claimed bronze with would have lost out on body- self in a battle for bronze with China’s Zhou Lulu won the a total lift of 294kg. weight. Khurshudyan, in no small women’s Olympic over-75kg The competition boiled From the beginning she put part due to Maryam Usman of weightlifting gold with a new down to a straight shoot-out the pressure on Kashirina by Nigeria, who was third aft er the world record at the ExCeL Are- between Zhou and the woman lifting 6kg more in her first snatch, failing to register any na on Sunday. she deposed as world champion eff ort. lift in the clean and jerk, three World champion Zhou set a last year, Kashirina. That forced Kashirina to times fi nding 160kg beyond her record of 333kg, breaking her Th e Russian drew fi rst blood match her weights to avoid means. old mark from last year’s World as she twice improved on her needing to make two lift s in a Khurshudyan had lift ed 3kg Championships of 328kg. own world record in the snatch, row. more than Jang in the snatch She also matched South taking it from 148kg to 151kg. Having started with 175kg, and after lifting 166kg in the Korean Jang Mi-ran’s world She lifted 5kg more than she matched Zhou’s 181kg with clean and jerk, the Korean marker of 187kg in the clean Zhou in that section, meaning her second lift but when the would have needed to hoist and jerk. the Chinese athlete needed to Chinese heaved 187kg over her 170kg to take bronze. And in a stunning compe- pull something out of the bag head, Kashirina simply could Th e four-time world cham- tition, European champion in the clean and jerk in order to not match her. pion could not manage it and HASSAN AMMAR / ASSOCIATED PRESS Tatiana Kashirina of Russia set claim gold. Zhou had one more lift Armenia had its fi rst medal of Gold medal winner Zhou Lulu from China competes in the women’s +75-kg weightlifting a snatch world record of 151kg And as she weighs almost to come but failed with her the competition. competition on Sunday. Badminton coach Li’s month just got a whole lot better Women’s beach volleyball duo sails into semifi nals By CHEN XIANGFENG edented clean sweep of all fi ve Th ey beat the distractions — scared to lose this gold. I was for Li was the women’s singles in London golds on off er in London. and their Japanese opponents totally relieved aft er the vic- title that was won by teenager By XINHUA in London chenxiangfeng@ “I’m proud of them. They — to win 2-0, giving China its tory.” Li Xuerui. chinadaily.com.cn came out to play the final fi ft h consecutive Olympic title Li, who made a public apol- Li beat compatriot and China’s Xue Chen and Zhang Xi marched into the semifi nals of the under huge pressure,” said Li. in the event. ogy after the scandal, gave world No 1 Wang Yihan in her Olympics women’s beach volleyball tournament aft er beating an Aus- The only thing that could “Th ey did it.” A tearful Zhao, who won credit to Zhao. Olympic debut. trian pair, 21-18, 21-11, on Sunday. have saved Li Yongbo was gold World No 1 pair Yu Yang the mixed doubles gold a day “It wasn’t easy for her to She said she felt it was unfair Th e bronze medalists of the Beijing Olympics played a near fl awless medals. and Wang Xiaoli were among before, admitted she had been play the last two days,” he said. to punish Yu and Wang, but game to stun Austrian sisters Doris and Stefanie Schwaiger, who fi n- His players delivered. eight players disqualifi ed for carrying a heavy load. “Especially the doubles gold — said the gold shows China is ished fi ft h in 2008, in 41 minutes as the enthusiastic crowd in a packed Li, the Chinese badminton trying to lose games in an “The pressure was much it was one of our target before still the best, even aft er losing Horse Guard Parade venue cheered in awe. coach, who has been attacked attempt to secure a better bigger than playing in the the Games. After the No 1 its top players. “We played great tonight and the Schwaigers didn’t play their best,” the past few days for his game- draw for the knockout stage mixed doubles,” said Zhao, pair’s disqualifi cation, I know “It’s too cruel to them,” she said China’s right-hand defender Xue, the younger of the duo. throwing tactics in the wom- of the women’s doubles. whose pair was not favored all the global attention was on said. “It’s not easy to prepare “Th e game was much harder than what it looked like. We know en’s doubles group match, was Th e burden of winning gold to win the women’s doubles this match. I’m so glad we were for an Olympics. Th e doubles each other well. To confi ne our attacks with powerful service, that’s the more thrilled than anyone was passed on to Zhao Yunlei aft er losing to a Danish team able to make it.” (medals) should be shared by way they play with us all the time. We know that and so we paid more aft er China scored an unprec- and Tian Qing. in a group match. “I was Another piece of good news them.” attention to receiving, and it worked,” said Zhang. Th e fi rst set was close with the Schwaigers scoring fi rst and leading at 5-2 before the Chinese rallied to tie 5-5 and took the lead for good at 9-8. Th e Chinese then built a four-point lead at 18-14 only to see the AMATEUR PLAYERS TO GET SHARE OF THE SPOTLIGHT Austrians close in 19-18. However, the Schwaigers wasted their chance to pull back as they committed two out-of-court spikes to surrender China’s national badmin- best amateurs from China scale that is usually reserved the set 18-21. ton team won’t get a break and Britain on Monday in for badminton’s elite. Th e Chinese dominated in the second set as they soon jumped to after the London Games. It Westminster, London. The English team will be 14-7 before pulling away for the victory. is due to show up at the Red The fi nal features a team the winner of the Premier A “Th e Chinese team are really good and they gave us no chance in the Bull Badminton Tournament from Northern China and league. second set. we learned a lot of experience from the games, though I’m fi nal to cheer on some of the one from Southern China, Badminton England com- a little bit sad,” said Doris Schwaiger. the two best amateur teams mercial director Fiona Young PROVIDED TO CHINA DAILY Xue and Zhang will face the defending champions American Misty after months of preliminary said it will use the compe- May-Treanor and Kerri Walsh, who beat the Italian team of Greta Amateur badminton players and knockout stages in the tition as an opportunity to from China and Britain Cicolari and Marta Menegatti.

Load more

  1

Copy Link