China’s Wu Minxia, on Sunday, won her third Olympic gold medal in a row in the women’s synchronised 3m springboard.
Wu and her partner He Zi scored 346.50 points to finish 24.30 points ahead of the US pair of Abigail Johnston and Kelci Bryant. Emilie Heymans and Jennifer Abel took bronze for Canada, edging out Italy. Brussels-born Heymans became the first woman diver to win medals at four consecutive Games.
Wu and He, considered the best female divers in the world, won the gold medal at the world championships in Shanghai last year and also finished first and second respectively in the individual event.
The gold medal sees Wu join her former partner Guo Jingjing and Russian Yulia Pakhlina with most medals (three) from the event, and takes her total medal count to five — just one short of Guo’s record of six.
The victory in the 50th medal event in women’s diving at the Olympic Games, gives China the ideal start as it attempts to better its medal haul from Beijing, where it won seven of the eight medals on offer.
