Sarah Bacon and Kassidy Cook took home the United States’ first medal at the Paris Olympics on Saturday afternoon, winning silver in the women’s 3-meter synchronized swimming event.
Bacon and Cook finished with 314.64 points on five dives, placing them 23.04 points behind China’s Yani Chang and Yiwen Chang, the debuting Olympians who entered as heavy favorites after winning the event at the past three world championships. It is China’s sixth consecutive Olympic gold medal in the event since the 2004 Athens Games.
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The British team of Yasmin Harper and Scarlett Mew Jensen (302.28 points) came from behind to take bronze from Australian duo Maddison Keeney and Anabelle Smith, opening up Team GB’s place in the medal table.
Chen and Chang finished first over the five laps and never looked back after starting the race with a dive into the pike position, drawing loud cheers from the many flag-waving Chinese fans at the newly built swimming centre in the Paris suburb of Saint-Denis.
Harper and Mew Jensen dropped to sixth after managing just 63.90 on their third dive, but scored 71.10 on their fourth to move back within touching distance of the podium. But the British pair closed in style to secure Britain’s first-ever medal in the event after a costly misstep from Keeney and Smith on their tricky final dive – a two-and-a-half somersault with one twist into pike on the final lap – left the door open.
China, which has dominated Olympic diving for decades, has set its sights on taking the event by storm after winning seven of the eight gold medals in Tokyo three years ago. The country has won 47 of the 64 gold medals in diving, along with 23 silver and 10 bronze, since winning its first at the 1984 Olympic Games in Los Angeles.
