Perfect 10s: China’s Quan dominates for diving gold

Quan Hongchan of China competes Thursday in the women’s diving 10m platform final at the Tokyo Aquatics Centre. Quan, who won the gold medal, earned perfect 10s for her second and fourth dives in the five-round competition. (AP Photo/Dmitri Lovetsky)
TOKYO (AP) —
- Quan Hongchan of China competes Thursday in the women’s diving 10m platform final at the Tokyo Aquatics Centre. Quan, who won the gold medal, earned perfect 10s for her second and fourth dives in the five-round competition. (AP Photo/Dmitri Lovetsky)
- Delaney Schnell of United States competes Thursday in the women’s diving 10m platform final at the Tokyo Aquatics Centre at the Summer Olympics. Schnell, a native of Iron Mountain, placed fifth. (AP Photo/Dmitri Lovetsky)
And in some ways, it was.
China’s divers are programmed from an early age to strive for perfection. The 14-year-old Quan Hongchan delivered it with two of her five dives in a dominant performance to claim the gold medal in women s 10-meter platform at the Tokyo Olympics on Thursday.
All seven judges gave Quan perfect 10s for her second and fourth dives in the five-round competition.
With IOC President Thomas Bach watching at the Tokyo Aquatics Center, Quan ended with 466.20 points to win by a massive margin. Her Chinese teammate Chen Yuxi claimed the silver medal with 425.40 points.

Delaney Schnell of United States competes Thursday in the women’s diving 10m platform final at the Tokyo Aquatics Centre at the Summer Olympics. Schnell, a native of Iron Mountain, placed fifth. (AP Photo/Dmitri Lovetsky)
The 15-year-old Chen won the 10-meter platform title at the 2019 world championships and also took gold at these Games in the 10-meter synchro with teammate Zhang Jiaqi. But Quan — the youngest member of China’s Olympic team in Tokyo — is performing at another level.
It marked the fourth consecutive Olympics in which China has won every single women’s diving event.
Melissa Wu of Australia won the bronze with 371.40 points for the second medal of her Olympic career.
The 29-year-old Wu, who was competing at her fourth Olympics, won a silver in 10-meter synchro at the 2008 Beijing Games with Briony Cole.
Gabriela Garcia Agundez of Mexico finished fourth and Delaney Schnell of the United States finished fifth.
Schnell, a native of Iron Mountain and a student at the University of Arizona, earlier won a silver medal in 10-meter synchro with diving partner Jessica Parratto.







