Russia upsets China to diving gold

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Russia's Ilya Zakharov punctured China's diving dominance as he claimed gold the men's Olympic three-metre springboard.

Zakharov scored a total of 555.90 points in the Aquatics Centre to get the better of China's Qin Kai and world champion He Chong.
Qin scored 541.75 to take silver ahead of compatriot and defending Olympic champion He, who grabbed bronze with a total of 524.15.
The Russian diver went above 85.00 for each of his six dives and with his final forward four-and-a-half somersault scored 104.50 to leapfrog Qin.
The crowd was deafening as Zakharov's final numbers came up on the scoreboard, leaving the 21-year-old ecstatic.
"I just can't believe it as of now. I have done it finally," he said.
Zakharov dominated the qualifiers leading He by 6.75 points on Monday. But He was first in the semis pushing the Russian back into second place by a margin of 4.55 points.
Zakharov said: "I came second in the semis in the morning but I promised to myself that second place was simply not good enough.
"The last dive was my grand finale. I thank everyone here who has supported me in my ups and downs."
Zakharov earlier won a silver medal in the synchro springboard with partner Evgeny Kuznetsov.
"I have two medals now. But the gold feels special," he said.
Russia's win foiled China's plan to make a clean sweep of all eight diving golds in London after finishing with seven of eight golds in Beijing in 2008.
Qin, who had finished 11th in the prelims after missing one of his toughest dives, made a recovery in the final and crawled back to second place leaving compatriot He behind.
The 26-year-old scored a total of 541.75 points, 14.15 points behind Zakharov, and he was quick to acknowledge the gold medallist.
Qin said: "He dived excellently today. He has been in good form and is a wonderful competitor. He truly deserves to be an Olympic champion.
"His last dive was super. I applaud him for that."
Defending champion He had to be satisfied with the bronze as he was off to a poor start with his first back two-and-a-half somersault scoring a mere 72.00 points.
He said: "It's disappointing to end up in third place. I could have done way better.
"I am happy that China got silver and bronze. But when it comes to my individual performance, it hurts."