By Kane Wu
PARIS (Reuters) – The roars of the crowd in the Paris Olympic aquatics centre were so loud, China’s Chen Yiwen and Chang Yani nearly missed the cue to head out to perform their first dive in the women’s 3-metre synchronised springboard event, which they eventually won.
The pair, who were the first to compete in the event, had a little exchange amid the cheers and clapping from the spectators, many waving Chinese flags, before they walked to the edge of the boards and launched their dive.
China is gunning to capture all eight women’s Olympic diving golds at the Games and the fans were out in force, making up the bulk of the crowd.
“The spectators were cheering so loud that we missed it when they announced our first dive routine,” Chen told reporters after the event on Saturday. “Then we heard the whistle. We were a bit confused if it was time for us to start off.”
“So I asked her (Chang) and we kept looking for instruction from the referee,” she said.
The pair went on to a neat execution of a back dive in a pike position, scoring 52.80 points to take the lead.
Chen and Chang were the event’s favourite, having won three consecutive world titles from 2022 to 2024.
(Reporting by Kane Wu; Editing by Alison Williams)
Disclaimer: This report is auto generated from the Reuters news service. ThePrint holds no responsibilty for its content.