The Olympics Blog » Diving

Matthew Mitcham Wins Gold, IOC to Look Into Allegations That He is "Young"

bill — Sat, 23 Aug 2008 19:48:00 +0000

Australia’s Matthew Mitcham just became China’s public enemy number one when he denied his hosts a clean sweep of the diving gold medals. If I am one of them Chinese authorities, I will start digging dirt on this guy to disqualify him so the gold medal will go to China.

In fact, I personally believe that this Matthew guy is is only eight years old and should therefore not be allowed to participate in the Olympics. Look at his facial hair for instance. It kinda looks fake, no? I think Australia, in its desperation to get a diving gold, pasted kangaroo hair on the face of this poor eight year old boy to make him look older. Boo Australia, you are sooo an age cheating country.

Photo credit: Jamie Squire via Beijing2008

More Olympic Medal Biting: China’s Qin Kai and Wang Feng

bill — Wed, 13 Aug 2008 12:38:00 +0000

Hah. Didn’t I tell you earlier that the art of medal biting lives on in the Olympics? Here’s the China’s synchronized divers Kai Qin and Wang Feng. Kai is biting his gold to test if it is authentic.

Seems like the Chinese divers are really going to win all the golds in diving, no?

Photo source: Nick Laham/Beijing2008

Guo Jingjing and Wu Minxia Make it Four Golds for China

bill — Sun, 10 Aug 2008 10:32:00 +0000

There’s really no stopping the Chinese in Olympic diving, no? As expected, the synchronized diving team of Guo Jingjing and Wu Minxia won China’s first Olympic medal for the sport. Expect Chinese divers to win more golds after this.

Our tally for the China vs. United States gold medal race so far: China = four vs. United States = two. [Note: The photo below is a file photo and is not from the Beijing Olympics.]
Photo credit: Al Bello via CBC and sportsphoto via beijing2008.

Olympic Diver Tom Daley

bill — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 11:39:00 +0000

British diver Tom Daley just might become the breakout star in the Beijing Olympics so we might as well start blogging about him. [Are you listening, Mr. Google? Har har.]

Anyways, here’s a picture of Tom during the British Academy Television Awards last April 2008. What does this mean? Maybe it means that the kid has cross-over appeal? He’s like a mainstream celebrity already.

Well, Tom, here’s a word of advice from an old coot: Don’t forget about the diving, okay? Be more like Maria Sharapova and less like Anna Kournikova.

Olympian to Watch: Britain’s Tom Daley

bill — Fri, 25 Apr 2008 23:30:00 +0000

Diver Tom Daley will be Great Britain’s second youngest male Olympian when he goes to Beijing this August. Tom is currently the British and European 10-meter platform champion.

How will he fare against the Chinese divers who’ve consistently come up on top in this event? Let’s wait and see what August will bring.

Bree Cole Reviews the Water Cube

bill — Mon, 21 Apr 2008 01:19:00 +0000

Probably the best people to review Beijing’s swimming stadium a.k.a the Water Cube are those who will be using it themselves. Here’s a feedback from Australian diver Bree Cole.

On the 15th of February I was off to China to dive at the World Cup in Beijing. I was really looking forward to competing in the Water Cube, which is the Beijing Olympic pool. The Australian team included: Mathew Helm, Matthew Mitcham, Chantelle Newbery, Robert Newbery, Scott Robertson, Sharleen Stratton, Loudy Wiggins, Melissa Wu and myself. I was competing in two events, 10m synchronised with Melissa and 3m synchronised with Sharleen.

The Water Cube is an amazing pool. The diving pool is great, so to was the warm up area. The bubbles of the water cube feel like a jumping castle, and at night when they turn the lights on it really looks spectacular. We had a few days of training before competition started.

Bree and her partner Melissa Wu placed third in their synchronized diving event. You can read Bree’s blog here.