China

China, Russia dominating swimming worlds

(AP)
Updated: 2007-03-24 09:07

China's gold medalist Qin Kai is flanked by Canada's silver medalist Alexandre Despatie (L) and Russia's bronze medalist Dmitry Sautin following the men's 3-metre springboard diving competition at the World Aquatic Championships in Melbourne March 23, 2007. [Reuters]

MELBOURNE, Australia - The most frequently heard music at the world swimming championships are a couple of ditties from China and Russia. Those national anthems are on a seemingly endless loop halfway through the 16-day competition.

China hasn't missed a beat at the indoor pool in Albert Park, where its divers are undefeated in six events.

Russia's song is on near constant playback at Rod Laver Arena, where its synchronized swimmers have hauled in five of six golds.

"We like the competition and we like the fight because we can prove that our hard work paid off," said Anastasia Davydova, who teamed with Anastasia Ermakova to win the duet free Friday night.

Russia leads the medal standings with 14, including eight gold. China is second with eight medals, six of them gold.

The United States has barely registered a peep, with only a bronze in synchronized swimming.

But that should change starting Sunday when swimming begins. The Americans arrived in Melbourne on Friday and got their first chance to take a few laps in the temporary pool at Rod Laver Arena.

"It's great," breaststroker Ian Crocker said. "I can't wait to see it when the seats are filled and they've got all the lights on."

A string of perfect 10s lit up the scoreboard during the men's 3-meter springboard final, but they didn't belong to the Chinese.

That was the only surprise in diving.

Russia's Dmitry Sautin achieved perfection on his next-to-last dive with seven 10s from the judges. But it wasn't good enough to change the results.

Qin Kai of China defeated defending champion Alexandre Despatie of Canada for the men's title after China's He Zi won the women's 1-meter springboard over two-time champion Blythe Hartley of Canada.

Despatie, who swept the 1- and 3-meter titles in Montreal two years ago, couldn't make up enough points on his last dive. He edged Sautin by 1.58 points for the silver.

Sautin, a two-time champion and the old man of the competition at 33, received 10s from all seven judges on his fifth dive, a reverse 2 1/2 somersault from the pike position.

"I heard there were lots of people screaming after his dive," Qin said about Sautin's perfect marks. "It was great, but China is not bad, too."

Qin earned two 10s on his final dive, having taken the lead from teammate He Chong after two rounds. Qin finished with 545.35 points.

Qin climbed out of the pool, did his traditional bow to the crowd and pumped his right fist knowing he had claimed his second gold in Melbourne. Qin and Wang Feng won the 3-meter synchronized title.

He Chong, the 1-meter silver medalist here, saved the hardest dive of the final for last — a forward 2 1/2 somersault with three twists. His marks ranged from 7.5 to 9.0, but it wasn't enough to make up for badly missing his fourth dive. He ended up sixth.

American Troy Dumais was seventh, failing to match the silver medal he won two years ago. He was fourth going into the last round.

"I didn't do my last dive like I needed to," he said. "That's usually one of my best dives and I didn't perform it as well as I can. If I'd gotten 9s on that, I'd be 30 points higher and that would put me in third place."

In the women's final, He won with 316.65 points — 5.45 better than Hartley, who was the champion two years in Montreal and in 2001 in Fukuoka, Japan.

Yuliya Pakhalina of Russia took the bronze with 304.60.

He, a 16-year-old diving in her second major international meet, overtook Hartley for first place on her fourth dive. He's reverse 2 1/2 somersault received 72.00 points — her highest score of the five-dive final. The dive had a 3.0 degree of difficulty, and along with her third dive worth 3.1, He pulled off the toughest two dives of the final.

He made her international debut last December at the Asian Games and won a silver medal, but she looked like a veteran against her older competition in the non-Olympic event.

"She is a girl who was absolutely fantastic," Hartley said. "I have a lot of respect for her."

Hartley led through three rounds and earned mostly 8.5s for her fourth dive. But He, diving last, did the more difficult dive, which propelled her into the lead for good.

American Allison Brennan was never in contention and finished last among six divers.

Also at Albert Park, the U.S. women's water polo team defeated Greece 8-6 to finish group play with a 3-0 record. Erika Lorenz scored two goals and goalkeeper Elizabeth Armstrong made eight saves for the Americans.

In the synchro duet free, Davydova and Ermakova won with 99.333 points, well ahead of the Spanish team of Gemma Civil Mengual and Paola Sanchez Tirados, who had 97.667. Japan's Ayako Matsumura and Emiko Suzuki took the bronze.

Americans Christina Jones and Andrea Nott finished fifth.