Aussie black horse spoils China's dream of diving gold sweep

Matthew Mitcham of Australia performs a dive during Men's 10m Platform Final of Beijing 2008 Olympic Games diving event in Beijing, China, Aug. 23, 2008. Matthew Mitcham claimed the gold of the event. (Xinhua/Liu Yu)


Aussie Matthew Mitcham outscored top favorite Zhou Luxin at the last second in the men's platform final of the Beijing Olympics, spoiling China's dream of a clean sweep of all Olympic diving golds for the first time in over 50 years.

Mitcham trailed Zhou in the first five dives, but still over 30 points behind before the last attempt.

However, he nailed an unbelievable back two-and-a-half somersault and two-and-a-half twists, with a 3.8 degree of difficulty, achieving four perfect 10s to outscore Zhou who made a glitch in his last attempt.

The World No. 3 compiled a total of 537.95 points to bag the gold.

Zhou, winner of the 2006 World Cup and second of the 2007 World Championships, was left a silver medal with 533.15 points.

World champion Gleb Galperin of Russia settled for the bronze with 525.80.