PARIS: China has made diving history by winning all eight golds on offer at the Paris Olympics, but the team has faced some of its strongest opponents in years as the rest of the world catches up in both difficulty and execution of dives.
Three of China's gold medallists in the individual events retained the titles they first won in Tokyo in 2021.
Quan Hongchan, after winning gold in Tokyo at the age of 14, wowed the Paris audience with a perfect score dive in the women's 10-metre platform final on her way to beating teammate Chen Yuxi.
The pair also won the synchronised event by a huge margin.
Twenty-nine-year-old Cao Yuan and 28-year-old Xie Siyi did not disappoint their country, even as teammates made mistakes, by continuing their victories in men's 10-metre platform and 3-metre springboard events.
Chen Yiwen, 25, in her Olympic debut landed two golds in women's synchronised and individual 3-metre springboard events.
"I think if you ask anybody, they know that China is the best and it's almost expected of them to win golds. I feel like that must be a lot of pressure for them, but for them to finally get the clean sweep to win eight gold medals is, in my eyes, what they deserve at every Olympics almost," said Britain's Noah Williams, who came second in the men's synchronised 10-metre platform with Tom Daley and third in the individual event.
Cao is China's second diver to win gold in four consecutive Olympics after Wu Minxia, who bagged golds from Athens in 2004 all the way to Rio de Janeiro in 2016.
He is also the first Chinese diver since Fu Mingxia to have won both the 3-metre springboard and 10-metre platform events.
China's wins were not all plain sailing, however. In men's events, Japan's Rikuto Tamai and Mexican Osmar Olvera emerged as their biggest threats, both delivering exceptional performances and no doubt eyeing gold in four years' time.
"We did see a new batch of challengers emerge," said Ma Jin, Olvera's Chinese coach. "They were not mature at this Olympics. Give them some time. They might really grow to be able to fight China for medals in the next one."
Some of China's opponents were also pushing for harder dives in competition, hoping that risk-taking might bring about surprises.
Australia's Maddison Keeney performed the hardest dive in women's 3-metre springboard to secure the second place on the podium.
Mexico's Randal Willars, who came fifth in the 10-metre platform final, was the only diver who executed a forward four and a half somersaults in pike position, the hardest routine yet on the platform. --REUTERS