Daley comes seventh in Olympic diving final
Saturday, 23 Aug 2008 16:12
Daley did well to reach the final of the competition
British teenager Tom Daley has finished seventh in the men's Olympic 10m diving final which was won by Australia's Matthew Mitcham.
Daley started with his most difficult dive, an inward 2.5 somersaults with 1.5 twists, which earned him a score of 81.60.
He was in fourth position after that dive but although he executed his other dives well he could not compete with the difficulty the other divers were able to add.
China's Zhou Luxin looked set to win gold and allow the host nation to win gold in every diving event but messed up his final dive to allow Mitcham the chance to win.
The Australian grasped the opportunity, scoring a massive 112.10 on his final dive to beat Zhou by four points.
Bronze was taken by Russian world champion Gleb Galperin with 525.80 points, 12 points adrift of Mitcham.
Despite finishing in seventh Daley remains optimistic about his chances of getting a medal at the London Games in four years' time.
He told the BBC: "I've gained loads of experience in Beijing - this has been a big bonus going into 2012 as I now know what the Olympics are like.
"I'm going to work on some harder dives and increasing my tariffs so I can be more competitive."
Daley says he hopes the experience will also help him do better in the World Championships in September.