Wu equals record

LONDON – China’s Wu Minxia won the women’s 3m springboard diving gold medal to draw level with Guo Jingjing as the most-decorated diver at the Olympics with six medals Sunday.

World champion Wu, 26, totalled 414.00 points from her five dives to beat teammate He Zi (379.20) and Mexico’s Laura Sanchez (362.40).

Wu’s victory was China’s fifth gold medal from five events as it attempts an unprecedented sweep of all eight diving medals in London.

China won seven out of eight diving events at the Beijing Games four years ago, having won all 10 diving golds at last year’s Shanghai world championships.

Wu, who won the synchronized 3m springboard with He on the opening day of the competition, has now the 3m synchro gold medal three times and is an Olympic bronze medallist from Beijing 2008. She also has a silver from Athens 2004.

Her successes come just days after a Chinese newspaper revealed her parents had kept the death of her grandparents and her mother’s struggle with cancer from the champion diver in order not to distract her preparations for the London Games.

“I think it’s not only Chinese athletes who are separated from their families, parents seldom come to our training base, however we are like a big family, we train together from different bases.

“Maybe there is some distance from your real family, however the distance will stop us feeling they are not beside us and their support.

“Now there is the technology where we can ring every day and I feel lots of care from my family all the time. I choose to be a diver, so I will pursue this goal and fulfil my dream.” — Reuters