Tokyo Olympics: Cao Yuan earns redemption and a piece of diving history for China with 10m platform gold

The 26-year-old becomes first diver to win gold in three events, and second to medal in all four Olympic competitions

Tom Daley threatens to be thorn in his side again, but Briton settles for bronze this time as Cao outduels teammate Yang Jian

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China’s Cao Yuan celebrates with his coach after winning gold in the men’s 10m platform final at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games. Photo: DPA

Published: 5:10pm, 7 Aug 2021Updated: 7:52pm, 7 Aug 2021

China has been making plenty of history at the Tokyo Olympics, and diver Cao Yuan added the latest chapter with his 10m diving platform final triumph on Saturday.

The 26-year-old scored an overall total of 582.35 points, outduelling teammate Yang Jian for the gold meal by just 1.95 points at the Tokyo Aquatics Centre,

He had to earn it, for sure, performing a final dive which scored 10s from two of the judges, and 9.5s from the rest.

The victory provides some redemption for Cao, whose silver in the 10m synchro platform final with Chen Aisen brought an early end to China’s big hopes of an unprecedented diving clean sweep in Tokyo.

Cao Yuan celebrates with his gold medal. Photo: Reuters

Britain’s Tom Daley had denied Cao and Chen gold alongside Matty Lee on July 26, beating the Chinese pair by another slim margin of just 1.23 points.

Daley threatened to be a thorn in Cao’s side again, leading at the halfway stage after three successive 90-plus points scores.