August 16, 2004
Divers claim first medal
ATHENS -- Canada is on the board at the Olympics, thanks to a bronze medal Monday from synchronized divers Emilie Heymans and Blythe Hartley.
Heymans, from St-Lambert, Que., and Hartley, from North Vancouver, will both go after more medals in their individual diving events later in the Games.
''I'm very overjoyed and I was just happy that my family is here watching and happy to share the podium with Emilie,'' said Hartley. ''The coaches were thrilled and I'm very happy that they're happy.''
Chinese teenagers Lishi Lao and Ting Li won the gold and Russians Natalia Goncharova and Yulia Koltunova the silver.
Heymans, from St-Lambert, Que., and Hartley, of North Vancouver, previously finished seventh in the synchro springboard.
The Canadian pair finished with a score of 327.788. Lishi and Ting finished first with a score of 352.14, while Goncharova and Koltunova of Russia recorded 340.92 points.
''I'm very overjoyed,'' said Hartley. ''I'm just happy to share the moment with my family and share the moment with Emilie.''
Both divers have better chances at medals in their individual events - Heymans in the 10-metre and Hartley in springboard.
It was a morale booster for the Canadian divers who had yet to hit the podium in early diving events.
''I feel like we really needed this event because they were kind of down after the first day,'' Mitch Geller, head coach for Canada's diving team, told the CBC.
''I think this is a real boost that will get everybody up for the individual events,'' he added.
The 10-metre synchro event was a warmup for Heymans, the world champion in the individual event. The preliminary round of the women's tower starts Friday.
Heymans won a silver in the same synchro event four years ago in Sydney with a different partner.
In another synchronized event, the men's three-metre dive, Nikolaos Siranidis and Thomas Bimis won the host country's first gold medal.
The unexpected gold for Greece came as Siranidis and Bimis earned a final-round score of 83.64 points with an inward 3 1/2 somersault tuck and finished with 353.34.
The Greeks benefited from three major surprises - a flop by the favored Chinese team, which had a 12-point lead entering the final round; a knock on the springboard by Russian specialist Dmitry Sautin; and a terrible landing by the American duo that was in second position before the final round.
Andreas Wels and Tobias Schellenberg of Germany won the silver medal with 350.01 and Robert Newbery and Steven Barnett of Australia got the bronze with 349.59.
put on line by SVP
