Bill Beacon

MONTREAL (CP) - A sparse crowd turned out for diving on Monday, but Blythe Hartley rode their energy to a gold medal.

Hartley, of North Vancouver, executed five near-perfect dives from the one-metre springboard to win Canada's first gold medal of the FINA world aquatic championships. "The crowd was amazing," Hartley said of the fewer than 1,000 spectators at the Ile Ste-Helene pool, who nonetheless let off a roar with each of her dives. "I could hear them when I came up out of the water.

"I was quite nervous all day. I get nervous when there's a big crowd and during the finals, everyone was doing such great dives. I didn't know I had the ability to get high scores so I just focused on my technique and it worked out well."

Hartley finished with 325.65 points, easily beating the 299.70 of silver medallist Min Xia Wu of China, who won two medals at the 2004 Olympics in Athens. Germany's Heike Fischer was third with 299.46.

The gold was a surprise, even though it was Hartley's third straight world championship medal on the one-metre board. She won the event at the 2001 world championships in Fukuoka, Japan (with 300.81 points), and took the bronze at the 2003 event in Barcelona.

"In Fukuoka it was a shock," she said. "I went in with no expectations or pressure.

"In Barcelona, I didn't dive my best so I was fortunate to win a medal. This is definitely the most memorable win because it's in the home country. It's just amazing."

And it came a day after Roseline Filion of Laval, Que., and Meaghan Benfeito of Montreal won a surprise bronze medal in women's three-metre synchronized diving.

"Watching them perform so well was really inspiring," said Hartley, whose mother Mary-Ann flew in overnight from Victoria to see her win gold. "Seeing replays of them gave me goosebumps while I was warming up.

"We're off to a really good start. Hopefully it will keep going. All the Canadian athletes are excited that the world championships are in Montreal and hopefully it will give us a boost and we'll keep going."

And Canada's top two divers - Alexandre Despatie of Laval, Que., and Emilie Heymans of St-Lambert, Que., - have yet to perform.

Organizers have announced a sellout for Tuesday night at the 4,000-seat diving pool for the men's three-metre final featuring Despatie. Heymans is in the 10-metre platform event on Wednesday.

Hartley will also compete in the women's three-metre competition Friday.

Hartley won bronze in synchronized diving with Heymans at the 2004 Olympics, but the pair split up when Hartley opted to return to her studies in communications at the University of Southern California.

Hartley wasn't expecting big results in Montreal, largely because of post-Olympic letdown. Also, the one-metre is not an Olympic event and she didn't train in it at all last year.

But she took up the low board again at USC and perfected her dives in two months of training in Victoria before the world championships.

"The fact that I performed so well is kind of a shock to me," she said. "Sometimes having the attitude to just go and give all you have because you have nothing to lose helps you in the end. It helped me."

It was a nearly flawless day. She had one weak dive during the preliminary round but still finished first. She was first again in the semifinals.

After her first dive in the final, she was tied for the lead with Fischer, but then she pulled away so much that only a belly flop on her final dive - a reverse 1.5 twist, 1.5 somersault - could have kept her from winning. Instead, she aced it.

"I don't think I've ever been that consistent," she said. "And I'm pleased that it got better as the day went on."

Her Victoria-based coach Trevor Palmatier was impressed.

"What surprised me the most was the energy with which she was diving," said Palmatier. "She was buoyed by the crowd."

Fischer was asked later if she thought the Canadians were getting hometown judging. No, she said.

"To dive in the hometown is very good," said Fischer. "Everybody is behind you.

"Sometimes you dive better. It's a better feeling."

Martha Dale of Edmonton finished 11th in the preliminaries but just missed qualifying for the final.

Dale was in third place in her qualifying group after three dives but landed flat on her fourth dive, a reverse 1.5 pike, and dropped to fifth. She couldn't recover enough with a solid final dive.

"It's a little disappointing missing one dive like that," said Dale. "You always want to hit five out of five. I've been able to do it in the past.

"My takeoff was a bit off. I didn't get the amount of rotation I needed and just landed a little short. In one-metre, you don't have time in the air to correct any faults you make on the takeoff so a little off in the takeoff ends up a little off in the bottom."

Dale was pleased to be in the top 12 in the world at her first world championships.

"It's my first worlds, so I had no idea where to place myself," she said. "I've always been fairly strong on the one-metre.

"It's always great to say you're top 12 in the world in something. Hopefully next time I'll hit five out of five and see where I really place."

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