Olympic: Zakharov breaks Chinese dominance for diving gold

Olympic: Zakharov breaks Chinese dominance for diving gold London: Ilya Zakharov of Russia took diving gold in the men`s three-metre springboard Tuesday, breaking 20 years of Chinese dominance in the event.

The 21-year-old had the most difficult programme and snatched the gold medal from China`s Qin Kai with his sixth dive, a forward four-and-a-half somersault, for 104.50 points to total 555.90. Qin Kai notched up 541.75 points, leaving his compatriot and Beijing gold medalist He Chong with the bronze medal. Britain`s 19-year-old Chris Mears performed the second-best dive for 100.7 points but couldn`t manage higher than ninth. Zakharov added this gold medal to the silver that he won in three-metre synchronised springboard competition with Evgeny Kuznetsov. He is the first non-Chinese diver to win the event since Mark Lenzi of the US won it at Barcelona 1992. China wrapped up all four gold medals in synchronised diving. IANS