By Kane Wu
PARIS (Reuters) – Columbian Daniel Restrepo attempted the hardest dive yet at the Olympic Games on Tuesday in the men’s 3-metre springboard preliminary round.
In his fifth dive, Restrepo launched himself to forward four and a half somersaults in a pike position – a routine that has a difficulty level of 4.2.
Restrepo, 24, told Reuters after the event he was the first person to have attempted such a difficult dive on the springboard in a competition.
“The dive is really really, really hard. If you want do the dive, you need strong preparation and dedication and discipline,” he said.
“But I think the hurdle is in the mind, and if you believe in yourself you can do it,” he added.
China’s Wang Zongyuan, who finished top in the preliminaries, had his hardest dive at a difficulty level of 3.9. Some of Wang’s strongest competitors, including Britain’s Jack Laugher and Mexican Osmar Olvera, also stopped at 3.9.
Chinese diver Yang Jian, who won a silver medal in the men’s 10-metre platform event in Tokyo three years ago, had the same routine – coded 109B – in his programme. For platform divers, that routine has a lower difficulty level of 4.1.
Restrepo started practising the routine four or five months ago, encouraged by his coach.
“In the moment I felt easy, but when I started train with five repeats it is hard… But this is the coolest part of the competition. I now feel good,” he said.
Despite being the first to attempt a most difficult dive, Restrepo’s overall execution wasn’t competitive enough for him to qualify.
“I could do better. The trial before this competition is very, very hard. You thought about dreams, objectives… but life is difficult sometimes,” said Restrepo, who ended up 20th, missing out the semi-final by 2 places to conclude his second Olympic journey.
“But we have an advantage. We will have our revenge,” he said.
Restrepo ranked 17th place in the 3-metre springboard event in the Tokyo Games three years ago on his Olympic debut.
(Reporting by Kane Wu; Editing by Christian Radnedge)
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