SELF-CONFIDENCE KEY AS CAO BAGS FOURTH OLYMPIC TITLE
Britain’s bronze medallist Williams says Chinese dominance will continue ‘as far as I can see into the future’
Diver Cao Yuan said he was always “confident” that China would challenge the United States for bragging rights as the two fierce rivals went head to head in the battle for most gold medals in Paris.
On Saturday, Cao claimed a fourth gold from four Games to cement his legacy as one of China’s greatest Olympians.
Cao’s success, coupled with women’s team table tennis gold, meant China won every medal available from both of those sports.
The Games concluded yesterday with both nations finishing on 40 gold medals. One of China’s golds came from Cao emphatically defending the men’s 10m platform title he won in Tokyo. It was expected that Cao would face stiff competition for gold from compatriot Yan Hao.
The 26-year-old world champion flopped, however, consistently fluffing his routines to finish last.
That left eventual silver medallist Rikuto Tamai of Japan to emerge as Cao’s main challenger.
The 17-year-old Tamai was immaculate, other than a scruffy fifth dive that increased the distance between the top two from 2.75 to 52.45 points.
Noah Williams of Great Britain, who took bronze, said he envisaged China hogging Olympic diving golds “for as far I can see into the future”.
Cao said he had been unflustered by the responsibility of completing the perfect diving set for China. He felt there were no mental scars from failing to win gold in the synchronised events in 2016 and 2021, both Games in which China won the other seven golds.
“I still won individual gold medals in those Games, and to defend [my title] … is a great honour,” Cao said.
“Every time I win a gold medal, I am really proud of myself.
“I didn’t think too much about the eight medals. I focused on myself, [but] I’m happy to help China gain the final gold [in diving]. It’s historic.
“My own performance was good, I am happy with training and my effort. I have experience, and overcame many challenges to make it to the Olympics. I always believe in myself, I am very confident.”
Cao won synchronised 10m platform gold on his Olympic debut in 2012. He added the individual men’s 3m springboard title in Rio four years later, before the successive 10m platform successes in Tokyo and Paris.
Teammate Yang, however, was nowhere near the level that secured him world gold in February.
He began well in the French capital, winning the 10m platform synchronised title with Lian Junjie. Competing alone, though, the Olympic debutant fell victim to stage fright.
“I think he was a little nervous or stressed at his first Olympics,” Cao said. “He’s not as experienced. Being calm is an important skill.”
Bronze medallist Williams said the lower podium places were likely to be as good as it gets for non-Chinese divers for a long time to come.
“They train better and harder than everybody else, and have amazing facilities,” Williams, 24, said.
“When we compete in China, the pools are incredible. They have multiple world and Olympic champions, so the training conditions must be perfect for them. When I train with [Great Britain’s 2021 Olympic champion] Tom Daley, it pushes me to be better.
“To even make the Chinese team is harder than winning the Olympics. For as far as I can see into the future, they will be winning gold.
“I am not saying it is impossible to beat them. But if you look at every World Championships and World Cup event, they always come out on top.”