China goes 4-for-4 in diving golds

London, England – China is 4-for-4 in diving at the London Olympics.

Qin Kai and Luo Yutong won the men's synchronized 3-meter springboard at the Aquatics Centre on Wednesday, taking the lead on their first dive and pulling off the hardest combination of the competition with their fifth.

Russia's Ilya Zakharov and Evgeny Kuznetsov were second and Americans Troy Dumais and Kristian Ipsen won bronze for the third U.S. diving medal here.

Canada's Alexandre Despatie and Reuben Ross were fifth.

Qin and Luo finished with 477.00 points, 17.37 more than the Russians and 30.30 ahead of Dumais and Ipsen.

The Chinese, after winning all eight events at worlds and 13 of the previous 16 Olympic gold medals entering London, are halfway to a sweep here. Qin was asked if winning was easy.

"No it wasn't," he replied. "This is the Olympic Games and I was very nervous."

Americans, meanwhile, are experiencing a rebirth.

After being shutout in the last two Olympics, they have medaled in three of the four events.

Kelci Bryant and Abigail Johnston captured silver in the women's synchro springboard and David Boudia and Nicholas McCrory won bronze in the men's synchro platform.

Dumais, who joined Greg Louganis as the only American man to dive in four Olympics, won his first career medal.

"It's really been a dream," he said. "I competed in Sydney in 2000 and at Athens 2004 with my brother (Justin), which didn't go so well, so this medal is also for my brother. I thought about him."

He and Ipsen scored their biggest numbers on a reverse 2 1/2 somersault with 1 1/2 twists, getting 90.09 on their fourth dive, and were second behind the Chinese.

But Qin and Luo put up 104.88 on their fifth dive, a forward 4 1/2 somersault with a 3.8 degree of difficulty, and the Russians closed with the same dive for 100.32 points to take the silver.