February 21, 2008

Dumais places fourth in men's 3-meter finals; U.S. earns Olympic berth in women's 10-meter synchro

BEIJING – Troy Dumais (Ventura, Calif.) placed fourth in the men’s 3-meter finals and the U.S. earned an Olympic berth in women’s synchronized 10-meter Thursday at the Good Luck Beijing/FINA Diving World Cup.

Dumais totaled 500.85 points, highlighted by back-to-back dives that earned straight 9.0 marks from the judges. He scored 83.70 points in a front 3 ½ in the second round and followed with 91.80 points on a front 2 1/2 with 2 twists in round three. China’s He Chong took the gold with 530.30, and China’s Qin Kai narrowly edged Mexico’s Yahel Castillo for silver, 515.30-515.00.

USA ’s Chris Colwill (Brandon, Fla.) was eighth at 463.85.

In the women’s 10-meter synchro contest, Haley Ishimatsu (Seal Beach, Calif.) and Mary Beth Dunnichay (Elwood, Ind.) placed eighth with 309.06 points to qualify the U.S. for an Olympic berth. In order to earn the U.S. a spot, the two teens had to finish in the top four among the countries that had not already qualified for the Olympics, but with only one round to go, they were in 10 th place. Ishimatsu and Dunnichay came up strong with 80.58 points on their last dive – a back 2 ½ with 1 ½ twists – to move into eighth place and grab what ended up being the last qualifying spot on that event.

China ’s Chen Ruolin and Wang Xin won the gold with 375.66 points, followed by Canada, Australia and Germany. Those four countries had already qualified at the 2007 World Championships, so the teams finishing fifth through eighth place at the World Cup earned the last four spots. Mexico, North Korea, and Great Britian will round of the field of eight in Beijing in August.

The U.S. has now earned nine of possible 12 Olympic berths. Friday’s World Cup competition features women’s individual 3-meter and men’s synchronized 10-meter, and the U.S. has already qualified its spots for those events. However, the U.S. must still qualify two spots in men’s individual 10-meter and one in women’s synchronized 3-meter. Those events will be contested Saturday and Sunday.

The qualifying spots are earned for the United States, not the divers themselves. The U.S. Olympic Team Trials – Diving will be held June 18-22 in Indianapolis, followed by a selection camp July 2-6 in Knoxville, Tenn.

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