Jessica Parratto and Delaney Schnell made history on the third day of Diving finals at the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games. The pair became the first U.S. women to take home a medal in the event since it was introduced into the Olympics in 2005.

The closely contested event saw the pair start in 7^th following their first dive despite scoring 7.5’s and 8’s on the dive, with only a 5 point spread between second and seventh place. For the team, consistency was the name of the game as they moved into 6^th the next round and fourth in the following, now only 1 point out of medal contention. By the time Parratto and Schnell went into the final round of dives, they had propelled themselves to second place only following China’s Zhang Jiaqi and Chen Yuxi.

All eight teams performed the same dive in the last round, a back 2 ½ somersaults 1 ½ twists piked, Parratto and Jessica went third, nailing the dives for 7’s, 7.5’s and 8’s for a total score of 78.72 on the dive. After Mexico and Japan’s teams, who were ranked third and fourth going into the final rounds, completed their dives and Team USA remained on top, it became apparent that a medal was a reality. At the end of the round, not only did Parratto and Schnell have the second highest scoring dive, but they also more importantly etched their names into history as the first U.S. females to earn a medal in the 10-meter synchronized event at the Olympic Games.

Parratto and Schnell had only made the decision to dive together shortly before the 2020 Olympic Team Trials- Diving began and earned their spot to the Olympics with only weeks of training together. This marks the first medal for both Parratto, who also competed in the 2016 Rio Olympics, and Schnell, who will go on to compete in the Individual 10 Meter competition later in the Games.

Athlete quotes:

Delaney Schnell

On being behind after the first two rounds:

“For me I think it’s just remembering take it one dive at a time, every dive counts. So, even if you miss, there’s four more dives.”

On the first US medal

“This is my first Olympics and first event in the Olympics so I really tried to not have expectations and just enjoy every moment and take it all in I went into this event very confident and the nerves just weren’t really there and I was like ‘I have a really good feeling about this’ and Jess did too and honestly it just happened.”

On preparing with Jess for Olympic Trials on such short notice

“It really just took a lot of faith in each other and trust and each other and I think that’s what really helped it pay off.”

Jessica Parratto

On being behind after the first two rounds:

“I’m not a scoreboard watcher, but I knew that we were a little behind after the vols [voluntary dives], but I almost feel like that’s what kind of lit my fire under me. I knew that we could do really good optionals so I wasn’t concerned about it, and I think I just tried to keep going dive-by-dive not letting anything affect me that was in the past and I honestly feel like that is what propelled us forward.”

On coming away with the Silver

“I feel like this event is always so close. There’s always that team almost fighting to get a bronze so that was kind of what my mindset was, but to come away with a silver is just mind-blowing honestly and it just goes to show that if you stay focused and confident, anything can happen. I just couldn’t be more pleased with today.”

Adding to Delaney regarding first U.S. Medal

“I honestly will say I have never woken up for a meet feeling so calm and ready to go. I didn’t even wake up having the nerves until kind of the nervousness happened right before we started competing but that was a good sign honestly to me knowing that I felt as confident as I did that we knew we could hit our dives.”

Follow @USADiving on Twitter for up-to-date information on the U.S. Olympic Diving Team in Tokyo.

For broadcast information on the upcoming events, visit: https://www.teamusa.org/USA-Diving/News/2021/July/22/Tune-into-Diving-in-Tokyo

To learn more about the 2020 U.S. Olympic Diving Team, visit: https://www.teamusa.org/USA-Diving/2020-Olympic-Diving-Team

For media inquiries, please e-mail Kelly Fox at kelly@usadiving.org

Parratto and Schnell Take Silver and Earn Historic First U.S. Olympic Medal in Women’s 10 Meter Synchro

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