Chen Yuxi and Quan Hongchan are just teenagers, but both Chinese divers were already some of the most accomplished in the world coming into the Paris Olympics. Chen won gold in the women's synchronized 10m platform in the Tokyo Games while Quan won gold in the women's individual platform in Tokyo, setting an Olympic record.
As great as they are separately, they were equally as great together on Wednesday in Paris, tearing up the hearts of their competition. Eighteen-year-old Chen and 17-year-old Quan were perfectly in synch as they said "bye, bye, bye" to the rest of the field, winning their second Olympic gold medals by 43 points in the women's synchro platform finals.
Chen and Quan were the only divers to score more than 50 points on their first two dives, which had to have a degree of difficulty of 2.0. On the final three dives that had no limit on the difficulty, they scored at least 80 points each time off the board. No one else in the field had a dive score better than 80 all day.
Even their competitors were in awe of the Chinese divers' skills.
"The Chinese train so hard. The way that they train, everything is close to perfection," said Great Britain's Andrea Spendolini Sirieix, who won the bronze medal alongside teammate Lois Toulson. "They are the best of the best, the people that we chase, and inspiration. Just so good. I'm always clapping their dives. Just watch their dives. They go in the water like they are sleeping."
Jo Jin Mi and Kim Mi Rae of North Korea finished second thanks to a final dive, a back 2 1/2 with 1 1/2 twists, that scored 77.76 points. Sirieix and Toulson did the same dive and received the exact same score, but scores of 60.3 and 69.12 in the third and fourth rounds put the British duo in third place.
Jo and Kim's silver is the first ever Olympic diving medal for North Korea.
“We are not satisfied with the silver medal," Kim said. "We really wanted to give gold to our country, but the performance was not done as we expected, as we tried, so we have some regrets about it. But we are still happy and excited... For the next time we will try hard for gold.”
The bronze marks Great Britain's second diving medal in Paris. Tom Daley and Noah Williams won silver in the men's synchro platform on Monday.
"It was a bit of a rollercoaster, but, with any diving event, it can come down to the wire," Toulson said. "So we knew if we kept fighting we could come back on to the podium. So we tried to stay calm and confident. We did our hardest two dives as well as we could really, so we are really proud."
American duo Jessica Parratto and Delaney Schnell came to Paris with high hopes after winning silver in Tokyo three years ago. But it was a disappointing day for the U.S. divers, who only received one dive worth 70+ points. They were in eighth place after each of the first and second rounds, moved up to third after Round 4, and finished the day sixth with a final score of 287.52.
Parratto, competing in her third Olympics, came out of retirement just to dive with Schnell in this event. Despite the disappointing results, she said it was worth training one more time.
“It was so worth it, and we were able to accomplish things together that we didn’t know that we could do," Parratto said. "We got a world medal last summer, and just this whole experience has been absolutely worthwhile, so I’m so happy, and I’m so glad to do it with her, and she’s got one more (event) left. I’ll be cheering for her in the stands for sure.”
Schnell will compete in the individual platform event, which starts on Monday.
“It wasn’t our best, unfortunately," she said of Wednesday's competition. "I think we both knew we could’ve been on that podium, but it’s about the journey, it’s not about the results, and I don’t want how it ends to be what defines our career... We still have the silver medal, we still have so many accomplishments behind our name, and this experience shouldn't take away from that."
Canada's Caeli McKay and Kate Miller (299.22) finished fourth, and Mexico's Gabriela Agundez Garcia and Alejandra Orozco Loza (297.66) finished fifth. Ukraine's Kseniia Bailo and Sofiia Lyskun (285.00) and France's Jade Gillet and Emily Hallifax (234.84) finished seventh and eighth.
Chen and Quan's gold is the third diving gold for China in the Paris Games, and 50th for the country all-time, officially passing the U.S. for the most all-time Olympic diving gold medals. China came to Paris having won seven gold medals in each of the last two Olympics. No country has ever swept all eight diving events in a single Olympics, but if anyone can do it, it's going to be China.
Chen and Quan will both also compete in the individual platform, an even they've traded world championships in over the last three years.
“I feel so good," Chen said. "I can improve. We can do better on the synchronization. This is my second Olympics with a different partner who is younger... At my first Games I did not understand the meaning of the Olympic Games, so I was more nervous this time.”
The preliminary round of the women's individual platform event will take place at 4 a.m. ET on August 5.