'I screamed underwater': Australia made to wait for first medal in Paris after final synchro dive goes awry (2024)

The margin between success and failure is always a precarious tightrope.

Unfortunately for Australian divers Maddison Keeney and Anabelle Smith, they fell on the wrong side of that divide as they missed out on winning Australia's first medal of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games in the 3m synchronised springboard final on the first full night of competition.

Sitting in third place, within just 0.84 points of the second-placed Americans heading into the last round of dives, Keeney and Smith looked set to at least match the bronze medal they won together in Rio eight years ago.

The pressure was on. Both the Americans and British both put up impressive final dives, albeit far behind the dominant Chinese.

Smith and Keeney were on an upward trajectory, diving at a Games together for the first time since 2016, they improved from sixth place after their opening dive to the medal places just two rounds later.

But nowhere is the knife edge of failure so sharp than on the end of a diving board.

Nowhere that failure so obvious than on the biggest stage of all.

And nowhere does that cut so deep.

As the Aussies launched into their dive, a forward two-and-a-half somersaults with one twist, Smith slipped as she launched, landing with just one foot on the end of the board, which catapulted her off to her right.

Instead of celebrating Australia's first medal of the Games, Smith was left screaming under the water and in floods of tears on the side of the pool.

"I don't know. That's diving," Smith said with an admirable mask of stoicism when speaking to ABC Sport.

"We're trying to control our bodies and spin lots of times on a very bouncy, uneven plank.

"I just had a bad hurdle and landed on the side of the board, which obviously affects the rest of the dive. So, yeah, just unfortunate."

The instant reaction was one of utter fury: "I screamed underwater," Smith said, before the enormity of the mistake hit her.

"It's obviously it's gonna hit me a bit after this, but I don't wanna, you know … I'm not dying, so I'm alright. But yeah, I think it'll take some time to sink in.

"I just feel bad for letting the team down. I'm fine with myself, but you don't want to let someone down in the process."

For Keeney, who missed selection for the Tokyo Games, the frustration at missing out on her shot at another medal was not obvious, supporting her teammate through her own heartache.

Smith has the individual springboard to come, and said it was important not to let this affect her whole Games.

"Pretty brutal. I don't know, I can't change it now, so no point dwelling on it," she said.

"But yeah, Maddie and I put a lot of hard work into synchro, obviously, and had a lot of expectation from ourselves and obviously from other people as well.

"But yeah, that stuff happens. It happens to the best of the best. And unfortunately, it was my day today.

"Just gotta not let that define me."

China dominated the field to win gold, with Chang Yani and Chen Yiwen continuing their run of winning every major competition they have competed in together since 2022.

The Chinese were always miles out of reach at the top of the standings, with their supporters making plenty of noise inside the Paris Aquatics Centre, the only newly built permanent venue for this Games, creating an electric atmosphere.

That big contingent of Chinese supporters waved flags and chanted with a precision matched only by the mirror-like performance of their divers, roaring their approval with every immaculate dive.

Americans roared their ubiquitous "U-S-A", but as expected the home divers had the most of the support, a crescendo of noise echoing from the waved, wooden roof before falling deathly silent as the divers prepared to launch.

The intense atmosphere did not stop British diver Tom Daley from completing his first Olympic knitting project of Paris — a feature of the Tokyo Games and a hobby he has turned into a side-hustle for his imminent post-diving career.

But he would not have been able to take his eyes off the Chinese pair, who were magnificent again, a picture of artistic elegance and symmetry as they led from start to finish.

Their coronation, as expected as it was, capped a wonderful start to the Games in the diving pool for China, which surely must be close to odds on to sweep the medals.

For Australia though, the wait goes on.