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Andrea Spendolini-Sirieix shed tears of frustration after finishing sixth with a disappointing performance in the women’s 10-metre platform diving final and revealed “I did not want to be alive” three years ago.
Speaking to the BBC after her performance, Spendolini-Sirieix said: “Obviously it wasn’t the result that I wanted. I’m not even upset with the competition. The girls dove amazing. They dove better than me today and it’s because they work really hard.
“I’m not even upset with my performance. Three years ago I didn’t even want to be alive, so today I’m just happy that I am alive, I’m breathing and I’ve got my family to support me.
“My mum told me to just keep smiling and she said she was proud of me and they were here to see me. At the end of the day, that’s all I can ask for,” she added.
“I’m so happy to be here, to be at the Olympic Games. It’s been a really long year and it doesn’t take away from my accomplishments this year. Just missing out on one medal doesn’t change who I am. It was just God’s way of saying there is more to do and I just give God all the glory.”
Spendolini-Sirieix started and finished strongly in this high-quality final, in which each contestant climbed the tower five times. But her three dives in the middle of the contest went awry, each scoring in the 60s.
The gold and silver went to the sublime Chinese pair, who had already taken gold in the synchronised event. Hongchan Quan defeated her training partner Yuxi Chen by almost five marks, thus repeating the top two positions from Tokyo three years ago.
But Spendolini-Sirieix was almost 27 points short of the total that she needed for bronze. North Korea’s Mi-Rae Kim also wept at the conclusion, but her tears were joyful ones as she came in third.
Spendolini-Sirieix finishes in sixth – as it happened
03:25 PM BST
Spendolini-Sirieix speaks to the BBC – ‘Three years ago I didn’t even want to be alive’
On coming sixth…
“Obviously it wasn’t the result that I wanted. I’m not even upset with the competition. The girls dove amazing. They dove better than me today and it’s because they work really hard.”
On how’s she’s feeling…
“As you said, it wasn’t meant to be. I’m not even upset with my performance. Three years ago I didn’t even want to be alive, so today I’m just happy that I am alive, I’m breathing and I’ve got my family to support me.”
On seeing her family after the final…
“My mum told me to just keep smiling and she said she was proud of me and they were here to see me. At the end of the day, that’s all I can ask for.”
On her emotions…
“I’m so happy to be here, to be at the Olympic Games. It’s been a really long year and it doesn’t take away from my accomplishments this year. Just missing out on one medal doesn’t change who I am. It was just God’s way of saying there is more to do and I just give God all the glory.”
03:15 PM BST
How it finished
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Quan Hongchan 425.60
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Chen Yuxi 420.70
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Kim Mi Rae 372.10
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Caeli McKay 364.50
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Gabriela Agundez Garcia 350.40
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Andrea Spendolini-Sirieix 345.50
03:10 PM BST
Hongchan Quan’s
Last dive isn’t her best you could see two legs when you should only see one…. This could be tiiiiiight….
She’s just done enough. The 17-year-old has defended her Olympic title, she was brilliant and the deserved winner.
03:08 PM BST
Chen Yuxi
Scores 81.60 with her last dive to end on a score of 420.
Over to you Hongchan Quan…
03:06 PM BST
How will Spendolini-Sirieix finish?
‘Brilliantly’ is the answer. That was a great final dive and it just shows what she’s capable of.
It scores her 81.60 but it’s too little, too late for the Briton.
03:04 PM BST
Kim Mi Rae
Has a bit of wriggle room in terms of getting bronze…her last dive sees her nail the entry, and even before the scores are seen Caeli McKay knows the podium place will go to the woman from North Korea.
03:01 PM BST
Caeli McKay is in fourth spot
Ahead of her last dive, can she grab onto bronze?
She scores 76.20 and ends on 364.50. Will that be enough?
02:55 PM BST
Dream over for Spedolini-Siriex
Spendolini-Sirieix will be seventh going into the final round, so it’s over for her dreams of an individual medal to match her synchro bronze. The Chinese miracle-workers continue to battle for gold with Hongchan Quan now moving almost five points clear again.
02:54 PM BST
The battle for gold
Is, as expected, between the two Chinese stars, Quan Hongchan and Chen Yuxi. Quan, the defending champion, lays down a marker with a stunning dive. It’s been perfection from her today and she scores 92.40. She has breathing space between her and her compatriot now.
02:52 PM BST
Medal slipping away from Spendolini-Sirieix
She over-rotates with her penultimate dive and only scores 60.20. She’s not diving as well as she did in the semis and chances of getting on the podium are all but gone.
02:50 PM BST
Kim Mi Rae is under pressure
From Canada’s Caeli McKay for the bronze at the moment. She scores 76.80 means that she’s favourite for a podium spot…
02:48 PM BST
Ellie Cole is tied for sixth
And with her penultimate dive extends well and there’s little splash on entry. She scores 67.20. Big dive coming up for Spendolini-Sirieix who was tied for sixth with the Australian.
02:44 PM BST
After three rounds
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Quan Hongchan 251.60
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Chen Yuxi 250.00
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Kim Mi Rae 220.10
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Caeli McKay 211.80
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Gabriela Agundez Garcia 209.10
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Ellie Cole 203.70 Andrea Spendolini-Sirieix 203.70
02:41 PM BST
Medal chance slipping away
Spendolini-Siriex’s third dive is elegant through the air but a bit too splashy on entry for the judges’ liking. That’s two successive disappointing scores of 62.40 and 64.50, on dives where she was scoring 70s yesterday. The medal chance is slipping away now, and it would take something exceptional from here.
02:40 PM BST
Memories of Greg Louganis
Yikes, the Canadian Caeli McKay produced a magnificent entry into the water there for a high score, but her head was alarmingly close to the diving platform as she performed her first rotation. Memories of Greg Louganis and his 1988 mishap.
02:38 PM BST
Spendolini-Sirieix
Has a good take off with her third dive but the entry isn’t great. She’s awarded a 64.50 which means she now has it all to do in the last two dives.
02:36 PM BST
Kim Mi Rae
Of North Korea is third coming into this third round and and she scores a 72.60. That puts the pressure on Spendolini-Sirieix…
02:31 PM BST
Masterclass
This is Biles-like from Hongchan Quan. She was scoring 10s in Tokyo as a 14-year-old, and now she’s even more consistent, passing through the water like a shadow. The only reaction to this sublime level of mastery is to laugh in disbelief. It’s a reaction that I’ve seen from people watching Biles, and watching Usain Bolt as well. Not many athletes reach this sort of superiority over the field.
02:29 PM BST
After two rounds
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Quan Hongchan 174.80
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Chen Yuxi 160.90
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Kim Mi Rae 147.50
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Gabriela Agundez Garcia 146.70
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Andrea Spendolini-Sirieix 139.20
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Sarah Jodoin Di Maria 136.50
02:26 PM BST
In the zone
Spendolini-Siriex is enthusiastically shadow-diving on her way up the tower, lost in her own zone. Not even looking at Kim Mi-Rae as the North Korean prepares for the three-and-a-half somersault. 67.50 is a decent dive from the rival.
02:25 PM BST
That score means
Spendolini-Siriex will have work to do with her three remaining dives to get onto the podium.
02:24 PM BST
Spendolini-Siriex’s second dive
Is another good one. She was pumped on her first dive, this time the take off is good but was a bit low on the water on entry. And because of that she’s given a 64.
02:18 PM BST
All five dives count
So there’s very little room for error.
02:17 PM BST
Spendolini-Siriex’s final is under way
02:16 PM BST
Sensational from Hongchan Quan
Hongchan Quan defied physics there … the water seemed to implode on entry, so that nothing came up into the air. Just silly, how precise that was. These Chinese divers were probably identified for their potential at an early age and you can see the results of a lifetime of training.
02:15 PM BST
Decent start for Spendolini-Siriex
Spendolini-Siriex is very visible on her way up the diving tower as she has a Union Jack towel. We’re ready for the armstand back two somersaults, and she’s going to be behind her main rival Kim Mi-Rae. That’s super-consistent diving to score 76.80 as she was in the 76s in both her preliminary rounds on that one.
02:14 PM BST
Wow!
Quan Hongchan scores 10s across the board – the first time we’ve seen that at these Games…not hard to see why she is favourite to take home the gold.
That is what you call laying down a marker.
02:12 PM BST
Chen Yuxi is great
The Chinese is one of the favourites and her entry is near perfect. She dives into first spot with 82.50.
02:10 PM BST
Spendolini-Sirieix’s first dive
Is really good, there was a little bit of splash due to a marginal bit of over-rotation. Without that she would have scored nines…but she slips into silver with a score of 76.80.
02:09 PM BST
Kim mi Rae
Has the cleanest of entries, best of the lot so far by some distance. This score will set a marker, it’s 80.00, really good stuff and an early target.
02:06 PM BST
Canada’s
Caaeli Mckay also starts strongly with a 72.00. Good opening dives so far.
02:04 PM BST
Sarah Jodoin Di Maria
Is the third to go and the Italian starts with a tough (ish) dive and is awarded 72.00. Good opening effort.
02:01 PM BST
Tom Daley is in the crowd
And it’s no shock at all to see that he’s knitting. Apparently he’s creating medal holders in the form of the French flag.
Will he have to knit one for Spendolini-Sirieix? We’re about to find out with the first diver having just gone.
We’re underway in the women’s 10-metre platform diving, featuring 12 divers, who perform in reverse order of qualification. Else Praasteerink of the Netherlands is the first to dive, scores 52.20 which won’t make much of an impression.
01:57 PM BST
The Chinese duo
Chen Yuxi and Quan Hongchan are the favourites but her famous Dad, Fred, spoke to the BBC this morning and said: “She wants to be the best in the world and is determined to do that.”.
The above trio finished on the podium at the World Championships earlier this year – finishing in the order of Chen, Quan and Spendolini-Sirieix.
01:54 PM BST
Facial expressions
So divers possibly do not like heights…?
01:48 PM BST
Spendolini-Sirieix on what she wants today
“Pressure kills joy…I want to go in there with no expectation other than ‘I want to do my best’”
01:40 PM BST
Briton will be third last to go
Andrea Spendolini-Sirieix qualified in third and so will be the 10th diver to perform out of the 12 finalists – they will complete five dives each.
11:44 AM BST
Andrea Spendolini-Sirieix out to be calm and enjoy herself
Team GB’s Andrea Spendolini-Sirieix secured her spot in Tuesday’s women’s 10m platform final after finishing third in the semi-finals.
The 19-year-old will be Great Britain’s sole representative in the competition after Lois Toulson missed out on a qualifying spot.
Five days after claiming bronze in the 10m synchronised event together, the pair returned to the Aquatics Centre on Monday with the aim of qualifying for the individual final.
After easing through the preliminary rounds, both reached the semi-finals, where Spendolini-Sirieix put in a brilliant display, scoring 367.00 points overall to sit behind Chinese divers Hongchan Quan and Yuxi Chen, who finished first and second, respectively.
Toulson finished strongly with a 65.60 on her final dive to push her up the leaderboard, but fell just short of the top 12 qualifying positions with a 13th-placed finish.
As an individual bronze medallist at the World Aquatics Championship in Doha in February, and a gold medallist in the team event, Spendolini-Sirieix has already delivered on the promise by making the podium in Paris with Toulson. But this time, having not enjoyed her experience at the Tokyo Games, she is determined to enjoy it and her preparation for today included an eve-of-dive Bible study in a bid to deal with the pressure.
“Mentally I’ve changed a lot because I have a focus that’s something other than needing to prove myself to people,” Spendolini-Sirieix said.
“I feel like sometimes as athletes our identity depends on whether our competition has been good whereas for me my identity in Christ is so total and so set in stone that it doesn’t matter how my competition goes. Whatever happens, happens. I just give it to God.
“It would mean a lot to win an Olympic medal, of course, but it wouldn’t change who I am. It wouldn’t change what my core beliefs are.”
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