Matthew Mitcham of Australia wins gold in 10-meter platform diving

Lisa Dillman Times Staff Writer

BEIJING -- Matthew Mitcham grabbed the moment and simply wouldn't let go Saturday night, to give Australia its first diving gold medal since 1924, preventing China from sweeping all eight Olympic diving gold medals.

The man who quit diving in 2006 and came back nine months later did it with an impeccably timed final dive in the 10-meter platform event, earning four perfect 10s. The dive, a back 2 1/2 somersault with 1 1/2 twists and a 3.8 degree of difficulty, brought him 112.10 points, the highest-scoring dive in Olympic history, officials said. It was a stunning reversal. The packed house at the Water Cube, a largely Chinese crowd, had been enjoying a textbook performance from Zhou Luxin, who led going into the sixth and final round by more than 30 points. Here, looking at Zhou, was almost like appreciating a flawless ballet.

But he faltered on his last dive, blowing his entry, and the door cracked open, just barely, for Mitcham. Mitcham put his hands over his face and cried after his winning dive. Zhou, for his part, said he was nervous before his last dive.

"It's going to take a while to sink in," Mitcham said. "My cheeks hurt from smiling. My face hurts from the chlorine. My legs are sore from jumping up and down. I'm in pain and I'm tired. But I'm so happy."

Finishing third was Gleb Galperin of Russia. Huo Liang of China took fourth. Americans David Boudia and Thomas Finchum were 10th and 12th, respectively. Finchum got off to a bad start, botching his first dive of the final and couldn't recover.

Then there was the journey of prodigy Thomas Daley of Great Britain, who, at 14, was the youngest participant in the competition. He smiled frequently and seemed unfazed by competing against the seasoned field and performing in front of Prime Minister Gordon Brown.

Daley was he was pleased that a "non-Chinese person won," referring to Mitcham breaking that run. That seemed unlikely through the first four rounds, as Zhou and Huo were 1-2. Huo dropped from second to fourth with his fifth dive. "It breaks the mind barrier to know that the Chinese are beatable," said Daley. "It's like the four-minute mile. Once one person did it, lots of people did it afterward. It's nice to know people are catching up."