Nightmare for Mitcham in unlucky 13th
Australia's Matthew Mitcham will not get to defend his Olympic diving title after coming 13th in the semi-finals of the 10m platform.
ABC – 2012-08-11 |
| Unlucky 13: Matthew Mitcham crashes out of the men's 10m platform diving semi-final |
Mitcham's performance in the preliminaries of the 10m platform event - where he finished ninth - had caused concern, but he was as high as eighth after four dives of the six rounds in the semi-final.
The problems started in round five, when his armstand back triple somersault dive in the tuck position scored only 74.25 points to leave him on the cusp of elimination.
His final-round dive was a back 2.5 somersault with 2.5 twists and pike - but the Australian over-rotated before entering the water, causing a big splash and poor scores from the judges.
His score of 70.20 points meant Mitcham had to rely on mistakes from his competition.
Once the final two divers successfully completed their dives, Mitcham looked close to tears as he realised his Olympic dream was over.
He had produced the dive of his life in the final round in Beijing to claim the gold medal, but struggled to prepare for London after missing nine months through a torn stomach muscle.
"It was always going to be a massive struggle for me," Mitcham said.
"I scored a 10 and I felt like this was it, I was on my way back," he said.
"I tend to get better and better and in the past I tend to follow it through."
Mitcham put the semi-final exit down to poor preparation, saying he just did not have enough time to get his dives consistent.
"I'm diving the same dives used in Beijing but now the degree of difficulty is less. I could have done dives with less degree of difficulty," he said.
Looking to Rio
Before London, Mitcham had announced that it would be his last Olympics. However, he now says he will look forward to Rio in 2016 - even if it is as a member of the press.
"I decided before London 2012 that it would be my last Olympic Games because of all the injuries and I couldn't see it getting any better," he said.
"But now I never want to miss another Olympics again. Whether it be springboard or media I'm going to be in Rio."
But Mitcham admitted he faced a lot of hard work to get his body up to the task.
He says if he is going to target the springboard, he wants to do it properly.
"I do have a history of springboard but I've always been a platform specialist and just done springboard to fill spots," he said.
"I have discussed it with my coach, the possibility. But it's going to take a long time to get my thighs as big as [Chinese diver] He Chong's.
"I want to be doing a forward four-and-a-half back, a reverse three and a half pike. I'll think about it.
"Now I need to give my body a rest, something I have not done the last couple of years."
