In the last round in the last diving event at the World Aquatics Championships - Fukuoka 2023, Chinese divers were defeated for the first time in six years – by an ex-gymnast from Brisbane, Cassiel Rousseau. Remember the name.
China had won every world championship diving event it had entered since 2017 – until Saturday, July 22, 2023. On that night in Fukuoka, Japan, 22-year-old Australian Cassiel Rousseau singlehandedly broke the behemoth.
It was an unforgettable battle.
In the men’s 10m final, China’s Lian Junjie, 22, was looking for his first individual world championship medal after winning four world titles in synchro platform events dating back to 2017. His teammate, Yang Hao, 25, was looking for his first solo 10m gold, too, after taking silver in 2019 and bronze in 2022.
But the unheralded Kyle Kothari of Great Britain was unbelievably hungry after facing two ruptured Achilles, most recently in 2021.
So was Cassiel Rousseau, a swaggering, tattooed, ex-gymnast with an Olympic cycling pedigree who had only been diving seriously for about five years.
Here’s how it went down.
Yang was in trouble all night, flopping from first place to eighth to fifth to third, and back down to fifth with one dive left.
Lian also left himself no room to breathe by the last round. Lian led for rounds 2, 3, and 4, but he botched his fifth dive badly, scoring an uncharacteristic string of 6.5s on his back 3½.
Meanwhile, Kothari was a vision in precision. He never dropped lower than fourth place through four dives. Then, in round five, he nailed his hardest dive of the night, a forward 4½ tuck to jump into second.
This was the leaderboard with one dive to go: Rousseau in first place with 422.80 points. Kothari 1.05 points behind him, fully in gold-medal contention. Lian trailed Rousseau by 8.5 points in third, followed by Yang, unlikely to make up 13.5 points to catch the Aussie.
The Final Round
In the final round: Britain’s Noah Williams came out of fifth place to score 99.90 on a forward 4½ and set the mark to beat: 499.10 points.
Kothari came next, but blew his back 2½ with 2½ twists – not his hardest dive – and Williams still led.
Mexico’s Randal Willars Valdez threw the hardest dive of the night, a forward 4½ pike with 4.1 DD and earned the highest single-dive score in the entire contest: 104.55 points – but he was out of contention by then.
Three men remained. They all planned to do the same dive: a forward 4½ tuck. Yang needed about 90 points to overtake Williams. He got it.
Next came Rousseau, whose grandfather, Michel, won Olympic gold in track cycling for France at the Melbourne 1956 Games. Rousseau needed 81.2 points to take the lead from Yang. Instead, he scored 98.05 points for a total of 520.85.
Only one man could take away gold: the last diver, Lian of China.
Lian needed 106.55 points to keep China’s unbeaten streak alive – not only in Fukuoka, but one that began at the last two world championships where it won every diving event it entered.
Lian had the same dive, the 109C with a 3.7 DD. He had to be nearly perfect. When his scores were posted, the judges awarded him 98.05 points (the same as Rousseau) and suddenly, a new nation and a new continent had beaten China to finally capture a world diving title of its own.
Cassiel Rousseau won by 8.5 points. Lian took silver, and Yang claimed the bronze.
“I knew that I was going to come in first place before that final dive,” Rousseau said. “I was meticulously rehearsing the details of the final dive in my head. To be honest I was not as nervous as I thought I would be. I was just excited by the realization that I actually had the possibility of taking the gold medal.
“In the world of diving, anything can happen,” Rousseau added. “Anyone can become the world champion.
“To get a gold medal so early in my career is just incredible. If I analyze myself as a diver, I would say I am consistently very good but not consistently amazing. My standard for all my dives is to be nine and above. As you witnessed, I had dives that were not up to scratch.
“To all the people who helped me get to where I am, I love you and I thank you for this bountiful career. Especially to my grand-dad who I am sure is watching me from above.”
“To get a gold medal so early in my career is just incredible. If I analyse myself as a diver, I would say I am consistently very good but not consistently amazing. My standard for all my dives is to be nine and above. As you witnessed, I had dives that were not up to scratch."
Silver medalist Lian said, “Congratulations to the Australian diver, Cassiel Rousseau, because his performance was excellent today. I could not perform well today. I will practice and adjust my performance to exercise all my power in the following competitions. My next goal is, more than anything, the Olympic Games in Paris next year. I want to do better in the Olympics.”
Bronze medalist Yang said, “I used up all the energy that I had and left it all in the pool. I tried very hard but I was not at the zenith of my physical condition. [I was] having a difficult time at my last practice but I did my best to persevere until the end of the competition with a great sense of achievement. Despite the fact that many people came to support us, I think it is very unfortunate that my result was not good today. I will try my very best to have a better performance next time.”
“I used up all the energy that I had and left it all in the pool. I tried very hard but I was not at the zenith of my physical condition."
Men’s 10m Footnote
Sixteen-year-old Rikuto Tamai withdrew after one dive, an inward 3½, for which he earned 72.00 points. According to Japan Diving’s team leader, Takamichi Nomura, the reason was lower back pain that had been bothering Tamai for the past four days.
Tamai was not only Japan’s last chance to earn a second diving medal in Fukuoka, but he was also the 2022 world championship silver medalist and the youngest man in the final.
Mixed 3m Synchro
Earlier on Saturday, China claimed the penultimate diving gold medal in the mixed 3m synchro event as Lin Shan, 21, and Zhu Zifeng, 20, earned the highest points in each of the five rounds to defend their 2022 world title.
Lin said the pressure to repeat their 2022 gold-medal performance made her nervous, especially in the first round. “Getting a medal in this competition was more difficult than in [2022],” she said, explaining that they worked hard on synchronization. “Today’s [gold] was the result of our accumulated practice.”
Australia’s Maddison Keeney and Domonic Bedggood, 28, took silver, 18.72 points behind China. It was Australia’s first diving medal this week.
Coming into this event, Bedggood said, “I dealt with a lot of anxiety primarily because I am a platform diver. For me to stand on [a springboard] that’s constantly moving gets my heart rate going.”
“We are extremely relieved to be done with this event,” added Keeney, a 2019 gold medalist in mixed 3m synchro with Matthew Carter. “The last time [Domonic and I] did synchro was probably four or five years ago. We are happy to finish it off with a bang and a splash.”
Italy’s triple junior world champion, 16-year-old Matteo Santoro and Chiara Pellacani, 20, came out of eighth place after their first compulsory dive to capture the bronze medal in the fifth edition of mixed 3m synchro at the world championships. Last year, this Italian pair finished second behind Lin and Zhu.
“We grew up together and in the same club,” Pellacani referring to her partner. “We knew each other for so long and I think this helped.”
Where all 36 Diving Medals Went
China 19 medals (12 gold, 4 silver, 3 bronze)
Mexico 6 medals (4 silver, 2 bronze)
Australia 2 medals (1 gold, 1 silver)
Canada 2 medals (2 bronze)
Italy 2 medals (2 bronze)
The following nations earned one medal apiece: Ukraine (1 silver), France (1 bronze), Japan (1 bronze), USA (1 bronze), Germany (1 bronze).