The last diving event in Paris, was an utter nail-biter.

The men’s 10m final on Saturday turned into an unexpected battle for gold between the defending Olympic champion Cao Yuan, 29, of China and 17-year-old Rikuto Tamai, of Japan. It was so tight that Tamai led after the second round, 0.10 points ahead of Cao. Cao edged past the teenager in the third round – by a mere 2.75 points.  Tamai maintained that 2.75 margin through the fourth round (of six) with razor-clean execution.

But then, in the penultimate round, Tamai over-rotated his second-easiest dive, a reverse 3½ with 3.4 degree of difficulty. He landed with a colossal splash. His dive scored just 39.10 points and vaporized his hope for gold and the chance to halt China’s winning streak in Paris.

At that point, the silver and bronze medals were anyone’s game – except the reigning world champion’s, Yang Hao, 26, who had paired with Cao to win gold in 10m synchro in Paris 12 days earlier. On Saturday, Yang delivered perhaps the worst performance of his life, was never in contention, and finished last among the 12 finalists.

Entering the final round, Randal Willars Valdez, 22, of Mexico was second (behind Cao) and had to perform the hardest dive of the contest: a forward 4½ pike with a 4.1 degree of difficulty. He entered the water bent at the waist, however, and scored just 61.50 points.  That opened the way for the 2023 world champion Cassiel Rousseau of Australia advance to podium position, but Rousseau’s tally had been marred earlier by a splashy third dive so he was sitting in fifth with his hardest dive remaining, a forward 4½ . Rousseau delivered, but fell short of overtaking Noah Williams of Great Britain, who had been the last man to make the cut for the final. Suddenly, Williams found himself in medal position with Tamai and Cao as the only contenders left to dive.

That’s exactly when Tamai showed what the future might hold. He nailed his last dive, a back 2½ with 2½ twists to earn the highest dive score of the day (99.00 points), clear the 500-point hurdle (507.65), pull himself back into the lead, and bump his friend Rousseau off the podium.

Only Cao remained.

All Cao needed to become the first man to win back-to-back Olympic gold on the 10m platform since Greg Louganis in 1988 was a pedestrian 46.55 points for the same dive that Tamai had just performed.

Cao scored 86.40 points and, with that, won China’s eighth gold medal in eight diving events.

Remarkably, just a year ago, Cao had surgery to repair a recurring left shoulder dislocation. On Saturday, he did the exact same dives, in the same order, as he did three years earlier Tokyo where he scored 582.35 points to win.

In Paris, Cao scored 547.50.  Tamai earned 507.65 for silver. And Noah Williams collected bronze with 497.35.

“My own performance, I think it was pretty good,” Cao said. “I actually had many challenges [since the Tokyo Games] and made it into the Olympics. I believed in myself. I am really proud of myself because in every Olympics [four, so far], I win a gold medal. I actually contribute a lot.”

Runner-up Tamai said of winning Japan’s first diving medal, “I was conscious of that goal. I felt slightly wary of this challenge. A lot of tension led to the failure of 307C, [my fifth dive]. The next goal is to reach for the gold medal because I believe I’m in that position, to reach for the gold in the next Games.”

Tamai added, “More than my family, I’ve spent more time with my coach and the people around me. I wanted to make sure the medal hangs on their neck as well.”

Williams, the bronze medalist from Great Britain said, “In diving, China 100 percent gets the respect they deserve. For them to finally get the clean sweep and get eight medals, in my eyes, is almost what they deserve in every Olympics.

“The facilities they have are amazing. Their training environment as well must be perfect,” Williams added. “ I get to train with Tom Daley and, for me, that pushes me to be better – but for them,  they have multiple world champions, multiple Olympic champions. As far as I can see into the future, they will be winning gold.”

Paris Olympic Diving Medal Table

China                                                   8 gold   2 silver 1 bronze            total: 11

Great Britain                                                     1 silver 4 bronze            total: 5

Mexico                                                             1 silver 1 bronze            total: 2

Democratic People’s Republic of Korea                 1 silver 1 bronze            total: 2

Japan                                                               1 silver                         total: 1

Australia                                                           1 silver                         total: 1

USA                                                                 1 silver                         total: 1

Canada                                                                        1 bronze           total: 1