Canadian Olympic divers in tears after heartbreaking fourth-place finish

Jul 31 2024, 2:13 pm

Canadian divers Caeli McKay and Kate Miller won’t soon be forgetting their Olympic performance on July 31, 2024.

But while the Canadian duo will likely one day be proud of how they performed at the Paris Olympic Games in the women’s 10m springboard competition, they’re probably feeling a pang of regret and missed opportunity based on how things shook out.

Heading into the final dive of the day, Canada held a score of 231.06 after four dives, sitting in third place ahead of five other countries in the final. Team Great Britain was closely trailing Canada, carrying a score of 226.62 with one dive to go.

When the final scores were tallied, the mark read 299.22 for Canada, and 304.38 for their British counterparts of Andrea Spendolini-Sirieix and Lois Toulson, a little more than a five-point difference over the five dives.

“I thought today was a strong showing, but it wasn’t our best. But I’m proud of both of us… Fourth place is hard… and I think we’ve already won by being here,” McKay said in a post-race interview with Radio-Canada, with both divers visibly emotional.

China’s Chen Yuxi and Quan Hongchan led the way with 359.10 points, while North Korean divers Jo Jin Mi and Kim Mi Rae (315.90) took silver.

How else has Canada been doing in aquatics at the Olympic Games?

Canada picked up one diving medal earlier in the Olympics. Winning the country’s first-ever 10-metre synchronized diving medals, divers Rylan Wiens and Nathan Zsombor-Murray captured bronze in the men’s synchro platform final on Monday.

Elsewhere in the pool, Canada has picked up two swimming medals so far, both of which have come by way of Summer McIntosh, the 17-year-old Toronto native in her second Olympic Games. McIntosh has a great shot at a third medal tomorrow, as she’s competing in the 2:45 pm ET/11:45 am PT semifinals later today in the 200m butterfly, where she’s the two-time defending world champion.

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