Britain’s Jack Laugher and Chris Mears turned Rio’s green-water controversy to their advantage to win a first-ever British gold medal in Olympic diving by upsetting China on Wednesday.
The pair scored a narrow 3m synchronised springboard victory over American silver medallists Sam Dorman and Mike Hixon, as Chinese pre-event favourites Cao Yuan and Qin Kai settled for bronze in chilly and drizzly weather.
Laugher drew guffaws at a press conference by saying the Britons felt right at home in the inclement conditions and added that the unintentionally green pool — due to a chemical imbalance, officials say — aided visualisation of their dives.
“Being from the UK, we’re very much used to rain, wind and all that kind of stuff,” he said.
“We actually quite enjoyed (the green water). It’s different from normal, it’s very easy to see. I don’t think they intended it to be that way, obviously, but it did help us in a way, I guess.”
Mears said it felt “fantastic” to win Britain’s first diving gold, a feat that has so far eluded the country’s biggest dive star, Tom Daley.
Laugher will seek a second medal in the individual 3m springboard next week, while Daley, who won bronze in the 10m synchro, returns for diving’s final event, the 10m individual.
The outcome sinks the prospect of an unprecedented sweep of all eight diving golds by China, diving’s superpower, which won seven in Beijing and six in London.