Couch finishes 12th in 10m Platform final

Tonia Couch finished 12th in the final of the Women’s 10m Platform event after putting in some solid dives in the penultimate diving event of Rio 2016.

The Plymouth diver had experienced a few set-backs in the prelims, with a few dives not quite hitting their mark. Despite this, she made it through to the final after some stronger performances towards the back end of both the prelims and the semi-final.

In the prelims and the semis, Couch struggled with her first dive, scoring below 50 points. However in the finals, she looked strong at the end of the first round, scoring 64.50 to kick off the event.

Her second dive was pretty strong too, executing her Armstand Back Double Somersault 1 1/2 Twists very well. Her entry was slightly off vertical, but she scored 67.20.

Couch’s best dive of the final was her Back 2 1/2 Somersaults 11/2 Twists. This was the only dive that scored over 70 points.

No match for the Chinese

Couch did execute four out of five dives reasonably well. However she was just not on form in the final of the Women’s 10m Platform.

The two Chinese divers were nearly both 100 points ahead of her, outclassing the rest of the field. 15-year old Ren Qian took gold with 439.25, and her team mate Si Yajie claimed silver with 419.40.

Tonia Couch said: “I focused so much on synchro with Lois that going up there today and yesterday without her next to me felt like I was on my own. Before the Olympics she was down at my house for a week, I was up with her as well and we just focused so much on synchro.

“I gave everything I could into that and didn’t leave enough for my individual so I’m a little bit gutted. Everybody stepped it up in that final and I just stayed steady.”

 “I wanted to have fun in that final but it’s just a shame it wasn’t my best performance. I finished with a great dive though so I guess that was good to do.” – Tonia Couch

“It’s been a long run for me and I feel like I’ve been on top of my game for so long now and I’m getting older and it’s getting harder but fingers crossed I can keep my body together for the synchro over the next few years.”

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