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Tom Daley, 13, wins diving title
"If somebody had told me at Christmas I would be a European champion at Easter my answer would have been `go away"
AGENCIES, EINDHOVEN, THE NETHERLANDS
Wednesday, Mar 26, 2008, Page 20
Thirteen-year-old Briton Tom Daley, one of diving's youngest champions, won the European platform title on Monday.
Daley, who turns 14 on May 21, shot from sixth to first with the fourth of his six final dives and survived a late charge from German World Cup champion Sascha Klein to win by just over four points.
"If somebody had told me at Christmas I would be a European champion at Easter my answer would have been `go away,'" Daley told reporters. "It was a perfect competition for me. If it seems as if I was without nerves I can tell you I have nerves and they were quite tense."
Daley, who qualified for the Beijing Olympics in August by finishing seventh at last month's World Cup in the Chinese capital, earned four perfect 10s with his fourth-round armstand back triple somersault for a score of 94.40 points.
In a field including Russian world champion Gleb Galperin, he consolidated his advantage with his next effort, a back three-and-a-half somersaults which drew four more 10s from the seven judges and 97.35 points.
Daley's huge lead became vulnerable with a lower mark for his concluding reverse three-and-a-half somersaults, leaving 22-year-old Klein with a realistic target for gold.
The German, diving last, scored higher than the little Briton with his final dive but it was not quite enough.
Daley amassed 491.95 points from his six final dives. Klein took the silver with 487.60 and Francesco dell'Uomo of Italy bronze (481.30).
The championships were first contested in 1926 and available records do not show a younger men's European diving champion than Daley.
Meanwhile, Laszlo Cseh of Hungary completed a golden double in the individual medleys, breaking his own European record to win the 400 in 4:09.59 after winning the 200 last week. Ioannis Drymonakos of Greece was second in 4:14.72 and Luca Marin took the bronze.
Britain set a European record and became only the fourth country to swim under 4 minutes in the women's 400m medley relay. Francesca Halsall overtook Daria Belyakina on the final freestyle leg to lead Britain to victory in 3:59.33.
Russia, who set off inside world record pace on the first 100m, were second in 4:00.47 and Veldhuis swam a storming final freestyle leg to give the Netherlands bronze.
Russia's men went one better than the women in the 400 medley relay, taking the title in a European record time of 3:34.25. Croatia were second and Sweden finished third in a time that earned the team Olympic qualification.
Janne Schaefer of Germany won the women's 50 breaststroke.
Also see: Pellegrini, Manaudou set new records in Eindhoven
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