China claimed the first gold medal of the world aquatics championships yesterday as the sport’s governing body tightened its doping crackdown in the wake of a major scandal.
Divers Wu Minxia and He Zi got the hosts off to a roaring start as they bagged the women’s 3m synchronized springboard in a sunset final at Shanghai’s open-air Crescent Lagoon venue.
Wu and He totaled 356.40 points, more than 40 points ahead of Canada’s Emilie Heymans and Jennifer Abel, with Australians Anabelle Smith and Sharleen Stratton third.
Photo: AFP
A delighted Wu, winning her fifth gold medal in the event, praised injured teammate He for battling injury.
“We encouraged each other a lot and it’s very important for winning the title,” Wu said. “He Zi competed with injury, it’s very difficult for her. Finally we beat all the rivals for the title, it’s a test for us and we made it. We are the best. Our rivals are very good, but we did better.”
It was China’s sixth successive victory in the event, equaling diving’s longest ever winning streak set by the US between 1973 and 1991, and underlining their years of dominance in the sport.
China missed only one gold medal at the 2008 Beijing Olympics and won seven out of 10 at the 2009 world championships in Rome, raising hopes they can take the lot even without “diving queen” Guo Jingjing, who retired in January.
Meanwhile, governing body FINA said blood testing, along with urine testing, would be used for the first time since 2005 at the biennial world championships, which open just days before Brazilian star Cesar Cielo learns his fate over a positive test.
Executive director Cornel Marculescu said the decision to reintroduce blood tests, which were not considered necessary in Melbourne in 2007 and Rome in 2009, had been taken on the advice of experts.
“It’s nothing new in our life. We have done the blood tests before,” he said. “It’s a matter for the scientific world. We have to follow what the scientific world is telling us ... I don’t see anything unusual,” Marculescu said.
The decision comes before Wednesday’s hearing by the Court of Arbitration for Sport into Cielo and three other Brazilians who tested positive for a banned diuretic, but were let off with warnings by the national federation.
The risk of failed tests appears especially high in Shanghai after Chinese officials acknowledged the risk of athletes eating meat contaminated with banned fat-burner clenbuterol, which farmers sometimes feed to pigs and cattle.
Officials drew up a list of designated restaurants which were safe to visit after team officials raised concerns. Reports said one study found 22 out of 28 travelers leaving China tested positive for clenbuterol.
In yesterday’s other action, Li Shixin came out on top in his battle with Chinese teammate He Min in the men’s individual 1m springboard preliminaries, raising expectations of another home win in tomorrow’s final.
The world championships, featuring 2,200 swimmers, divers and water polo players from a record 181 countries, formally began last night.
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