China scores a clean sweep in the show jumping event and confirms its supremacy in Paris 2024 (+Photos)

The Chinese show jumping team made history and confirmed its status as the undisputed number one in the sport after winning all eight gold medals at the Paris Olympics in the French capital on Saturday.

A full house that the Chinese divers had previously come close to achieving on three occasions, after having to “settle” for seven of the eight possible golds at the 2008 Beijing Games, the 2016 Rio Games and the 2020 Tokyo Games.

In the Chinese capital, it was Australian Matthew Mitcham, winner of the 10-metre platform event, who prevented the Chinese from winning all three. In Rio de Janeiro, it was the British Chris Mears and Jack Laugher, winners of the gold medal in synchronised diving from the 3-metre springboard, who prevented the Asians from taking all the victories.

Another British pair, Tom Daley and Matty Lee, winners of the 10-metre synchronised platform, stood in the way of the Chinese divers in the eight-out-of-eight at the last Olympic Games in Tokyo.

Without rivals

However, nothing could stop China from achieving the desired full house in Paris, where its divers have proven to be unstoppable.

This was confirmed again on Saturday in the 10-metre platform final, where Yuan Cao lived up to expectations and reclaimed the Olympic title he won three years ago in Tokyo.

A victory that was sometimes challenged by the young Japanese diver Rikuto Tamai, aged 17, who after the first two rounds of diving was in first place in the standings.

But while Cao did not fall below 86 points in any of his six jumps, the Japanese jumper could not withstand the pressure and in his fifth and penultimate attempt he failed miserably, as demonstrated by the mere 39.10 points with which the judges awarded him.

Chance taken advantage of

Yuan Cao did not waste the opportunity to definitively distance himself in the classification and take the gold medal with a total of 547.50 points, almost forty more than the Japanese Tamai, silver with 507.65, and fifty more than the British Noah Williams, who completed the podium with a score of 497.35.

A victory that allowed China to win eight golds at stake, four in the men’s category and four in the women’s, at the Paris Aquatics Centre and leave the French capital with eleven medals after adding two silvers and a bronze.

Paris / EFE