Mexicans Celaya and Olvera win silver, behind the unstoppable Chinese Long and Wang

Juan Manuel Celaya and Osmar Olvera celebrated winning the silver medal in Paris 2024 / Photo: EFE

Mexicans Juan Manuel Celaya and Osmar Olvera won the silver medal in the three-meter synchronized springboard event after the unbeaten Chinese athletes Daoyi Long and Zongyuan Wang.

Celaya and Olvera completed the competition, held at the Aquatic Centre in Paris, with a total of 444.03 points, compared to 446.10 for the champions, who reaffirmed the Chinese dominance, while the British Anthony Harding and Jack Laugher rounded out the podium with 438.15.

This is the third medal for the Mexican delegation in Paris 2024 after the silver of judoka Prisca Awiti and the women’s archery team made up of Ángela Ruiz, Alejandra Valencia and Ana Vázquez.

Aztec talent

Celaya, who finished fourth in Tokyo 2020 alongside Yahel Castillo, and Olvera, world champion in Doha 2024 in the one-metre springboard, amply confirmed the good sensations and magnificent results achieved in this Olympic cycle.

They started the competition at the Aquatic Centre with a jump of 49.80 points that placed them in third position, they dropped to sixth in the second, but climbed back to first place after third and fourth.

From that moment on, the Chinese divers significantly raised their performance and gave them no more options, although the Mexican divers kept up and secured a valuable silver medal, the first in this discipline of synchronized three meters, which also keeps the team on the Olympic podiums, since it ‘follows’ the bronze of Gabriela Agundez and Alejandra Orozco in synchronized 10-meter platform in Tokyo 2020.

Saint-Denis / EFE