Pasquale Buonocore

Russian Dmitry Sautin was the 1998 World Champion and was favored, but he was expected to be challenged by China’s [Tian Liang], who had placed second to him at the 1998 Worlds, but defeated him in the 2000 World Cup. But the competition really came down to Tian against his teammate, Hu Jia, who was little known outside China in 2000. Tian led after the semi-finals, which combined the score from the qualifying round, but Hu had a higher set of dives in the semis, which carried over to the final, and gave him a five-point lead. On the fourth dive of the final, Tian finally pulled ahead with his back 3½ pike, with a DD of 3.6, scoring 101.52, at the time the highest score for a dive in Olympic history. Tian then held on during the final two rounds to win the gold medal, with Hu taking second. Sautin won the bronze medal, one of four diving medals he won in Sydney. Hu and Tian would tangle again in Athens, with Hu winning the gold medal in 2004, and Tian placing third.