Gold medallist Wu Minxia Wu of China celebrates on the podium in the Victory Ceremony for the women's 3m Springboard on Sunday, August 5, 2012. [Photo: london2012.com]
Wu Minxia and He Zi, the newly crowned women's springboard synchronized champions, finished 1-2 in the individual springboard final on Sunday, winning China's fifth diving gold out of five events.
Wu has equalled legendary Chinese Guo Jingjing's record of six Olympic diving medals to become the most decorated diver in Olympic history.
Wu, also the winner of the event at the 2011 Shanghai World Championships, staged an epic victory by scoring 414 points, about 35 ahead of the silver medalist who totaled 379.20 points.
The bronze went to Mexican Laura Sanchez Soto who collected 362.40 points.
Wu, bronze medalist of the event at Beijing Games, led the 12-woman field after the first dive, and was slightly behind He after her second.
Wu retook the lead with a near perfect third dive - a forward three-and-a-half somersault in pike position - which registered 85.25 points, and never looked back.
The two Chinese sealed the top two after their fourth dive, when second-placed He edged third-placed Mexican diver by a huge 30 points.
The last dive seemed to be the final clash for gold between the two Chinese. Wu picked the highest score from the final, 85.5 points for her last dive - a difficult back two-and-a-half somersault in pike position. Meanwhile, He had slight flaw in her last move - forward two-and-a-half somersault and one twist in pike position, and only posted 64.5 points to settle for a silver, but still 17 points well ahead of the bronze winner.
"I tried to give excellent execution of each move in the past three days, and I'm so glad I made a perfect ending tonight," said Wu, referring to the preliminary and semifinal which she ruled to be the top qualifier.
"Both the individual and synchro golds mean a lot to me," she added.
This was the second time in a week that Wu left an indelible mark on world diving. On the opening day of the diving competition at the London Games, Wu won the 3m synchronized springboard title with He, making herself the first woman to win three consecutive Olympic synchronised titles.
Italy's Tania Cagnotto, competing in her fourth Olympic Games, 40 years after her father and coach Giorgio Cagnotto competed in his first, was among top three after the first two rounds but finally dropped to a fourth place.
Another two favorites of the final - Australian Sharleen Stratton, bronze medalist of the 2011 Shanghai World Championships, and Canada's Emilie Heymans, bronze medalist of the synchro event in London - finished fifth and sixth respectively.
It is the sixth Olympic medal for Wu who had won two gold medals, one silver and one bronze in Beijing and Athens.
