Team GB’s Jack Laugher blooper in 3m springboard final may be his last in an Olympics
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Has Jack Laugher performed his last Olympic dive? That seems possible – probable even – after Laugher straggled in seventh in the three-metre springboard final.
This was not the best work of a man who has won medals at three successive Games, including the bronze in Friday’s synchro final.
Most of Laugher’s dives were mid-table, but his third one was a blooper. Attempting an inward three-and-a-half somersaults – or “perilous jumps”, if we translate the French phrase literally – he over-rotated substantially and almost landed on his back.
As Laugher put it later, “It was the nail in the coffin moment,” and it meant that he was outperformed by Jordan Houlden – a lesser-known compatriot from Sheffield, who finished fifth.
“I wish at that point I could have pulled out,” said Laugher, who is 29 to Houlden’s 26. “But I’m really, really happy that I continued on, because I am a fantastic athlete and I always see things through. It just wasn’t the fairytale I wanted.
“I’m sad, obviously,” added Laugher, whose name is pronounced Law rather than Larffer. “In the preliminary rounds, and semi-final rounds, I was just taking it as it comes and focusing on myself. But I think I let the emotion get the better of me and I think I wanted the end result too much, and focused on that too much over the process like I normally would.”
It almost goes without saying that gold and silver went to the Chinese divers, who have won every final they have entered in Paris. It seems extremely likely that they will follow their domination of the syncho events by taking gold and silver in each of the individual disciplines as well. Mexico’s Osmar Olvera Ibarra scored an impressive bronze.
Asked whether it is psychologically challenging to compete against opponents as supremely drilled as the Chinese, Laugher replied “Obviously they’re really strong but I compete against them all the time. I have beaten them a few times before and that always feels good.
“It’s their national sport. They have a tremendous amount of investment. In one singular city they will have three, four, five different diving pools. I always have tried to be as good as them. I would have loved to have trained with them at one point and been able to actually go out to China and dive alongside them, but they are my inspiration, they’ve done a fantastic job. It would have taken a lot for me to have beaten them today.”
Laugher has had plenty of exposure during this fortnight, in every sense. Not only did he take bronze in the synchronised three-metre springboard final alongside partner Anthony Harding, but he also became a talking point via his OnlyFans page, which he uses to supplement his income from Team GB.
Now Laugher must decide whether to try for another medal in Los Angeles in 2028. He would be 33 then, which is elderly for a diver.
“I have no idea what the future’s gonna hold,” said Laugher. “The guy who came third [Olvera Ibarra], two years ago we had never heard of him. Diving changes very quickly. We might have something like that happen in Britain. Who knows who might bump me out of my place? I’ve done a really good job through this year to get here. I won the nationals, did myself credit there. I just couldn’t finish it off today.”
Jack Laugher denied fairytale second Paris medal: As it happened
03:48 PM BST
Hear from Britain’s divers:
Jack Laugher tells the BBC he’s “devestated”, having “let the emotion get the better of me”. Houlden spoke at greater length as follows:
“It’s a great achievement to finish fifth and to be in the finals as well - that’s what my main aim was - to be in the finals and I did it .
“I came in here with just, guns blazing I got a little bit nervous, nerves kicked in and I got a bit edgy but I think I did alright with the nerves I had but yeah - great.
“I know I can do a lot better in there, there are some dives I could have been a lot sharper, better, cleaner on the end as well and but I’m still going be happy with fifth. Fifth in the Olympics is not too bad.”
03:28 PM BST
Final leaderboard
Gold: Siyi Xie, China - 543.60
Silver: Zongyuan Wang, China - 530.20
Bronze: Osmar Ibarra, Mexico - 500.40
Tyler Carson, USA - 429.25
Chris Houlden, Great Britain - 427.75
Luis Uribe Bermudez, Columbia - 421.85
Jack Laugher, Great Britain - 410.95
Jules Bouyer, France - 395.70
03:25 PM BST
Siyi Xie wins gold
Xie has all but secured gold there, 100.70, oh my goodness!! Drop a needle in some water and that’s an accurate representation of his entry there, that’s absolutely wild.
Wang, the synchro gold medallist, needed 116 and put in a valiant attempt with the best dive of the competition - a mind-blowing 102.60. Xie defends his Tokyo title, the Chinese divers are genuinely unbelievable, no hyperbole about that statement.
Ibarra takes bronze, then there’s quite the gulf to Carson in fourth. The Chinese diving behemoth rolls on, they draw level on the Olympic gold medal table with the USA on 27, and claim a sixth gold medal from six available in the diving pool so far. In the two individual events, they’ve claimed second too. Utterly unstoppable in most circumstances, but especially when Jack Laugher is having an off day
03:19 PM BST
Houlden and Laugher finish up
But Ibarra’s last dive in between them is the more important one. Houlden scores a 74.10, and will finish fifth behind USA’s Tyler Carson.
Ibarra nails it! 93.60!! He breaks 500, excellent work from the Mexican, a well-deserved medal secured.
Laugher next, his two-Olympic medal streak breaks but he finishes with a flourish, scoring 70.20 but falling way below his usual 500+ standards with 410.95 - Tom Daley remains the only British diver to win five Olympic medals.
Gold and silver yet to be decided...
03:14 PM BST
Bouyer makes a splash
A good phrase in most sports, certainly not this one. At the halfway mark he was definitely in medal contention but Ibarra and the Chinese divers are in a different leage. A 47.50 is a disappointing end, the crowd appreciated it nonetheless.
03:09 PM BST
Podium after five
Siyi Xie, China - 442.90
Zongyuan Wang, China - 426.60
Osmar Ibarra, Mexico - 406.80
Chris Houlden, Great Britain - 353.565
Jack Laugher finished that round in eighth on 340.75, a day to forget amidst many to remember in the diving pool for the man from Harrogate.
03:06 PM BST
Chinese battle to go down to wire
A slip up from Wang is still a good dive for any other layman - 70.20. Xie goes first of the two and scores 88.80, it gives him the lead! Podium to come...
03:05 PM BST
Ibarra lays down gauntlet
Superb from the Mexican, his bronze is looking really secure but he could be going further with dives like that, 98.80!
Laugher meanwhile posts 74.10, Houlden 70.20 - it puts the latter Briton in fourth after five, but he’s over 20 points behind bronze. For Laugher, his timing is all off, he’s about 70 points behind where he usually is by now...
03:01 PM BST
Bouyer momentum suspended
A 57.75 might just write off any medal hopes on the Frenchman’s penultimate dive. The podium is all but decided now, but who will finish where?
02:59 PM BST
Laugher’s struggles
Whilst the idiosyncrasies of a diver’s flight mystifies most, the entry point is a giveaway for how well they’ll score, divers are aiming to enter perpendicular to the water. This photo showcases where it’s going wrong for Laugher, the bigger the entry angle, the bigger the splash, the lower the score:
02:55 PM BST
Podium after four dives
Zongyuan Wang, China - 357.40
Siyi Xie, China - 354.10
Osmar Ibarra, Mexico - 308.00
Houlden sixth with 283.35, Laugher 10th with 266.65. Divers now struggling to match the Chinese duo’s three dives with their fourths
02:53 PM BST
Chinese dominance inevitable
It’s a fascinating and superhuman between the two Chinese divers. They barely make a splash, it looks like someone’s just skimming stones across the Aquatics Centre. Xie scores 91.00, Wang 89.25.
02:50 PM BST
Brits leave it all to do
Ibarra saves a dive having flown too far away from the board, his heigh suffering as a result, and his 75.85 will quell French hopes for now.
Houlden returns with an improved 74.10, but Laugher continues to perform beneath his considerably high standard - 72.15. Little to no medal hopes now, especially if Ibarra continues to perform well.
02:48 PM BST
France going well
France haven’t ever won a diving medal but Jules Bouyer is flying in every sense of the word. A tidy looking dive posts a 68.25, he’s in contention.
02:41 PM BST
Leaderboard after round 3
Zongyuan Wang, China - 268.15
Siyi Xie, China - 263.10
Osmar Ibarra, Mexico - 232.15
Laugher down in 10th with 194.50, Houlden in eighth with 209.35.
02:40 PM BST
Chinese divers ruthless
Xie posts a massive 97.20 - you just can’t slip up against him.
Nor can you slip up against Wang, he scores 95.55 to retain a slender lead.
02:37 PM BST
Houlden and Laugher struggle
Houlden emulates Laugher’s 2nd round reverse 3.5 somersault dive and scores 68.25 - this is running away from him a bit here.
Mexico’s Ibarra is next and makes a splash on entry, it’s a 63.00 which opens things up for Laugher and certainly ends his brief hops of challenging the Chinese divers.
BIG splash from Laugher here, over-rotated so his entry wasn’t great. Heads in hands for the whole GB team watching in the crowd. 35.70...
02:33 PM BST
Divers struggling with board
It’s nothing like the women’s 3m springboard final when USA’s Alison Gibson hit the board on her way down, but some of these divers are springing off the platform at all sorts of angles and points on the board - Germany’s Mortiz Wesemann posts a 40.25 in his third dive, South Korea’s Haram Woo a 45.60.
02:28 PM BST
Leaderboard after 2 dives
Zongyuan Wang, China - 172.60
Osmar Olvera Ibarra, Mexico - 169.15
Siyi Xie, China - 165.90
Jack Laugher, Great Britain - 158.80
Jules Bouyer, France - 154.70
Houlden down in joint 10th with 141.10
02:26 PM BST
Wang lays down gauntlet
Xie’s 79.20 is met with loud applause from the big Mexican numbers in the crowd, his entry not as bafflingly subtle as before.
Wang’s dive is excellent despite his heels clipping the water - it’s a massive 91 points! Updated leaderboard incoming...
02:24 PM BST
Britons yet to make statement
Houlden performs a 3.65 inward somersaults, Laugher 3.5 reverse somersaults, closely following Bouyer who posts an 80+ score, and either side of Ibarra who posts a massive 89.25
Houlden’s ‘inwards’ phrase means he was facing back to water as he sprung off the board but flips forward - it’s a disappointing 64.6.
Laugher’s reverse refers to him facing forward as he jumps but flipping backwards - it’s 84.00 dead which is a competitive score should he back it up with similar scores.
02:16 PM BST
Chinese duo go next
And they lay down an early gauntlet, no surprise there. If you weren’t looking you wouldn’t know someone had crashed into the pool from a six metre peaked jump after about five seconds from their entry, its utterly seamless.
Here are the first round scores:
Siyi Xie, China - 86.70
Zongyuan Wang, China - 81.60
Osmar Olvera Ibarra, Mexico - 79.90
Jonathan Ruvulcaba, Dominican Republic - 76.50
Carson Tyler, USA
Jordan Houlden, Great BritainMoritz Wesemann, Germany - 74.80
Jack Laugher
02:11 PM BST
Laugher’s first dive
Forward double twisting 2.5 but he propels himself too far forward off the board - he’s of a higher quality than a lot of the roster so his score of 74.8 is still competitive to begin with - plenty time yet.
02:09 PM BST
Houlden’s first dive
Is performed after home favourite Jules Bouyer nails his first dive.
Excellent dive in my eyes, a 10/10, but I am likely to say that each time he and Laugher take the plunge. He scores 76.5 to put him into a provisionally joint second.
02:06 PM BST
First dives under-way
Going in reverse order, we’re under-way, with divers getting their first dives of six out the way. Given points accumulate for a big total rather than a best result taken as with comparable sports like gymnastics. You can therefore measure 600 as a perfect score, and anything north of 450 competitive, anything north of 500 enough to worry the Chinese.
It’s therefore a bad start for Columbia’s Luis Uribe Bermudez who’s first dive registers 49.30 as he skews his take off. We’re very quickly through so Houlden will be next...
02:01 PM BST
Meet Jack Laugher
Being Britain’s second most successful diver ever - behind none other than Tom Daley - doesn’t pay as well as you might think, so Laugher has resorted to alternative means to keep his olympic dream going - you can read more about that here.
01:50 PM BST
Laugher stands in the way of Chinese clean sweep
Good afternoon and welcome to our live blog of the men’s 3m springboard diving final, where Britain’s Chris Houlden and Jack Laugher are two of 12 men diving for the penultimate men’s diving medal on offer at Paris 2024.
Laugher is a big British hopeful for the podium, qualifying third behind the two indominable Chinese divers Zongyuan Wang, who won the 3m synchro last Friday, and Siyi Xie who won synchro and individual gold in Tokyo. Laugher has been the Chinese diving team’s biggest nuisance over the last eight years however, winning synchro gold in 2016, as well as individual silver at the same Games as well as a bronze in Tokyo, and trails Xie by 38.8 points in qualification - Wang way ahead on 537.85.
Houlden’s Olympic pedigree is modest compared to the above three given this event is his Olympic debut - Laugher’s synchro partner Anthony Harding didn’t enter the individual event - but has won Commonwealth Games, European Championships and World Cup silver medals across the last two years and has qualified fifth for this afternoon’s final.
With just the women’s 3m individual springboard and men’s individual 10m platform finals to go in the diving pool, this is one of the last British chances to prevent a Chinese clean sweep in the Paris aquatics centre; China have won all five gold medals on offer so far, and in the only individual event - the women’s 10m platform - they took gold and silver.
Laugher is one of the only men to break their gold medal streaks in the 21st century so does possess significant fear factor even if 22-year-old Wang has qualified 60 points ahead of him, and will need to harness the support of a tight-knit GB diving team to do the unthinkable - it is worth saying that a medal is far from guaranteed with Houlden and Mexico’s Olvera Ibarra breathing down his neck but (aside from Houlden) let’s ignore that and give Laugher full backing.
