Australia's Mitcham spoils China's diving dream
Australia's Mitcham spoils China's diving dream
China were vying to become the first country since 1952 to win every diving gold on offer at a Games.

Beijing: Australia's Matthew Mitcham snatched gold from Chinese favourite Zhou Luxin on the final dive Saturday to win the men's 10m platform title and deny China a sweep of all eight diving golds at the Beijing Games.

Mitcham trailed Zhou through the first five dives and was more than 30 points adrift prior to the final dive.

But the world number three nailed a sublime back two-and-a-half somersault with two-and-a-half twists, with a 3.8 degree of difficulty, achieving four perfect 10s.

Zhou, perhaps feeling the weight of a nation's expectations, fluffed his final dive, a reverse three-and-a-half somersault.

Mitcham finished with 537.95 points to claim the gold, and Zhou was left with a silver medal with 533.15 points.

World champion Gleb Galperin of Russia snagged the bronze with 525.80 points as China's Huo Liang, first after the semi-finals, was shut out of the medals in fourth.

China, with seven titles already in the bag, were vying to become the first country since 1952 to win every diving gold on offer at a Games.

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