Results / Watch Replay / Purdue Olympics Central
RIO DE JANEIRO -- Purdue's David Boudia and Steele Johnson teamed up to win a silver medal for Team USA in synchronized 10-meter diving, their first event of the 2016 Olympic Games.
Boudia won his third career Olympic medal and now has one of each color after winning gold and bronze four years ago in London. Johnson took home a medal in his debut at the Olympic Games.
Chen Aisen and Lin Yue of China totaled 496.98 points to win the gold medal. Boudia and Johnson scored 457.10. Great Britain's Tom Daley and Daniel Goodfellow won the bronze with 444.45. Boudia and Johnson carried a 7.8-point lead for second place into the final round. Boudia and Johnson averaged a score of 76.2 per round.
Boudia became the seventh American man with three Olympic diving medals, and the first since Greg Louganis won five from 1976 to 1988. Mark Lenzi (3-meter in 1992 and 1996) was Team USA's last male diver to medal in consecutive Olympics. Since synchronized diving was added to the Olympic program in 2000, Team USA has only medaled twice in the men's events. Boudia has been part of both.
Boudia and Johnson were in second place the entire contest and scored more than 80 points on all four of their optional dives, including 95.04 points on their final dive -- a back 2 ½ with 2 ½ twists. However, they did not know until the end of the contest where they were in the standings.
"We had no idea where we were. David doesn't look at the scores when he dives, and I've kind of copied him. He's mentored me, and so I never look at the scores between rounds. I had no idea and he had no idea. It was just another dive, another back twister. We just went in and tried to do it the best we could and wherever we fall, we fall. Knowing we left everything at the pool is all we can do," Johnson said.
Boudia is competing in his third Olympic Games, while the 20-year-old Johnson made his Olympic debut in Rio. The silver medal was Boudia's third career Olympic medal after having won gold in individual platform and bronze in synchronized 10-meter with Nick McCrory four years ago in London.
"Just because I've been to three Olympics and I've won a gold medal doesn't mean I'm not vulnerable to anxiety. I had a lot of anxiety going into this week, and I just kind of had to keep things in perspective," Boudia said. "These six dives were some of the best we've done. Obviously there's more in the tank, but this has been a phenomenal journey for both of us, and I don't think I would have been able to go through it without a friend like Steele."
After their final dive, Johnson stood on the pool deck and had tears in his eyes, for a number of reasons.
"It's been such a long journey. We've had a rough year, synchro wise. We've had some tough competitions, but the fact that it went the best it possibly could when it mattered the most was really important to me. We did that last dive the best we could. We left it all out there. When I saw the score, I knew we had gotten a medal. It was a mix of excitement, joy, happiness," Johnson said.
Even though Boudia is the veteran, he said he relies on Johnson as much as Johnson relies on him for guidance and that's what helps make their partnership successful.
"This is my third Olympic Games, but this is both of us carrying each other's weight. Steele pushes and encourages me just like I do with him. It was cool, walking up those stairs together tonight, it was just like we were back at Purdue University in training. We were at ease. Yes, we're at the Olympic Games and there's millions of people watching, but this was the most fun I've had a competition in a really long time."
Boudia and Johnson will compete again in the individual 10-meter competition. The preliminaries are set for Friday, Aug. 19 at 3 p.m. ET. The top 18 advance to the semifinals at 10 a.m. ET the next morning.
-- Portions of this story by Jen Lowery, USA Diving