Tom Daley dives into final

Saturday, August 23: Tom Daley, the 14-year-old British diver who disappointed his fans when he and Blake Aldridge finished last in the synchronised platform diving early in the Games, has qualified for the individual 10m platform diving final today, the penultimate day of the Beijing Games.

Daley was struggling at the start of the semi-finals this morning but his fourth dive - an armstand back triple somersault with tuck - earned 86.4 points, and his fifth - a backwards three-and-a-half somersault - was awarded 89.1 points.

The teenager from Plymouth said afterwards: "Coming into the semi-final I
was hungry to get into the final and, again, my first dive wasn't so good
but I slowly and surely made my way back."

Daley lies in eight place with a total score of 458.60 from his six semi-final dives. However, he faces strong competition from the Chinese. Huo Liang leads the way with a score of 549.95 and Zhou Luxin is in third place with 526.20 points.

Elsewhere today, kayak specialist Tim Brabants followed up his gold in the 1000m event with a bronze in the 500m race, finishing only four-tenths of a second behind the winner, Australia's Ken Wallace.

There was controversy in the Taekwondo when four judges apparently failed to see 24-year-old Sarah Stevenson get a clear kick to the head of double Olympic champion Chen Zhong with seconds to go. The fight was awarded to the Chinese woman before an official protest by the British team led to Stevenson being reinstated.

When a visibly shaken Stevenson came out an hour later to fight a semi-final against Mexican Maria del Rosario Espinoza, a chanting, booing Chinese crowd gave the bout the atmosphere of a professional boxing match. Stevenson never challenged the Mexican and lost the bout 4-1, collapsing several times due to an ankle injury.

FIRST POSTED AUGUST 23, 2008