Chen Aisen and Lin Yue made it a perfect two-for-two for China in Olympic diving on Monday afternoon, running away with the gold medal in the men’s synchronized 10m platform event at the Maria Lenk Aquatic Center in Rio de Janeiro.
American’s David Boudia and Steele Johnson turned in a strong performance to score 457.11 points and secure the silver medal. China finished nearly 40 points ahead with 496.98.
Great Britain’s Thomas Daley and Daniel Goodfellow narrowly edged Germany’s Patrick Hausding and Sascha Klein on their final dive to secure the bronze medal.
Mexico’s Ivan Garcia and German Sanchez, who placed silver in 2012, failed to reach the podium.
Chen and Lin received a number of 10s from the judges in both execution and synchronization for the fifth dive — a forward 4.5 somersault that carried an degree of difficulty of 3.7 and earned them 106.56.
Lin is the first ever individual to win multiple gold medals in the men’s synchronized 10m platform.
After Wu Minxi and Shi Tingmao dominated the women’s synchronized 3m springboard, China, which swept the synchronized events in both 2008 and 2012, has now won gold in 15 of 18 events since synchronized diving was installed in the Olympics in 2000.
Men will return to the tower for the individual 10m platform events on Friday, Aug. 19 at 3pm.