ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Sunday, July 28, 1996 TAG: 9607300050
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C-1 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: ATLANTA
SOURCE: Associated Press
Fu Mingxia of China successfully defended the Olympic diving championship she won four years ago in Barcelona when she was 13 years old by easily winning the 10-meter platform event Saturday night.
Mary Ellen Clark of Newtown Square, Pa., competing again at 33 after missing most of last year with vertigo, became the oldest Olympic diving medalist, repeating her 1992 bronze-medal performance.
Fu finished with 521.58 points, far ahead of silver medalist Annika Walter of Germany with 479.22. Clark had 472.95. Fu, who competes in the 3-meter springboard starting Wednesday, is trying to become the first to sweep both Olympic events since Ingrid Kraemer of Germany in 1960.
Becky Ruehl, 18, of Lakeside Park, Ky., moved up from seventh after the semifinals and finished fourth with 455.19.
Clark refused to give in to the dizziness that ruined her 1995 season or a poor third dive Saturday night. She rallied on her last two dives to make it to the medals stand, where she slapped hands with Fu.
``A year ago, I wasn't even wearing a bathing suit,'' Clark said. ``I was on a career mode and diving was not part of it. So, yeah, this is a definite comeback.''
``I about had a heart attack,'' said Ron O'Brien, the U.S. coach. ``Same story. Comeback kid. She showed a lot of heart coming back. It's good to see her going out with a medal around her neck. She won't be back at this level again.''
Fu almost certainly will.
She started the finals with a lead of 2.64 points over countrywoman Guo Jingjing. That dropped to 2.10 after the second round of dives. But Guo faltered on her next two, opening the door for Clark and Walter.
Walter began the night in sixth place, then moved into fifth after her first dive, fourth after her third dive and second with one dive to go.
She and Clark ended the night with the same dive - a back 11/2 somersault with 21/2 twists from the free position. Before her final leap, Clark glanced at the scoreboard
``I never watch the scoreboard. For once, I wanted to see where I was. I knew it was tight,'' she said. She trailed by just 7.95 points.
Clark went before Walter and scored 67.20 points. Walter had 65.52, but held on for the silver medal.
``A decent third dive and she would have had a silver,'' O'Brien said of Clark. ``She's the hardest-working bulldog-type diver. She just won't give in.''
Clark hadn't been assured of a semifinal spot until her last dive in Friday's preliminaries. But an outstanding morning session Saturday put her into third place heading into the finals, in which results are determined by combining scores from the semifinal and final rounds.
She stayed in third after her second dive in the finals. But she came up short of vertical on her third dive - a back 21/2 somersault in the pike position - and dropped to sixth.
Ruehl leaped all the way from seventh to second on her third dive, but fell to fourth after the fourth round. She still ended up ahead of China's Guo, who finished fifth.
LENGTH: Medium: 70 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: AP American Mary Ellen Clark performs a dive duringby CNBthe women's platform competition Saturday night. She won the bronze,
making her the oldest Olympic diving medalist. color.