Matthew Mitcham will not have the chance to defend his diving gold medal in the 10-meter platform final as he failed to qualify for the finals Saturday night. His semifinal score of 482.40 was more than 13 points behind the final qualifier, Canada's Riley McCormick. American David Boudia and Great Britain's Tom Daley both qualified.
The biggest reason for the out gay Olympian's low score was his final dive. Four years ago, the dive was the highest-scoring in Olympic history with a score of 112.10 (watch the video below). In Saturday's semifinal, he earned a dismal 70.20.
Ah nuts, missed the finals by #theskinofabeespenis. But I could not have done more. And I'll always be a Lympic Chamion =) thx 4 ur support!
Technically, Mitcham isn't out yet. If a diver gets injured and cannot compete before the finals begin, Mitcham will take his place. But there's an impossibly slim chance of that happening.
Mitcham had said he would dive naked if he won the gold again this year. But he probably realized, like most did, there was slim chance of that happening. He's battled injuries for much of the last year. There was hope when he scored a perfect dive back in April, but his preliminary dives on Friday weren't strong.
He was eighth headed into his final two attempts when he hit two sub-75 dives.
Boudia,on the other hand, had a strong showing, finishing third overall in the semis. Daley was right behind him in fourth. It could make for an exciting final with an American and a Brit trying to break the stronghold of the two top Chinese divers, Bo Qiu and Yue Lin.