Diving boss latest to call judges into question

BRITISH diving chief Steve Foley insists Sheffield pair Nick Robinson-Baker and Ben Swain were robbed of a place on the Olympic podium.

Competing in the 3m springboard synchronised final, the British duo finished seventh with 402.36 points - over 60 points behind China's gold medallists Feng Wang and Kai Quin.

But Foley blasted the judging of the competition and is adamant the City of Sheffield Diving Club pair did not get their just rewards.

He said: "I can't even begin to understand the judging.

"The boys missed one dive a little bit and they finished seventh - some teams above us missed two dives and they finished above us. 

"I think it is done on reputation and they are the new kids on the block.

"They should have been right in the middle of going for medals and they did not get a look in.

"I can't work in. A synchronisation is terrific, the execution of the dive needs a little bit of work.

"There's not a lot of discrepancy between something that's drastically out of time and something that looks pretty good.

"It is almost like they know they are going to give the big teams the nines and whatever.

"I thought the boys were terrific today - Ben will be better from this experience when he goes in the individual.

"They are going to know what the Olympic experience is all about now and I expect them to settle down and go pretty well in the individual.

"There have been a lot of glaring errors. It is hard because when your athletes come to you and say why have I got that as an expert I can explain, but here I have been left scratching my head."

Robinson-Baker, 21, and Ben Swain, 22, had gone to Beijing with hopes of a medal finish after finishing fourth in a World Cup event there earlier in February.

Swain will get another bite of the cherry when he goes in the individual event on Monday and even the controversial scoring could not put a dampener on his Olympic debut.

He said: "It was a brilliant performance - we did not make too many mistakes and we are really happy we could show GB what we had in store for them.

 "There's big pressure in your first Olympics but we are just so proud to compete for our country.

"We have not got time to think about the judging. We have 1.2seconds for each dive - they will give what they think is fair.

"When I was stood on the board before our first dive I thought this is the most amazing atmosphere and this has been the most amazing experience of my life.

"I have been training for 14 years and just turned 21 and am at an Olympic final - what more could an athlete want."

DANIEL SCHOFIELD in Beijing