The Narrowest and Most Dramatic Victory On Tuesday

Xiong Ni pulled off the narrowest and most dramatic of victories on Tuesday to retain his Olympic three-metre springboard diving title as world champion Dmitry Saoutine saw the gold slip from his grasp in the last minutes.

"The final was very emotional, I just could not hold back tears," said Xiong Ni.

Sautin, the reigning Olympic highboard champion, had looked invincible as they went into the final round. The 26-year-old Russian led by more than 10 points and appeared set to add an Olympic crown to the world and European titles he already holds.

The final was full of drama with Russian Dmitry Saoutine led all the way till the final round. But he faltered in his sixth and last dive, a reverse two and a half somersaults with one and a half twists, collecting only 65.10 points.

"I won the platform gold in Atlanta and wanted this event to complete the set," said Saoutine, "I led from the beginning to the final dive so it is very disappointing to lose. May last dive is the most difficult in my program, so maybe it was a mistake to include it."

Xiong, 26, who came desperately close to beating Greg Louganis in the 1988 platform final and denying the American a record-equalling fourth Olympic diving gold, amassed 708.72 points from the combination of his five semifinal and six final dives.

He retired from the sport after Atlanta but returned to the national team in July 1998.

"This means more than anything I've won before because it proved my ability since I returned to diving and I won this gold in a very difficult situation,"Xiong said.