DIVING: Australian diver Ethan Warren literally bounced back into medal contention in the men’s 3m springboard at the Aquatic Centre this morning, improving four places on his overnight ranking ahead of the final at 7pm (London time) on Day 11.

Scoring 15 points more than yesterday’s total of 441.5, Warren qualified 11th in the 12-man final and will be looking for a similar improvement tonight to achieve his goal of a strong finish at his inaugural Olympic Games.

The 20-year-old from Brisbane scored a total of 456.85 points, with China’s Chong He leading the way on 510.15 points, and Warren said he was pleased with his improvement on last night.

“I dived a little bit better than I did last night, not the best still but I guess if you can be satisfied with your performance as an athlete then there is no room for improvement. I still feel that I have lot more to give and hopefully I can show that tonight,” said Warren.

“Coming into the Games I set out with the intent to make the final, and hopefully do very well in the final, so now that I’m there tonight I’ll see what I can do.”

Competing alongside Great Britain’s Chris Mears who qualified in ninth place much to the delight of the 18,000 strong home crowd, Warren said he is growing with confidence after each session.

“I came in today a bit more relaxed and kind of shook off the nerves last night. I was still a bit nervous being in front of a crowd this big and hopefully I’ll be able to come in tonight and relax and just do my best.

While a medal tonight is very much an outside chance, the event has already seen four divers come to spectacular endings with divers crashing out of contention, and Warren has been around the sport long enough to know that he’s in with a chance.

“Anything is possible and it’s anyone’s game really.  The two Chinese boys are going to be hard to beat, buy we all come here to do our best and on the night, and things can happen and we’ll just wait and see tonight.”

Lachlan Searle in London
Olympics.com.au