Diving ain’t easy, and we have defending gold medal Ilya Zakharov to prove it.
Zakharov won gold at the London Olympics in the men’s 3m springboard, but the diver failed to reach the finals of the event in Rio after botching his fourth dive of the semifinals on Tuesday.
Here’s Zakharov getting a zero for this blunder:
2012 gold medalist Ilia Zakharov scored a 0, did not advance to the 3m springboard final. https://t.co/o5DoHf41wu https://t.co/RR7VaM4ngc
— NBC Olympics (@NBCOlympics) August 16, 2016
Zakharov finished 18th of 18 with a score of 345.60 thanks to that dive.
“I was flying over the springboard and the springboard was flying in the other direction at me. I didn’t make it work for me so we clashed,” Zakharov said of his failed dive, via the Sydney Morning Herald.
“There was a very strong strain and my legs just could not stand the pressure and they gave out. Unfortunately, I injured my knee a little bit. I tried at least to finish with some score, but I didn’t have the height, the dynamics, nothing, so I had to hit the water.”
The 3m diving event has been rough for a lot of competitors. A day earlier, a Malaysian diver finished last after an even worse belly flop.
