Mexican Diver Olvera Qualifies for 3m Springboard Semifinals

Diver Osmar Olvera, the new Olympic silver medalist in 3-meter synchronized diving alongside Juan Manuel Celaya, advanced to the semifinal in the individual springboard event at Paris 2024 on Tuesday with the fifth-best score in the preliminary session, after accumulating 444.15 points, while fellow Mexican Kevin Muñoz was one step away from qualifying, after finishing in 19th place, with 362.05 points, to place as first reserve.

Olvera Ibarra, who arrives at the Parisian event as a multi-world medalist and one of the podium contenders at just 20 years of age, recovered after a first round in which he obtained scores between 6.0 and 6.5 with his three-and-a-half-turn jump in C, but in return, he made up for it by equaling the best-evaluated execution of the entire event when he performed the four-and-a-half-turn dive to the front in C, with a difficulty level of 3.8 and with scores of 8.5 during the fifth round.

Thus, on his way to the semi-final, the jumper from the capital left partial scores of 62.90 (407C), 84.00 (307C), 64.80 (207C), 53.65 (5172B), 96.90 (109C) and 81.90 (5156B), in a preliminary round headed by the Chinese Zongyuan Wang, with 530.65 points, followed by his compatriot Siyi Xie, with 509.60, and the British Jack Laugher, with 468.30 units.

For his part, the debutant Kevin Muñoz finished in 19th place, with 362.05 points, a position that leaves him without the possibility of entering the semi-finals directly, but that keeps him as first reserve in case any of the classified ones could not compete in the instance reserved for the best 18 scores.

For three of the six rounds, Muñoz Heredia remained in the semifinals classification zone; however, it was his fifth dive, four and a half turns forward in C, that definitely kept him from advancing in the competition, after obtaining scores of 4.0 and a cumulative score of 45.60 points in said execution.

The activity of the men's individual springboard event will resume with the semifinals this Wednesday, August 7, starting at 10:00 local time (2:00 AM, Central Mexico time).

Being an Olympic medalist gives me confidence and peace of mind for the individual event: Osmar Olvera

After the historic silver medal obtained in synchronized diving, Osmar Olvera Ibarra returned to the 3-meter springboard this Tuesday to compete in the individual event in which he reached the semifinal after placing fifth in the preliminary at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.

The young diver shared that the medal obtained at the start of his journey in this, his second experience in the summer event, gives him confidence and peace of mind to a certain extent, but the important thing, he assured, is to go one step at a time.

“I felt good, as the rounds went by I felt more comfortable and happy to pass the first objective, which was the preliminary. There are dives that I can clearly do much better, but it is the preliminary, and you have to go step by step,” he said.

“Being an Olympic medalist gives me a certain confidence and peace of mind when it comes to being on the springboard, I am calm and tomorrow is the semifinal where the goal is to reach the final,” he commented.

The pupil of coach Ma Jin had a cumulative total of 444.15 points after six rounds, which placed him in fifth place in the classification, only below the representatives of China and Great Britain.

“I spoke with Ma Jin, I already know what I have to change to do them the way I like them, today was one day, tomorrow will be another. I am looking to do my six dives in the best way, fighting the Chinese, it will be a good competition with China and Great Britain, great opponents, and I am excited to compete, I am focused,” he commented.

For his part, Kevin Muñoz finished the qualifying round in 19th place with 362.05 points that leave him as the first reserve for the semi-final.

“The preliminary competition is over and we are officially Olympians. I felt calm in the competition, I did not start nervous, I felt good, but the result was not there, we need to work very hard and try three times harder, but we take away a very nice experience and a lot of learning,” he declared.

"I'm not leaving with nothing, I've learned a lot since day one, what it's like to train in an Olympic pool and be in an Olympic Village, to be with the greatest in the world and the goal is set for everyone," he said.

The 3-meter springboard semifinals, which the best 18 divers qualified for, will take place this Wednesday, August 7.