Team GB won their first medal of the Paris Olympics with bronze in a nail-biting finish to the women’s 3metre synchro diving competition.
As medallists at the last World Championships, Yasmin Harper and Scarlett Mew Jensen had been expected to pick up a medal.
But they struggled in the early part of the contest, producing a particularly poor dive with their third effort, which led to audible groans from those in the stands.
Tom Daley was among their supporters watching, knitting a jumper with his surname on it as his teammates looked destined to finish fourth.
But Australian pair Maddison Keeney and Annabelle Smith finished with an absolutely diabolical dive to guarantee GB its first medal of the Games.
It ensured the team a medal on day one for the first time at a Games since 2004 when divers Leon Taylor and Pete Waterfield achieved the feat. Aptly, Taylor was in Paris commentating for the BBC. It was also the first diving medal by a British female at any Games since 1960.
China’s Chang Yani and Chen Yinwen were in a competition of their own, as anticipated, leading from the first to the fifth and final dive.
Harper and Mew Jensen have a pre-competition ritual of painting their nails, Harper doing the painting for them this time - Union Jack thumbs and 3D art with sparkles on their figures.
They had a solid first dive, Mew Jensen showing few signs of her back fracture from three months ago, but struggled with their next two to drop them well down the pecking order.
But as their level improved and their rivals felt the pressure – notably the Australian capitulation – they ended up with the bronze.
Of that horror dive by their rivals, which effectively gifted them the medal, Mew Jensen said: “We knew that Australia needed to mess up basically. For that to actually happen, we were very shocked about that because that’s a very easy dive for them. They are very talented, very experienced, Olympic medallists themselves. It was very, very shocking.”
Harper, meanwhile, had talked about a medal being the ideal birthday present ahead of her 24th birthday on Sunday and so it proved.
As for her birthday celebrations, she added: “I don’t know what I’m going to do. I’m going to have to see how it goes, see what’s going on. Have a little bit of celebration.”
