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AAP
AAP
Sport
Steve Larkin

Youngest Aussie athlete wins diving gold

Charli Petrov (l) and Melissa Wu won the Games synchronised 10m platform gold medal. (Dave Hunt/AAP PHOTOS) (AAP)

The youngest Australian athlete at the Commonwealth Games, 14-year-old diver Charli Petrov, is a gold medallist.

Petrov has combined with diving stalwart Melissa Wu to win the women's synchronised 10m platform.

Petrov wasn't born when Wu won her first Commonwealth Games medal, a silver at the 2006 Melbourne Games.

But the pair have prevailed in a nerve-jangling final in Birmingham, edging England duo Eden Cheng and Andrea Siriex by just 7.14 points.

Australia's Emily Boyd and Nikita Hains finished fifth.

Petrov and Wu, who now has three Commonwealth gold medals in her collection, captured Australia's second diving gold medal on Saturday after Maddison Keeney and Anabelle Smith earlier won the women's synchronised three-metre springboard.

For four years, Keeney and Smith had been waiting for the 40-minute long competition.

And those minutes turned into some of the sweetest in the careers of the new Commonwealth champions.

Keeney and Smith admit their gold medal is a redemption tale.

Four years ago at the Gold Coast Commonwealth Games, the pair entered as favourites and, with one dive remaining, were in the gold medal position.

But they spectacularly bombed on their last dive. It didn't even score a point, they slipped from first to last, and exited the Gold Coast distraught.

"It was really hard to process obviously," Keeney said on Saturday after collecting a coveted gold.

"It was my fault on the Gold Coast."

Smith then chipped in: "I also made a mistake, so it wasn't just Madi's fault."

Their performance in Birmingham was near faultess, leading from start to finish to win with 316.53 points.

Australia's Brittany O'Brien and Fan Qin (268.80) finished fifth.

Keeney said their Gold Coast flop made their Birmingham triumph particularly "sweet".

"It just feels like a culmination of what I have learnt as a diver and how to overcome nerves and how I approach my competition," she said.

"So being able to do that is really just shows me what I am capable of.

"We have been diving together for eight years and there has been so many tough times over the years.

"I am just really proud ... it's a dream."

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