China's Chen Ruolin set the bar sky high in the women's 10-metre platform final as she successfully defended her title and took the sixth diving gold for her country at the London Olympics.
If the other divers could not quite reach the level of Chen and her score of 422.3 they nonetheless produced a bevy of fine dives in a close competition for silver and bronze, that was only decided on the tense fifth and final round of dives.
Australia's Brittany Broben prevailed to take silver on 366.5 points, while Malaysia's Pandelela Rinong Pamg won bronze with a score of 359.2. The five divers from second to sixth were separated by 10.3 points.
The biggest surprise of the final, however, was the ninth place of the world championships silver medallist Hu Yadan, who had been widely expected to push her Chinese compatriot Chen for the gold.
Looking daunted by the occasion, teenager Hu entered the water badly on her first two dives and was unable to recover despite a near perfect performance on later dives.
