The world aquatics championships opened in a blaze of colour Saturday as hosts China claimed the event's very first gold medal with a trademark dominant diving display. The main swimming arena at Shanghai's Oriental Sports Centre became a dazzling spectacle of lights, dragon boats and performers, with one crooner stripping off mid-song to dive into the pool.
--- Wu wins fifth diving world title
Earlier divers Wu Minxia and He Zi had got China off to a roaring start as they bagged the women's 3m springboard synchro in a sunset final at the open-air Crescent Lagoon venue. Wu and He totalled 356.40 points, more than 40 points ahead of Canada's Emilie Heymans and Jennifer Abel, with Australians Anabelle Smith and Sharleen Stratton third.
A delighted Wu, winning her fifth gold medal in the event, praised team-mate He for overcoming a thigh strain she suffered in training. "We encouraged each other a lot, and it's very important for winning the title," said Wu. "He Zi competed with injury, it's very difficult for her. Finally we beat all the rivals for the title, it's a test for us and we made it. We are the best. Our rivals are very good but we did better."
It was China's sixth successive victory in the event, equalling diving's longest ever winning streak set by the United States between 1973 and 1991, and underlining their years of dominance in the sport. China missed only one gold medal at the 2008 Beijing Olympics and won seven out of 10 at the 2009 world championships in Rome, raising hopes they can take the lot even without "diving queen" Guo Jingjing, who retired in January.
Meanwhile governing body FINA said blood testing, along with urine sampling, would be used for the first time since 2005 at the world championships, which open in the wake of a scandal engulfing Brazilian star Cesar Cielo. "It's nothing new in our life. We have done the blood tests before," said executive director Cornel Marculescu.
"It's a matter for the scientific world. We have to follow what the scientific world is telling us.... I don't see anything unusual," he added. The decision comes before Wednesday's hearing by the Court of Arbitration for Sport into Cielo and three other Brazilians who tested positive for a banned diuretic but were let off with warnings by the national federation.
FINA took the case to the international body, calling for bans and for the swimmers to be stripped of all their results since they failed the tests in May. A ban would rule Cielo, who blamed a contaminated vitamin supplement for the failed test, out of the ongoing world championships and would threaten his defence of his Olympic 50m title next year in London.
The risk of failed tests appears especially high in Shanghai after Chinese officials acknowledged the risk of athletes eating meat contaminated with banned fat-burner clenbuterol, which farmers sometimes feed to pigs and cattle. Officials drew up a list of designated restaurants which were safe to visit after team officials raised concerns. Reports said one study found 22 out of 28 travellers leaving China tested positive for clenbuterol.
In Saturday's other action, Li Shixin came out on top in his battle with Chinese team-mate He Min in the men's individual 1m springboard preliminaries, raising expectations of another home win in Monday's final. The world championships features 2,200 swimmers, divers and water polo players from a record 181 countries.