北京时间8月25日凌晨，中国跳水队终于用一枚沉甸甸的金牌止住了“梦之队”下滑的趋势，力挽狂澜的是23岁的江西小伙子彭勃！他在比赛中以出色的表现力压俄罗斯老将萨乌丁、加拿大天才德斯帕蒂，继熊倪之后为中国跳水队再次守住了男子单人三米板冠军的宝座。
The Chinese finished in a familiar spot at the Olympic diving pool. Peng Bo held off Canadian teenager Alexandre Despatie and four-time Olympian Dmitri Sautin of Russia to win the 3-meter springboard Tuesday night, giving the Chinese men their third straight gold medal in the event.
Overall, the Chinese have won four diving golds in Athens, putting the powerful team in position to equal or beat its five golds from Sydney in 2000.
"It's very difficult for me to describe my feelings," Peng said. "I feel excited and also very calm."
Peng sure bounced back from the disappointment of synchronized springboard, in which his partner, Wang Kenan, entered the water totally out of control on the final dive. The belly-flop landing was so bad that the duo scored no points, dropping them from first to last place.
Diving alone, Peng didn't blow it. His dives - often performed with his mouth wide open - featured stunning height off the board, tightly wrapped turns and hardly a [color="#808000"]ripple[/color] when he entered the water.
He received five 10s on his second dive, another perfect mark on his fifth and never saw a score lower than 8.0 the entire night.
Peng clinched the gold with one last splash of brilliance - a forward 2 1/2 [color="#808000"]somersault[/color] with two twists. The diminutive 23-year-old climbed from the pool, turning to bow toward the water as the Chinese fans screamed and waved their red-and-yellow flags.
The result wasn't in doubt. A string of 9s flashed across the scoreboard, along with an unbeatable total of 787.38 points. The gold belonged to Peng.
He wasn't ready to look ahead to 2008, when he could dive in his home country as the defending Olympic champion.
"From the Chinese point of view, it is very difficult to think that far ahead," he said. "The Chinese tradition is to do things step by step. I have the gold medal today. It doesn't mean I'm going to have it forever."