BY San Diego Union Tribune

A capacity crowd of 2,100 jammed into temporary bleachers built on top of a lap pool at the Baja California High Performance Center on Friday to watch a world-class diving event in Tijuana at a world-class diving facility.

The Chinese didn't win everything. There were four events contested Friday, and China claimed one of them. Mexico won two.

You need to understand two things, that this is diving and that China brought it's A team to the two-day FINA World Series at the glistening Olympic training center that has sprouted up just south of the Tijuana airport. At the 2007 World Championships, there were 10 diving events; China won nine of them. A country could win 16 possible medals; China won 14.

“Maybe they were a little bit jet-lagged here,” said U.S. coach John Wingfield.

He wasn't joking. The diving world returned to its normal orbit last night, with China sweeping the four events and leaving little doubt who is the favorite – and maybe prohibitive favorite – at the Beijing Olympics in August.

“You can't win all the time,” said Guo Jingjing, the reigning Olympic and world champion in both the 3-meter springboard individual and synchronized events. “You have to learn from your mistakes. You have to learn when you don't win.”

Friday's lesson apparently was: Don't let it happen again.

Guo and Wu Minxia opened the evening by going 1-2 in the 3-meter springboard. Guo had 368.25 points for her eight dives, Wu had 364.35. American Kelci Bryant was third . . . with 333.40.

Next up was the men's synchronized 3-meter springboard. Russia's Dmitry Sautin and Yury Kunakov nailed their final dive, getting scores between 8.5 and 9.5 (out of 10) from the judges, and it still wasn't enough to catch the steady Chinese due of Wang Feng and Qin Kai. Mexico's Yahel Castillo and Luis Huerta were third.

The women's synchronized 10-meter platform was over after the first round of dives. Chen Roulin and Wang Xin won by 42 points. Mexico's Tatiana Ortiz and Paola Espinosa edged Americans Haley Ishimatsu and Mary Beth Dunnichay for third.

China's Zhou Luxin completed the evening's sweep in the men's 10-meter platform, but American David Boudia squeezed into second place on his final dive ahead of China's Lin Yue, 503.10 points to 501.10.

“Everyone in diving knows that China is the dominant team in our sport,” said Boudia, who turned 19 on Friday. “It's good to see your training pay off. That last dive was definitely very cool to hit.”

Still, the images of Mexico's Espinosa and Castillo standing atop the medals podium in individual events Friday night burned a lasting image in the minds of divers everywhere, as a sort of beacon of hope.

“It gives everyone else great hope that they can win a gold medal this summer,” Wingfield said. “And in diving, confidence is paramount because you're out there on a tower 33 feet above the water and the whole world is watching you. If you're not confident you can win, you're in trouble.

“I think everybody was taken aback, so to speak, with what happened (Friday). But we all know they're a great group of athletes from China and we'll still have to deal with them.”

The event's other lasting image will be the facility itself, which Wingfield says compares favorably with the finest on the planet. It is the second major international sports event in Tijuana in as many months, part of a concerted effort to reshape the city's image. Mexico's under-23 national soccer team played Paraguay at Tijuana's Estadio Caliente in March.

“We walked in here and we were pleasantly – I don't want to say surprised – but pleasantly pleased,” Wingfield said. “This is right up there with anything we've seen. We have a lot of good diving facilities at colleges, but even in the USA this would be considered a very, very nice facility.”

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