One bad dive costly to Canucks By Rob Longley, SUN MEDIA

BEIJING — Side by side they stood atop the 10-metre platform at the Water Cube with 17,000 Chinese fans glued to the action of one of the country’s favourite sports.

Not only that, the Canadian duo of Meaghan Benfeito and Roseline Filion were in serious contention to bring home the country’s first medal of these Beijing Olympics.

But in dive four of five of the synchronized program, it all unraveled for the Canadian duo and by the time it was over, they had plunged from fourth to seventh.

“It wasn’t as good as we had hoped, but we are proud of where we have come from and we’re proud that we are Olympians,” Filion said. “We were so close to a medal. It was only our fourth dive that cost us.

“But it’s okay, we’re top eight in the world and we’ve accomplished a lot this year.”

Sitting fifth after one dive, the Canadians moved up to fourth, just over three points out of third. But they struggled badly on the fourth, coming out of synch long before they hit the water.

Another poor dive on the fifth left them with 305.91 points and out of the hunt.

As expected, the duo of Wang Xin and Chen Ruolin won gold with a combined score of 363.54 points, giving China a sweep of the diving medals through three events.

The Canadian team, led by veteran Alexandre Despatie, is expected to challenge for a couple of medals and Benfeito and Filion are considered to be a pair with a bright future.

Competing in a country where diving is a huge fan favourite was a rush for the Canadian girls, who said they fed off the sellout crowd of 17,000 at the Water Cube.

“It was fun, it was really loud in here,” Filion said. “It’s good for motivation.

“It didn’t put any pressure on me. I wanted to live every minute of it. I wanted to feel it.”