News
Synchronized divers Sarah Bacon and Kassidy Cook serve up first U.S. medals
SAINT-DENIS, France — Kassidy Cook dinner and Sarah Bacon received silver within the girls’s 3-meter synchronized springboard occasion on Saturday, securing America’s first medal of the 2024 Paris Olympic Video games.
Their five-dive rating of 314.64 put People on the rostrum on this occasion for the primary time since 2012, as Bacon and Cook dinner sandwiched between the gold medal-winning duo of Chang Yani and Chen Yiwen (337.68) from China and bronze-winning Yasmin Harper and Scarlett Mew Jensen (302.28) of Nice Britain.
For the duo, dubbed Cook dinner N’ Bacon, familiarity and friendship have been key elements for his or her profitable recipe, in response to the divers, who’ve been mates since they have been youngsters and diving as a pair since 2019.
“I imply, I am ecstatic. I am overcome with so many feelings proper now,” Cook dinner informed reporters. “, to have the ability to go up there and carry out [and] put collectively a stable listing and find yourself on that medal stand with one in all my finest mates feels wonderful.”
The reigning world champs, Chang and Chen, led wire-to-wire however Bacon and Cook dinner mentioned combating to maintain up with the highly effective Chinese language duo helped them safe silver.
“Clearly, we have been diving behind the good group of China, in order that they have been placing quite a lot of strain on us,” Cook dinner mentioned. “However seeing them hit their dives made us desirous to hit our dives. I feel that they made us higher and I’m actually glad to remove that silver.”
The 29-year-old Cook dinner, who lives simply exterior Houston, competed in Rio in 2016, making her the primary U.S. diver to compete in nonconsecutive video games.
“After which we discovered after that we’re the primary medal for Workforce USA, which is an much more superior feeling,” Cook dinner mentioned.
This occasion has been held seven instances in Olympics historical past and a duo from China has received six of these competitions, solely failing to take the highest podium spot in 2000.
Bacon, who narrowly missed making the U.S. diving group for Tokyo, mentioned that disappointment changed into a blessing.
“Yeah, I imply, we ended up not making the Olympic group in 2020 and my plan was to retire after that Olympic Video games,” mentioned Bacon, a 27-year-old Indianapolis native.
“I used to be burned out and able to be executed. So not making the Olympic group saved me round diving and introduced me to this Olympic Video games with Kassidy. To be on the award stand with the silver medal is simply unbelievable. I’ve no phrases to explain it proper now.”
Each opponents mentioned, in hindsight, lacking out on Tokyo led to a greater end result.
Saturday’s motion unfolded to loud, raucous cheers for all opponents, however notably for the Chinese language, the People, the hometown French and the Ukrainians.
“Every part occurs for a cause,” Cook dinner informed NBC Information later Saturday. “These video games [in Tokyo], though they have been nonetheless the Olympic Video games, they weren’t the true expertise. And had we gone to that, we most likely would have retired as a result of we [would have] achieved that purpose.”
She added: “I’m actually glad that we held on and made it right here.”
Cook dinner now has the remainder of the Olympics to unwind and cheer for her teammates. Bacon continues to be competing, within the particular person 3-meter springboard, which begins on Aug. 7.
As soon as the Olympics are executed, each girls can have robust selections to make — about the place to place the medals of their properties.
“I need to put it on show,” Cook dinner mentioned. “Perhaps I am going to need to make a trophy room centered across the silver steel.”
“I will have to filter a spot in my home earlier than I can work out precisely the place I will put it,” Bacon mentioned. “Perhaps on a body on a wall someplace? It’s going to be the middle level of one thing.”
