Cliff diving legend finest of the fearless

Orlando Duque just had to be the first man to be crowned high diving world champion.

But even the 38-year-old Colombian cliff diving legend needed a wobble by main rival Gary Hunt on the last dive of Wednesday's final to snatch the inaugural gold medal by just 0.9 points.

Duque, Hunt and the other fearless competitors plummeted three times from the equivalent of a nine-story building into the Barcelona harbor, adding the scores to their first two rounds from Monday.

And when the murky green water calmed, Duque's 590.20 points were worth the first gold medal in a sport he has nurtured into the mainstream with 15 years of tempting fate and wowing awestruck crowds.

"To know that when they look at the records my name will be there first is important," Duque said.

"Besides, I am the old guy of this group. I'm 38 years old and I'm jumping with guys who are 23.

"It was looking a little difficult after that second dive because Gary is Gary and he always nails them, but he committed a little mistake at the end. But that is the nature of the competition, someone wins, someone goes home crying."

Hunt, the reigning three-time champion of the Red Bull Cliff Diving World Series, finished agonizingly close with 589.30 points and had to settle for silver. Hunt's medal was the first for Britain at the championships.

Mexico's Jonathan Paredes claimed bronze with 578.35.

American pool diving great Greg Louganis was one of the event's judges. He said Orlando's years of diving made the difference.

"I know (Hunt's) better than what he showed today," said Louganis. "But Orlando, you can't take anything away from Orlando. He's got so much experience. It was great to see them right at the end duking it out."

Duque won the Red Bull series in its first edition in 2009. But he has watched Hunt dominate it for the past three years, including seeing the series title escape in similar fashion to his victory on Wednesday on the last dive of the 2012 season.

Thousands turned up to line the city shoreline for the extreme aquatic sport, enjoying its festive atmosphere and the divers' surfer-esque swagger as they soared downwards from the temporary 27m platform.

No diver was injured in the falls that take three seconds to complete, despite speeds reaching 160 kph. After breaking past the surface feet-first like a projectile, the participants bobbed up and gave an OK signal to the scuba divers there to ensure their safety.

The world swimming federation approved high diving five months ago as a world championship event, hoping to tap into the popularity of the Red Bull series.

Duque called high diving's debut at the worlds a "complete success" and praised the steps made to improve safety.

"This is going to make it get even better. The sport is going to keep growing, more countries and more divers are going to get interested in it," said Duque.

"It's the evolution of what has been happening in recent years. Out of nowhere, now people worry about our safety, and this was the safest. (Here) we can do very difficult dives with absolutely zero problems."

(China Daily 08/02/2013 page22)