Emilie Heymans and Blythe Hartley claim Canada’s first medal
ATHENS -- Canada is on the board at the Olympics, thanks to a bronze medal Monday from synchronized divers Emilie Heymans and Blythe Hartley.
“I'm very overjoyed and I was just happy that my family is here watching and happy to share the podium with Emilie,'' said Hartley. ''The coaches were thrilled and I'm very happy that they're happy.''
Chinese teenagers Lishi Lao and Ting Li won the gold and Russians Natalia Goncharova and Yulia Koltunova the silver.
The Canadian pair finished with a score of 327.788. Lishi and Ting finished first with a score of 352.14, while Goncharova and Koltunova of Russia recorded 340.92 points.
''I'm very overjoyed,'' said Hartley. ''I'm just happy to share the moment with my family and share the moment with Emilie.''
It was a morale booster for the Canadian divers who had yet to hit the podium in early diving events.
'I feel like we really needed this event because they were kind of down after the first day,'' Mitch Geller, head coach for Canada's diving team, told the CBC.
'I think this is a real boost that will get everybody up for the individual events,'' he added.
Heymans won a silver in the same synchro event four years ago in Sydney with a different partner.
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