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 Diving: Pichler's low scores drop U.S. Team plummets to 7th with his poor final 2 dives Saturday, September 23, 2000 By Lori Shontz, Post-Gazette Sports Writer
SYDNEY, Australia -- After their next-to-last synchronized dive of the competition, David Pichler pulled himself out of the pool and apologized to his partner, Mark Ruiz.
The American team on the 10-meter platform got the synchronized part right. But low technical scores -- particularly by Pichler on the last two dives -- dropped them to seventh place last night in the first 10-meter synchronized platform diving event held at the Olympics.
The Americans scored 321.69 points, well behind the gold-medal winning Russians (365.04), second-place Chinese (358.75) and the third-place Germans (338.88).
"Dave doesn't have anything to be sorry for," Ruiz said. "He's a great partner and a great friend. It's a joy for me to dive with him."
Pichler, a Butler native, and Ruiz were tied for third after their first dive, but they dropped steadily the rest of the way. They fell to nearly eight points behind third place -- and a medal -- after the third dive and completely out of the competition on their last two.
On the fourth dive, a back 3 1/2 somersault, Pichler got technical scores of 5.0 and 6.5, compared to two 8.0s for Ruiz. Even though the lowest technical score is dropped, the mistake was costly.
The fifth dive, a reverse 3 1/2 somersault, was even worse. Pichler received a 4.5 and a 4.0, which caused the Americans to plummet to seventh out of eight teams.
Pichler agreed to answer only one question after the competition; of course, he was asked to assess the team's performance
"Our synchro was right on," he said. "That was the big thing. Unfortunately, my dives weren't that spectacular. I think we focused too much on the synchro. I came up short on two dives. It made a big difference."
Ruiz said his partner was tired, and he took part of the blame. Ruiz always practices his individual dives before a competition, and this time Pichler did, too.
"I think I got him a little off his game plan," Ruiz said. "Part of it was my fault. He maybe got a little bit off. I'm not pointing fingers. It's teamwork."
Both divers still have two competitions remaining. Ruiz will compete in both individual events, the 3-meter springboard and platform. Pichler, who will join Ruiz in the individual platform, will team with Troy Dumais in the 3-meter synchronized springboard.
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