David Boudia breaks U.S. drought with Olympic platform diving gold

David Boudia shocked the diving community with an Olympic gold medal performance in the 10-meter platform event. His score of 568.65 was good enough for U.S. Diving’s first Olympic gold since Greg Louganis won his second consecutive title at the 1988 Olympics in Seoul.

Boudia barely qualified for the semifinals by finishing in 18th place during the preliminary round. He then put together a solid semifinal round leading into an inspired final six dives. His performance was a major upset over Chinese diver Qui Bo who finished with the silver. The exciting final also included a surprising bronze medal for Great Britain’s Tom Daley.

Boudia’s gold medal added to his previous bronze medal performance in the 10-meter synchro platform event with teammate Nick McCrory. Earlier this summer, Boudia talked to Inspiring Athletes about his spiritual transformation and how his faith in Christ had radically changed his outlook on diving and on life.

“In 2008, diving was my god,” he said. “It was a forced competition. I needed to do well there if I wanted to do well later in life. But for this Olympics, I’m enjoying every moment, day by day because tomorrow’s not guaranteed…God is providing this platform so He can reveal Himself.”