Picture this: Britain’s diving sensation Tom Daley, wide-eyed, hand over mouth, one arm around his partner Dan Goodfellow in the men’s synchronised 10 metre platform final, wondering and pondering how the judges in blue blazers would assess the sixth and final dive of Team Great Britain, a back 3 1/2 somersault with a difficulty of 3.6. Meanwhile, Germany was in bronze medal position with a score of 438.42 score.

Then a shrieking cry pierced the sky over the Mario Lenke Arena: Daley and Goodfellow had won the bronze, with a score of 89.44 for their last attempt, and an overall score of 444.45.

In a moment of utter delirium and a deep joy that only sport can provide, the pair beamed and then plunged into the pool. But it wasn't as though they had enjoyed a very good afternoon. In fact, all competitors were a bit out of place, because the Chinese pair of Lin Yue and Chen Aisen had owned the diving pool.

They embodied perfection, in the plenitude of the word. Yue and Aisen were complete and flawless. They were mirrors and metronomes at the same time, relentless in their perfection, frightening in their consistency.

Enter the dragon

The final should have ended after their first jump, a simple forward dive that got them a score of 57, a 9.5 across the board. From then, on the Chinese never looked like relinquishing their lead. It was a statement and a tribute to “synchronisation” with the other competitors invited to take a crash course. The duo ridiculed their opponents with their aptitude, the result of countless and repetitive hours of training and the guidance of an expert backroom staff.

“They work so hard,” exclaimed Daley. “They train at phenomenally high standards. They have always been so dominant in what they do. That spirit enables them, you know, to raise their game. When a Chinese diver wins an Olympic medal or a World Championship, his teammate will think ‘He did that, well so can I!’ They are so strong, so technically sufficient. It’s amazing to watch, not only during competition, but also in training – and how consistent they are.”

Daley’s acknowledgment may well have been an allusion to China’s fifth dive, a superlative feat of human arrows defying the laws of gravity. Yue and Aisen became one, executing a forward 4 1/2 somersault tuck with a difficulty of 3.7 to perfection and much jubilation. The Chinese were slightly perplexed by their accomplishment and dispensed with their previous somewhat sombre demeanour to bow to the public. The judges awarded a double 10 and China received a score of 106.56.

A fight for second place

Daley and Goodwill, locked in a battle with Germany for bronze, followed suit with a forward 4 1/2 somersault. The aerial movement was good, the synchronisation spot on, but Goodwill then threw a bit of a splash. Team GB were awarded 91.23 points.

What followed, with the sixth dive, was another leap at Olympic history by Britain and another personal triumph for Daley, whose remarkable career is at times overshadowed by glitzy television appearances, a rippling six-pack and an unrestrained openness about his sexuality.

Still, up against Chinese domination, Britain’s baby-faced poster boy has propelled his country to diving greatness. In the individual final Daley will seek another medal. “Going into the individual competition, they are, as David Boudia [one of the American divers] can tell you, beatable,” commented Daley.

For now though, as the synchronised 10 metre platform final showed, the power of balance is fixed: China are the masters of the platform; Daley, with his own merits, and the rest are a distinct second best.