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The Ukrainian men’s diving team consisting of Oleksii Sereda and Kirill Boliukh took fifth place in the 10-meter diving competition at the 2024 Olympic Games. In Paris, the winners of the world championship in this discipline could have won bronze if they had performed their most difficult jump more accurately. The Chinese won, the British took second place, and the Canadians took third place.
The winner of the European Games, Sereda, took responsibility for his poor performance and did not use the hand injury he suffered on the eve of the competition as an excuse. However, he was unable to jump for more than two months and, of course, lost his competitive rhythm.
“I made a mistake on the fifth jump, it was a small one, but it was enough. The other jumps could have been done better. So there is a little disappointment. We were 10 points away from the bronze medal, but if I had done that fifth jump with 7.5 points, we would have finished third. But you see: this is sport. One mistake and you’re out of the competition,” said Sereda.
According to Oleksii, the injured arm no longer bothers him and, in his opinion, that is no excuse.
“Why did you make a mistake? Because I haven’t learned to jump properly yet. When I learn, I won’t make mistakes,” said Sereda, who was self-deprecating, although until recently it was not known whether he would be able to participate in such shows.
“I thought I would be more nervous, but I’m not. I was nervous on the fifth jump and I was quite relaxed on the last one. I didn’t do a very good warm-up on the fifth jump either, I didn’t make a good attempt. I mean, it’s not perfect yet. There are many factors here, both jumping technique and fitness. Plus nerves. You could say that the injury would have gone away, if I had a little more time… But this is no excuse for me. I made a mistake,” said Sereda.
When asked jokingly if Kirill scolded him for his mistakes, Oleksii replied humorously: “Yes, he does. And he hits me across the room. With a belt. I am even more upset that I let myself down and Kirill too. Because of me, he was left without a medal too.”
The Ukrainian also spoke of a possible fight with the Chinese: “I don’t know how to compete with them. We had our best performance in Fukuoka, when we scored 432 points, and now they have scored 390. So we have to make another jump. Unfortunately, I don’t see any chance of overtaking them yet. Unless, of course, one of them makes a mistake, but they don’t,” Oleksii stressed.
But Sereda will still have a chance to compete for an Olympic medal in individual ski jumping.
“I’ve more or less swallowed this speech. Now Kiriukha is still raising me in the hall… Seriously, I’ll do my best, but I can’t promise anything. Do I lose motivation? It’s the opposite for me. I’m one of those people who, when something doesn’t go well, I get more motivated and start working harder. Because it’s really possible, I have every chance and I don’t have much left,” Oleksii added.
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Olympic Games 2024Springboard diving
