Tonia Couch has warned the dominant Chinese and the rest of the world to watch out for 16-year-old diving partner Lois Toulson after the pair narrowly missed out on an Olympic diving medal.
Just eight months after coming together in the synchronised 10metre platform, they finished fifth as the Chinese dominance continued with Chen Ruolin and Liu Huixia winning gold.
But Couch warned: “At 16, when I was coming to competitions I was coming last. To come to an Olympics and nail your first two dive, I wanted to cry there and then. I’m so proud.
“I’ve said to her so many times that people are going to have to watch out for this girl. For a 16-year-old diver to do what she did, people better watch out.”
From their opening dive they were always out of the medals and, while they had a slim chance to go for the bronze on the final dive, the pairing insisted they were content with a personal best score of 319.44.
It was a bizarre competition in which the water turned increasingly green, although organisers insisted they were happy it was not harmful despite being unable to explain the reason behind the change in colour.
Couch, the older of the pair by 11 years, joked that green water may yet be her preference for future competitions. “We got a best score so maybe we should ask for a green pool from now on,” she said.
Meanwhile, Jack Laugher and Chris Mears will be hope to follow Tom Daley and Dan Goodfellow with a medal in the synchronised 3m springboard competition later today.
