BARCELONA, Spain, 18 July 2003 — Virginie Dedieu gave France their first ever gold medal in synchronized swimming here yesterday when she dominated the solo event at the world swimming championships.

Two-time runner-up Dedieu earned eight maximum 10 marks out of a possible ten to give her a final total of 99.251 points to push Russia’s Anastasia Yermakova into second with 97.417. Bronze went to Spain’s Gemma Mengual who scored 97.334.

Dedieu stole the show for her routine dedicated to the tragic life of French sculpturer Camille Claudel who took her own life. It was performed to a musical backdrop of Pierre Alexandre Matti and a Mozart requiem.

On seeing her marks the 24-year-old Dedieu burst into tears, as she reached perfection for artistic impression with five maximum 10 scores, and for technique three 10s and two 9.9s.

Yermakova and Mengual tied for the free solo final but the Russian claimed silver as a result of her marks combined with earlier routines. It was a second medal of the championships for Mengual who took silver in Wednesday’s free routine combination.

European champion Dedieu is only the second French woman to win a swimming gold after Roxana Marcineanu won the 200m at the 1998 world championships.

Xu Leads Chinese 1-2 in One-Meter Springboard

Xu Xiang of China won the men’s one-meter springboard diving gold.

He lead a Chinese 1-2 for the second straight year ahead of compatriot Wang Kenan, with Joona Puhakka taking Finland’s first ever diving medal, a bronze.

Xu took the lead after the first jump, but a poor second two-and-a-half somersault tuck pushed him into second behind Russian Alexander Dobroskok.

But the 21-year-old diver regained the lead in the fourth round and held it until the sixth and final round for a total of 431.94 points. Wang scored 412.41 with Puhakka achieving 391.26, to push Dobroskok, who earlier this week won gold on the three-meter individual and synchronised springboards, into fourth with 378.45.

Phelps Out to Prove His Worth

US teen swim star Michael Phelps admitted yesterday that he has a point to prove during the world swimming championships here next week. Phelps’ performances over the past four years have earned him comparisons to mighty Australian Ian Thorpe.

But Barcelona will mark the first time that Phelps has gone into a major international championship with the weight of expectations upon him. And the 18-year-old from Baltimore knows that he has still a long way to go before he can say he is in the same league as the ‘Thorpedo’.