China easily won its second gold medal in diving at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games, dominating the men's 10-metre synchronised event while showing the rest of the world how to barely make a splash. Chen Aisen and Lin Yue totalled 496.98 points on Monday, cruising to victory by 39.87 points.

US team-mates David Boudia and Steele Johnson took silver at 457.11 while Tom Daley and Daniel Goodfellow of Great Britain rallied to claim bronze in 445.45.

All smiles: (from left) the medalists David Boudia, Steele Johnson, Chen Aisen, Tom Daley, Lin Yue and Daniel Goodfellow

China is aiming to sweep the eight diving events in Rio de Janeiro for the first time in the Olympics. A day earlier, the Chinese won the women's 3m synchro title. Chen and Lin were especially impressive on their final two dives, totaling the most points of any team in both rounds. China, the United States and Britain all performed the same dive in the fifth round, a forward 4½ somersaults tuck that carries one of the highest degrees of difficulty. 

Goodfellow and Daley won bronze with the final dive of the competition (Rio 2016/Miriam Jeske)

The Americans went first, scoring 85.47 points. China was next, with Chen and Lin putting on a clinic with a score of 106.56. They plunged into the water off the 33-foot tower with very little splash and earned a perfect 10 for synchronisation.

The final dive came from Daley and Goodfellow whose 92.13 score was good enough to move them from fifth to third after the German duo of Patrick Hausding and Sascha Klein performed a less difficult dive that earned fewer points and dropped them to fourth.

In the last round, the Americans and Chinese did the same dive, a back 2½ somersaults with 2½ twists pike only slightly less difficult than their previous one. Boudia and Johnson went first, scoring 95.04 points with marks as high as 9.0. Chen and Lin did even better, hitting the water in unison and being rewarded with 9.5s and 9.0s.

Lin earned his first gold in the event since 2008, when he and Huo Liang teamed to win synchro platform in their home country. He didn't compete in the event four years ago in London. Cheng and Lin hit the water (Getty Images/Al Bello)

With lots of Chinese flags and fans in the stands, the crowd booed heartily when it saw the judges' marks for Chen and Lin in the fourth round. Fans didn't think the scores ranging from 8.0 to 8.5 were nearly high enough, but it hardly mattered. Chen and Lin were in front from the start of the six-round final and never faltered.

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