Chinese diving superstar wins another gold

ROME, July 24 (UPI) -- Guo Jingjing won her 10th career World Diving Championships gold medal Friday, teaming with Wu Minxia to capture the women's springboard synchronized title.

Guo has won both the individual and synchronized 3-meter gold at each of the last five world championships. She won the individual crown at both the Beijing and Athens Olympics as well as the silver medal in the Sydney Games nine years ago.

Wu teamed with Guo to capture the synchronized 3-meter gold at the last two Olympics.

Guo is such a major figure in China she was given a villa by an anonymous donor following the 2004 Olympics. She made so much money from commercials she had to issue an apology for her "selfishness" to avoid being kicked off the national diving team.

The Chinese duo piled up 348.00 points, with Italians Tania Cagnotto and Francesca Dallape finishing second at 329.70.

Russians Julia Pakhalina and Anastasia Pozdniakova, winners of the silver medal in Beijing, were third at 310.80. Pozdniakova lost her balance on the fourth dive and, with the two Russians out of sync, they received a low set of marks.

Canadians Jennifer Abel and Melanie Rinaldi finished less than a point behind the Russians.

China has won six of the nine golds and 13 medals overall at the world championships, with only the men's 10-meter synchronized event left to be contested Saturday. The United States has three silver medals.