China proved its dominance in the diving pool once again with another clean sweep, as the "Dream Team" bagged all the eight gold on offer at the 18th Diving World Cup which ended Saturday in London.

The team also pocketed four silver medals at the event.

Qiu Bo, China's up-and-coming star, clinched the gold in men's 10m platform on Saturday evening. Another Chinese diver Lin Yue was ranked the sixth.

Dubbed "Mr Calm" for his stability, Qiu said his biggest enemy was himself. In 2009, he finished second in the Rome World Championships.

"I went through a really difficult time after losing the gold in Rome," he said.

"Then I realized that confidence is essential in the competition and one must conquer his fear so as to win," he said.

In the second competition Saturday evening, Chinese veteran Wu Minxian and He Zi led all the way with their commanding performances to pluck the gold.

Twice Olympic champion Wu was expected to be the next "Diving Queen" in China after pinup Guo Jingjing's retirement. In the women's 3m springboard event, she beat her teammate and partner He to mount the top of the podium.

Wu's glory in London was only paralleled by Olympic champion Chen Ruolin. The 20-year-old Chen snatched the gold in women's 10m platform on the second day after intense competition.

Chen later paired up with Wang Hao to win her second gold in women's synchronized 10m platform.

In men's events, Chinese divers Qin Kai and Luo Yutong were crowned at the synchronized 3m springboard event, while Olympic champion He Chong won the 3m springboard, leaving the silver to his compatriot Qin Kai.

The event was viewed as an examination for Chinese divers before the London Games, especially the male divers.

After the Shanghai world championships, Chinese divers came to realize that with the improvement of their competitors, they could only win by increasing the difficulty of their dives.

Zhou Jihong, manager of the Chinese diving team, required every male spring divers to perform the most difficult dive to defend their titles. The dive, coded as 109C, featured fast-spinning four and a half somersaults with tuck.

Despite the overwhelming victory, Chinese divers couldn't feel relieved as their foreign counterparts are formidable enough to challenge their dominance.

Russian pair Dvgeny Kuznetsov and Illya Zakharov was only less than 6 points behind Qin and Luo in the men's 3m synchronized event, after a disastrous second dive.

After the competition, Zakharov said, "Our aim is the gold, but as my partner has a trauma, we are not in good form. At the Olympic Games we will show our real capacity."

In comparison, Qin and Luo who only performed the 109C for the first time in world arena surely need more preparation.

Other powerful contestants are Olympic champion Matthew Mitcham of Australia and British prodigy Thomas Daley.

Xinhua - Global Times