Brandon's Colwill 4th In Synchronized Springboard

If finishing one place away from making your country's Olympic team is the toughest place to finish at the trials, then fourth place at the Olympic Games is probably an even more difficult spot to take.

That was the position Brandon's Chris Colwill and dive partner Jevon Tarantino of Boca Raton found themselves in today at the end of the men's 3-meter synchronized springboard event at the Water Cube in Beijing.

As expected, China's Wang Feng and Qin Kai won the gold medal with 469.08 points. Dmitry Sautin and Yuriy Kunakov of Russia earned silver (421.98), and Illya Kvasha and Oleksiy Prygorov of Ukraine (415.05) took the bronze.

Colwill and Tarantino scored 410.73, less than five points from making the podium.

Making things more frustrating is that heading into their sixth and final dive, Colwill and Tarantino were in third place and one point away from the silver medal. But that final dive - a reverse 3 1/2 gainer - just wasn't one of their better dives of the six they performed today. The odd thing was that's usually one of their better dives.

"We just tried to take it one dive at a time," Colwill said. "It's our first Olympics. ... We'll come back next time."

Tarantino expressed some regret but was still appreciative of being part of the Olympics.

"I'm a little discouraged, but at the same time, this has been an awesome experience," Tarantino said. "It was a great competition, and we did everything we could. I just went a little short of vertical on that last dive, and I think that was just me wanting it so much."

Colwill's father and mother, Chuck and Debbie Colwill, attended the meet. Chuck said the odd thing about the final dive is that the pair's gainers are usually some of the better dives.

"I thought for sure we had some color of medal heading into that last dive," Chuck Colwill said by phone. "It's a good thing I didn't have a bookie or I would've bet the house because that gainer is usually their money dive."

The good news for the U.S squad is that Colwill appears to be diving well and is focused on his upcoming individual event in 3-meter springboard. The prelims for that begin Monday. Tarantino's Olympics are over because he did not qualify individually.