Caeli McKay and Kate Miller Edged Out of Olympic Medal

Montréal, July 31, 2024 – Caeli McKay and Kate Miller fought a fierce battle against Great Britain’s Lois Toulson and Andrea Spendolini Sirieix in the synchronized 10-metre platform final at the Paris Olympic Games on Wednesday. With a final score of 299.22 points, they ended the event at the foot of the podium.

In provisional second place after their first dive, the Canadian pair had a bit of difficulty with their second attempt, a backward dive in pike position that earned them 44.40 points and dropped them to fifth place.

“I think all our dives went pretty well. There were no major errors or anything. Things just turned out the way they did. Of course, we could have been more precise, but overall, all our dives were well-executed,” said McKay.

McKay and Miller quickly stepped up their game. After four rounds, the Calgarian and the Ontarian were in position to win the bronze medal, but their score of 68.16 on their final dive did not allow them to achieve their objective.

“It was an amazing experience. Of course, I’m frustrated with the result because I know we could have done better, even though we performed all our dives well. When I was younger, I dreamed of coming here and winning a medal. That’s not what ended up happening, but I’m very proud of us as a team,” said Miller, who is at her first Olympics.

McKay, who is competing in the second Olympic Games of her career, finished fourth in the same event at the Tokyo Games with her teammate Meaghan Benfeito.

“It’s not possible for me to compare the synchronized diving career I had in Tokyo with the one I have now with my new partner, Kate Miller. The two fourth-place finishes at the Olympics can’t be compared. I think the two situations were completely different,” added the Canadian diver, who is originally from Calgary but now trains in Montréal. “This time, I just let myself enjoy diving with Kate and savouring her first Olympics with her.”

The Chinese team made up of Chen Yuxi and Quan Hongchan, which had been favoured to win, once again dominated the event, holding the top spot throughout the finals and finishing with a total of 359.10 points.

Mi Rae Kim and Mi Jin Jo of North Korea won silver with 315.90 points, and Great Britain’s Toulson and Spendolini Sirieix secured bronze with 304.38.

“Going straight to the finals at the Olympics is very hard on the nerves. It’s hard to even try to explain. In my next event, in the preliminaries, I think I’m just going to keep it simple and adjust to the competition and to the crowd and focus on what I have to do,” said McKay, who will once again compete for Team Canada in diving in the women’s individual 10-metre event on Monday, August 5.