David Boudia (Noblesville, Ind.) became the first American man to win an Olympic gold medal in 20 years when he won the men's 10-meter platform gold Saturday.

Boudia scored 568.65 points to edge China's Qiu Bo, who won silver at 568.65. Great Britain's Tom Daley took bronze at 556.95.

"This is so surreal. Seeing my name on the scoreboard, I just had no idea. I'm an Olympic champion. I'm in disbelief," said Boudia, who earlier in the Games won a bronze in synchronized 10-meter with Nick McCrory (Chapel Hill, N.C.).

With the gold, Boudia became the first American man to win Olympic gold since 1992, when Mark Lenzi won the 3-meter springboard contest in Barcelona. The last American man to win Olympic gold on platform was Greg Louganis in 1988, and the last American man to medal on platform was Scott Donie, who won silver in 1992. Laura Wilkinson won the 2000 women's platform gold medal, the last Olympic medal of any sort won by an American prior to the London Games.

The contest came down to the wire, with Daley leading and Boudia and Qiu tied for second just.15 points behind Daley heading into the final round. Daley dove first and scored 90.75 on his reverse 3 ½ tuck. Boudia countered with 102.60 points on his back 2 ½ with 2 ½ twists, earning five 9.5s and four 9s from the judges, to pass Daley in the standings. He then waited for Qiu, who was performing the same dive as Boudia. Qiu's dive went for 100.80 points, earning four 9.5s and five 9s, allowing Boudia to capture the gold medal.

Boudia wasn't paying attention to the scoreboard and had no idea the standings were as close as they was heading into that final round.

"This was an extremely competitive contest, and if I had known, my heart probably would have been pounding. Instead, I just went up there and did my dive like I always do. These six dives just felt like a dream," Boudia said.

Boudia, who narrowly escaped elimination a day before when he finished 18^th in Friday's preliminaries, was never lower than third in the standings throughout the finals.

"This was totally night and day from (preliminaries). I was really tense in prelims and barely made it into the semis. Waking up this morning, I just had a new perspective. I relaxed and enjoyed it," Boudia said.

He scored 97.20 points on his armstand double back with 2 ½ twists to take the lead after round one. He was in third after round two, when he earned 86.40 points on his inward 3 ½ tuck in round two but reclaimed the lead with 99.9 points on his third dive, a front 4 ½ tuck. He maintained the lead after round four before Daley took the slim .15-point after round five.

Boudia's gold was the fourth medal of the Games for the U.S., which had not won an Olympic diving medal since 2000 prior to these Games. The U.S. also earned a silver in women's synchronized 3-meter from Kelci Bryant and Abby Johnston and a bronze in men's synchronized 3-meter from Troy Dumais and Kristian Ipsen.

McCrory also advanced to the men's platform final and finished ninth with 505.40 points.

"I felt pretty good. I could have sharpened up some things, but I'm proud of my performance. I did my best," McCrory said.

As for his synchro partner, McCrory could not have been prouder.

"I knew (Boudia) could do it. He was ending on a really solid dive for him, and he's been working so hard. He dove out of his mind, and he deserved it. This is so awesome for USA Diving," McCrory said.

Originally published by USA Diving (http://www.teamusa.org)