Germán Sánchez (diver)

Germán Sánchez

Germán Sánchez (2016)
Personal information
Full name	Germán Saúl Sánchez Sánchez
Nickname(s)	Duva
Born	(1992-06-24) 24 June 1992 Guadalajara, Mexico
Residence	Guadalajara, Mexico
Height	167 cm (5 ft 6 in)
Weight	50 kg (110 lb)
Sport
Country	Mexico
Event(s)	Diving 10 m, 10 m synchro
Partner	Iván García
Medal record Men's diving Representing  Mexico Event 1st 2nd 3rd Olympic Games - 2 – World Championships - 1 – World Cup - 1 - Pan American Games 1 - – Central American and Caribbean Games 2 - - Summer Universiade - - 2 World Junior Championships - 1 - Summer Olympics 2016 Rio de Janeiro 10m platform 2012 London Sync. platform World Championships 2015 Kazan Sync. platform FINA Diving World Cup 2012 London Sync. platform Pan American Games 2011 Guadalajara Sync. platform Central American and Caribbean Games 2010 Mayagüez 10m platform 2010 Mayagüez Sync. platform Summer Universiade 2013 Kazan Sync. platform 2013 Kazan Team World Junior Championships 2010 Tucson 10m platform

Germán Saúl Sánchez Sánchez (born 24 June 1992) is a Mexican diver.^[1] He is nicknamed "Duva". At the age of 16, he competed in the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing for the individual 10 metre platform and came in 22nd with a score of 399.35 in the preliminary.^[2] He won one gold medal in the 2011 Pan-American Games. He qualified to participate at the 2012 Summer Olympics by his performance at the 2012 FINA Diving World Cup where he achieved the silver medal alongside Iván García, to participate in both individual and synchronized 10 metre platform. At the 2012 Summer Olympics in London, he won a silver medal in the 10m Synchronized Platform with his partner Iván García with a high score of 468.90.^[3] In the individual 10m Platform, Germán Sánchez came the 14th with a score of 477.30 in the semi-final.^[4] At 2016, Germán Sánchez took part in his third Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. In the Synchronized Platform, he and his partner Iván García didn't perform as well as 2012 and only came the 5th with a score of 423.30.^[5] Twelve days later, Germán Sánchez came up in the final in Men's 10m Platform after ranking only 12th in the preliminary^[6] and 9th in the semi-final.^[7] To everyone's surprise, he performed his best and won the silver medal with a high score of 532.70.^[8] He became the third Mexican athlete to win an Olympic silver medal in Men's 10m Platform after Joaquín Capilla(1952) and Álvaro Gaxiola(1968). He is also the only Mexican diver who has won Olympic medals in both individual event and synchronized event.

Technical Features

Germán Sánchez is a talented diver who can dive quite difficult dives all over the world. He has mastered a series of the most difficult dives since 2012. The dives which he uses now in the competition and their difficult degrees are respectively Forward 4½ Somersaults-Tuck 109C(3.7), Back 3½ Somersaults-Tuck 207C(3.3), Reverse 3½ Somersaults-Tuck 307C(3.4), Inward 4½ Somersaults-Tuck 409C(4.1), Forward 2½ Somersaults 3 Twists-Pike 5156B(3.8) and Armstand Back 3 Somersaults-Tuck 626C(3.3).^[9] The total difficult degrees of his dives are amazing 21.6, which is the world's third greatest following Iván García(MEX) and Yang Jian(CHN)! Germán Sánchez is able to dive either the most difficult dive or the second most difficult dive in five of the six diving groups(forward, backward, reverse, inward, and twisting groups). Among these dives, 409C is the most difficult dive being used all over the world currently.^[10] In 2012 London Olympic Games, Germán Sánchez finished his difficult dives with his partner Iván García to an almost perfect extent, which awarded them a silver Olympic medal-the best performance of Mexicans in synchronized diving. However, due to the quite difficult dives, he cannot perform perfectly all the time. It is common for him to perform unsteadily.

Olympic experiences

Germán Sánchez took part in his first Olympic Games at the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games at the age of 16. He only participated in the individual 10m platform. At that time, the difficult degrees of his dives are not high. The six dives he performed were respectively 5253B,207C,307C,6142D,407C,109C. The total difficult degrees were only 19.9, which was lack of competitiveness. Finally he stopped at the qualifying round with a score of 399.35, which made him rank 22nd in the final standings.^[11]

Germán Sánchez qualified to participate at the 2012 Summer Olympics by his performance at the 2012 FINA Diving World Cup where he achieved the silver medal alongside Iván García, to participate in both individual and synchronized 10m platform. This time, the dives he performed were much more competitive than that of 2008 Beijing Olympic Games. The six dives he performed with his partner Iván García in the synchronized 10m platform were 401B,201B,109C,409C,307C,5156B. Their total difficult degrees were 19.0, which was the highest in that competition. They performed all of their dives to an almost perfect extent. Finally they came the second with a high score of 468.90,which was only 17.88 points behind Chinese diverd Cao Yuan and Zhang Yanquan.^[11] The high score rewarded them an Olympic silver medal, making them Olympic Medalists and Mexico's heroes.

In the individual match, the six dives Germán Sánchez performed were 207C,5156B,626C,409C,307C,109C. The total difficult degrees were an amazing 21.5. Regrettably, due to the terrible performance in the dive 626C, he stopped at the semi-final with a rank of 14 and missed the final by only 2 ranks.^[11]

At the age of 24, Germán Sánchez met his third Olympic Games - 2016 Summer Olympics. He was qualified to participate in both individual and synchronized 10m platform with Iván García. In the synchronized 10m platform, their dives were different from those at 2012 Summer Olympics. Their six dives are 401B, 301B, 5255B, 109C, 207C, and 5156B. Without 409C, their total difficult degrees were 18.4, which was still the highest in that competition. They performed normally in that event and came in the 5th place after Chen Aisen/Lin Yue (CHN), David Boudia/Steele Johnson (USA), Thomas Daley/Daniel Goodfellow (GBR), and Patrick Hausding/Sascha Klein (GER).

Twelve days later, Germán Sánchez came up in the final in Men's 10m Platform after ranking only 12th in the preliminary^[6] and 9th in the semi-final.^[7] Due to the injury, he adjusted his dives and the difficult degrees became lower to 20.7. Geeting rid of inferior performance in the preliminary and semi-final, to everyone's surprise, he performed every dive steadily and did his best to win the silver medal with a high score of 532.70.^[8] He became the third Mexican athlete to win an Olympic silver medal in Men's 10m Platform after Joaquín Capilla(1952) and Álvaro Gaxiola(1968). He is also the only Mexican diver who has won Olympic medals in both individual event and synchronized event.

Competitive history

Germán Sánchez became a professional diver in 2008 in the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing. From then on, representing Mexico, he has been competing for FINA World Junior Diving Championships,^[12] FINA World Aquatics Championships, Olympic Games, FINA Diving World Cup, FINA Diving World Series,^[13] Pan American Games and Central American and Caribbean Games. He has won many medals of those competitions from 2010.^[14] He became an Olympic silver medalist in 2012. He has won one gold medal in the Pan American Games in 2011.

He won Olympic medals in London 2012 (synchronized) and Rio 2016 (individual).^[15]

^@with Iván García
^#with Alejandra Orozco
^§Veracruz, MEX held two legs of 2010 FINA Diving World Series.
^† Guadalajara, MEX held two legs of 2013 FINA Diving World Series.
^% With different pairs.

References