U.S. Diving Outdoor Championships : Shaffer Overtakes Louganis on Last Dive and Wins Title

Doug Shaffer scored 76 points on his last dive to defeat Olympic champion Greg Louganis in the one-meter springboard final Thursday at the U.S. Diving Championships.

Earlier in the day, Kim Fugett moved up from seventh to first place on her final five dives to take the lead in the preliminary round of the women’s three-meter springboard.

Cokey Smith, who was the leader in the women’s platform preliminary competition, struck her forehead on the board on her eighth dive. She was taken to a hospital for stitches but should be be able to compete in the platform finals Saturday.

Shaffer, 25, of Boca Raton, Fla., had also beaten Louganis in the one-meter indoor final in April. Thursday, Louganis grabbed the lead from Shaffer on the seventh dive and built that into a 20-point bulge through the next-to-last dive.

Louganis dived before Shaffer and scored only 55 points on a reverse 2 1/2 pike, a dive that he put in the rule book two years ago, to finish with 585.93 points. Shaffer had an inward 2 1/2 somersault, which received 76 points and gave him a total of 587.40 for the competition.

“I proved it (the indoor) wasn’t a fluke,” Shaffer said. “I knew I could do it. The final goal I set out for myself in diving was to win national championships.”

Louganis said he did not regret trying his most difficult dive on his last attempt.

“I was a little bit back on the board and I went short,” Louganis said, “but it has gone well for me in the past. It was purely a choice I made with my coach. I went with it and I’m glad I did.”

Louganis was thwarted in his bid for a 42nd national title, but he’ll take a lead into the finals of the three-meter and the 10-meter platform events today and Saturday.