DIVING : China’s Tan Shuping, 15, Wins One-Meter Title

Executing a dive no other woman has mastered, China’s Tan Shuping won the one-meter springboard title Friday in the Alamo Four Nation Challenge at the Rose Bowl Aquatic Center.

Mark Lenzi of the United States dominated the men’s three-meter springboard and Russia’s Svetlana Khokhlova was the women’s platform champion.

Tan used the inward 2 1/2 somersault to defeat Germany’s Brita Baldus. It drew scores of 5 1/2 and 6, and, boosted by a degree of difficulty of 3.0, gave her a 2.4-point lead.

Her final dive, a forward 2 1/2 somersault, scored even higher, giving her the victory, 252.10 to 249.30.

Tan, 15, is the heir apparent to Gao Min, a two-time Olympic gold medalist who dominated the springboard from 1986 until her retirement after the 1992 Olympic Games.

“Her ability is better than Gao Min and she has higher degree of difficulty, but the quality of her dives has a little distance from Gao Min,” said Tan’s coach, Wu Guncun.

Said Lenzi, the 1992 Olympic gold medalist: “I just wanted to come in here and do a good job. I was really pleased. It’s been a long, hard year. I haven’t been able to relax.”

Lenzi, 25, did not move into the lead until the seventh round. His ninth dive, a 3 1/2 somersault, increased his lead from nine points to 25 points. On his final dive, a reverse 3 1/2 somersault, he received only 6’s, but his 3.5 degree of difficulty pushed the score of the dive to 63 points, giving Lenzi a final total of 609.25, well ahead of Dmitri Sautin of Russia at 586.50.

Barcelona Olympic platform gold medalist Fu Mingxia did not compete in the platform competition because she has grown several inches, to 4 feet 8, and gained almost 10 pounds, to 85, spokeswoman Qin Xiaowen said.