SINGAPORE – Waking up in the morning of Aug 1, Mexican diver Osmar Olvera Ibarra had only one thing in mind.

Having claimed three silver medals at the World Aquatics Championships in Singapore, the 21-year-old was determined to win the gold in his last event and end China’s near two-decade stranglehold on the men’s 3m springboard.

At the OCBC Aquatic Centre later in the evening, he accomplished what he had set out to do as he somersaulted, twisted and piked his way to history.

Garnering 529.55 points from six dives, he became the first Mexican winner of the event, thwarting China, represented by Cao Yuan and Wang Zongyuan, from making it 11 consecutive wins.

Cao, who was just 6.85 points behind Olvera, had also finished second in 2019 and 2022 while Wang, who had won in three consecutive editions before this meet, slipped to third with 515.55 points.

“Yeah, I believed it,” said Olvera when The Straits Times asked him shortly after the medal ceremony if he had believed that he would be the one to end China’s streak, which stretched back to the 2007 edition.

“When I got up, I told myself that I will get a gold medal today. And that today, I will be a world champion and I got it, so I’m so happy.

“I don’t know (why I felt this way) but yesterday when I went to sleep, I thought, it would be a really great day and in the morning, I was really sure today I would beat the Chinese divers. I know that they are the best, the best country in this sport, and I am always training, thinking that I want to beat them. And today I got it.

“It’s a dream come true.”

Olvera had finished second behind Wang in the 2023 edition in Fukuoka and was third in Doha in 2024, behind Wang and Xie Siyi.

Finishing behind China had become an all-too-familiar feeling to him.

At the Paris Olympics last August, he also placed third b...