Water Torture China's 1-2 finish denied the U.S. the springboard title for only the third time in 76 years by Michael Bamberger The air was muggy. Moths fluttered in the floodlights. The Georgia Tech Aquatic Center was silent, save for a whistling train off in the distance. Mark Lenzi—28 years old, a son of the South, born in Alabama—stood on the springboard, three meters above the still water. Xiong won the semifinal round yesterday afternoon and was still in top form during the finals. photograph by Richard Mackson But there was Lenzi, feeling the bounce of the board, knowing that two men from China, Xiong Ni and Yu Zhuocheng, were ahead of him, in first and second, respectively. He knew that his compatriot Scott Donie was having a good night but not the kind of night that wins a gold medal. He watched a gold medal being draped around Xiong's thin neck, and a silver around Yu's and a bronze around his own. He heard several thousand people cheering for him.

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