August 12, 2008 05:36pm

Melissa Wu and Briony Cole have won silver at the Beijing Olympics 10m platform diving final.

AUSTRALIAN Olympic rookies Melissa Wu and Briony Cole have claimed the Olympic silver medal in the women's synchronised 10m platform.
The duo delivered a superb performance to amass 335.16 points and finish behind only the dominant home team which continued China's undefeated run at the Water Cube.

Wang Xin and Chen Ruolin were near faultless throughout and won the gold medal with an outstanding 363.54 points while Mexico's Paola Espinosa and Tatiana Ortiz took bronze with 330.06 points.

The Australians were just over one point ahead of the Mexicans heading into the final round but nailed a wonderful 87.72 point dive to hold off their rivals.

It was also Australia's first diving medal at these Games following two previous days of disappointments in synchronised events.

Cole combined with Sharleen Stratton for fifth place in the 3m springboard last Sunday while men's 10m platform pairing Mathew Helm and Robert Newbery missed bronze yesterday by less than half a point.

Wu and Cole however had been the biggest medal hopes of the dive team after claiming silver at last year's world championships in this event.

At just 16 years of age Wu is one of the youngest members of the Australian Olympic team and considered the star of the future.