ATHENS, Aug. 20 (Xinhuanet) -- Former world champion Olena Zhupina of Ukraine led the field in the women's 10m platform preliminary Friday while defending champion Laura Wilkinson of the United States ranked 13th at the Olympic Games here.

    The 1998 World Championships double winner Zhupina, who turned 31 Monday, a day after the women's platform final, carried her consistency through to score the highest points of 371.10.

    Australian Loudy Tourky, silver medalist in the synchronized platform in last year's Barcelona Worlds, ranked second in 367.23.

    Reigning world champion Emilie Heymans of Canada blundered in her second dive to finish third, 19.98 points off the pace.

    "Emilie was not really confident for the first dives but the brilliance is to finish third. She is in the ideal position I wanted her to be in," said Heymans' coach Michel Harouche.

    "I didn't want her to explode in brilliance. I want her to save that for the final," he said.

    Synchronized platform Olympic champions Lao Lishi and Li Ting of China were in the fourth and seventh places respectively.

    "They performed normally today," said Chinese team manager ZhouJihong, women's platform winner in the 1984 Olympics in Los Angeles.

    "Emilie and Laura are still the strongest opponents for our twodivers," she added.

    Wilkinson, 26, said she was in her defending campaign as an underdog.

    "I was very well prepared. Coming into this event I was considered to be the underdog," she said. "People were not ready for me to do what I did. This gave me a lot of strength because Iwanted to show people that I could do it." Enditem