The diving powerhouse went one better than at the Tokyo Games three years ago when they claimed seven of the eight golds.

Defending champion Cao was a class above his rivals.

He finished on 547.50 points, with Japan’s Rikuto Tamai on 507.65 to claim silver and Briton Noah Williams (497.35) the bronze medal.

Cao became the first to retain his Olympic 10m crown since American Greg Louganis in Seoul 1988.

After three of the six-dive final, Cao was being hard pressed by Japanese teenager Tamai.

But Tamai, only 17, flopped on his fifth and penultimate effort to clear Cao’s path to the top of the podium and a place in his country’s diving history.

The Olympic diving programme swelled to its current programme of eight finals at the 2000 Sydney Games with the inclusion of the synchronised version for the springboard and platform events.