RIO DE JANEIRO -- Meaghan Benfeito figured once she had two Olympic diving medals, it would be time to call it quits.
But those plans are on hold after she captured a bronze medal -- the third of her career -- in the women's 10-metre event Thursday.
It was the second medal of the Rio Games for the Laval, Que., athlete after her third-place finish in the synchronized platform competition with Roseline Filion. The duo also won bronze in synchro four years ago in London.
"I've always said that if I became a double Olympic medallist, I would stop diving," Benfeito said. "But I want to continue and my decision (to participate in the Tokyo 2020 Games) had already been made."
Benfeito, 27, finished with an overall score of 389.20. Filion, 29, also from Laval, was sixth with 367.95.
China finished 1-2 with Ren Qian capturing gold at 439.25 and silver going to Si Yajie (419.40).
Benfeito also accomplished something that hadn't been done by a Canadian in 16 years. She became the first diver since Anne Montminy at the Sydney 2000 Games to win two medals at an Olympics.
"All that I had hope for was to have five good dives," Benfeito said. "I gave it everything and I couldn't, by all evidence, ask for better."
Benfeito nailed her fifth dive -- an inward 3 1/2 somersault -- and then had to wait to see if Australia's Melissa Wu could pass her in the standings. She didn't, and Benfeito could celebrate her third career Olympic medal.
"I knew that she (Wu) had a lot of points to catch up," she said. "I knew that she could do it, but at the same time all the girls dove well today. They all wanted to get that medal."
"It really wasn't the same final as London (in 2012 when she finished 11th) as all the scores from today were really higher."
Filion was also in medal contention until she missed her fourth dive.
"I'm really proud of my performance tonight," she said. "Obviously I missed my fourth dive, but the four other ones were perfect. It was a super-strong final, and I'm really really proud of myself.
Unlike Benfeito, Filion does not plan to compete in 2020.
"This is my last Olympics. I had an amazing career," she said. "I'm really proud of how I managed the strong event tonight."
The Chinese continued to be unbeatable as 15-year-old Ren produced five nearly flawless efforts.
Seamlessly filling the void left by two-time Olympic champion Chen Ruolin, Ren and Si took turns seeing who could out-do the other. Their spins were quicker than anyone else's. Their twists and turns were graceful and elegant, yet showed stunning athleticism. And when they sliced through the water, they barely left a ripple.
Ren never received a mark lower than 8.5, and her final two dives produced three perfect 10s. Hardly looking her age, she was simply unflappable in her first appearance on the Olympic stage.
"I focused on each individual dive. I focused on my own routine," Ren said through a translator. "I was thinking about my movements, my dives. I didn't overthink about the final score."
Si led the way in both the preliminaries and the semifinals, but she finally wobbled a bit in the fourth round. She was slightly off on her toughest dive -- a back 3 1/2 somersault with a tuck -- and wound up with scores ranging from 7.0 to 8.0.
That was all Ren needed to clinch the gold, the sixth in seven diving events for the Chinese at these Games. If they can win the final event, the men's platform, it would match their best Olympic performance ever. They also won seven of eight events at Beijing in 2008.
"They're the best at the sport," Benfeito said. "They're born to dive. I really admire them. I love diving against them and trying to push them even harder."
Diving Canada technical director Mitch Geller was pleased with his team's final results.
"We knew that she (Benfeito) had a chance but we also knew that the competition would be difficult," Geller said. "Meaghan did some things today that I hadn't seen her do in two years. She succeeded all her dives and tonight was the first time that she succeeded with her third -- the triple somersault and half back.
"It was one of the best finals that I've seen in my life."
Filion and Benfeito were 10th and 11th place at the London 2012 Games in the individual competition.
