Duke’s Nick McCrory finishing ninth overall in the finals of the men’s individual 10-meter platform diving event to wrap up his London experience. But he was first to congratulate gold-medal-winning U.S. teammate David Boudia with a big bear hug.

“I knew he could do it,” McCrory said of Boudia. “He was ending with a solid dive and he hit it. I’m so happy for him. He really earned it.”

In a historic performance, Boudia took the gold with an overall score of 568.65 to become the first American diver to win the men’s 10-meter platform Olympic competition since Greg Louganis did so in 1988. China’s Qui Bo claimed the silver with 566.85 points and Tom Daley of Great Britain totaled 556.95 points to win the bronze.

A product of Chapel Hill, McCrory compiled a total score of 505.40 in the final to secure a top-10 finish among some of the best divers in the world. He heads back to the United States an Olympic medalist after partnering with Boudia to win the bronze in the men’s synchronized 10-meter event earlier in the Games.

McCrory, a rising pre-med junior at Duke, qualified 7th in the semi-finals after hovering around the cut off line at 10th and 11th. The top 12 advanced. “I was on the bubble throughout the entire contest. I knew I needed to do some good dives,” said McCrory, who did make a couple of good dives to secure his place in the finals.

McCrory picked up right where he left off in Saturday morning’s semifinals, earning three 9.0s on his opening dive of the event finals, an inward 3 ½ somersault in the tuck position for a score of 86.40. That score was good for sixth place overall heading into the second round, where he was awarded 75.20 points on his armstand back double somersault with 1 ½ twists to bring his total to 161.60.

A forward 4 ½ somersault for a 3.7 degree of difficulty by McCrory in the third round earned him 83.25 points, moving him up two spots to ninth place. He then averaged scores of 8.0 on his next two dives, including a back 3 ½ somersault in the fifth round that garnered a score of 84.15 from the judges. That put him in ninth overall with just one final dive remaining.

On his 24th and final dive of the 2012 Olympic Games, McCrory received his best score of the three-round individual competition, tallying 97.20 points on a back 2 ½ somersault with 2 ½ twists to conclude the finals with a score of 505.40.

The men’s 10-meter final concluded what has been a very successful Olympic Games for U.S. divers, who garnered one gold, one silver and two bronze medals. Kelci Bryant and Duke’s Abby Johnston were the first American divers to medal, winning silver in the women’s synchronized 3-meter competition on July 29.