Great Britain's hopes for a record Olympic medal haul in the diving pool look to be over after Tonia Couch and Sarah Barrow failed to make the podium in the platform synchro.
British Diving performance director Alexei Evangulov targeted three medals on the eve of the Games - which would have beaten their previous best of two at the 1960 Olympics.
That ambition would, however, now seem a forlorn hope after European champions Couch and Barrow followed Tom Daley and Pete Waterfield in failing to medal on the highest board.
Like their male counterparts the previous day, one dive cost them dear after they had been second only to eventual winners China after the opening two compulsory dives.
They dropped to sixth after Barrow over-rotated on their third dive, an inward three-and-a-half somersaults, before recovering to claim fifth in what was an international best score of 321.72.
While it was still short of their podium aim, after they claimed a bronze medal in the same company at the World Cup in February, their otherwise solid performance in a highly-competitive final offered reason for cheer.
"We would've needed a personal best because the other three that got a medal dived absolutely brilliantly," Couch said.
"I think that was the best we've ever dived internationally, so we can't be too down about it.
"It would've been hard to get that medal today and the top three did deserve it. We're going to chill out now. We've had a such a long, long time to train really hard and it's been so intense.
"I think I'm just going to get myself a McDonald's or a pizza. I've been looking at that. It's been free and it's been teasing me every day, so I can't wait to just chill out."