Divers Yasmin Harper and Scarlett Mew Jensen won Team GB’s first medal on the opening day of the Olympics since 2004 with a dramatic bronze in the women’s synchronised 3m springboard in Paris.

The pair were in tears at the end of the competition as they snatched Britain’s first female diving medal at an Olympics for 64 years behind China and the United States.

They were sixth with two dives to go and fourth before the final dive but an excellent final effort moved them into third.

Australia still looked set for bronze at worst, but a horrible mistake on their final dive was greeted by gasps from the crowd at the Paris Aquatics Centre and they failed to overhaul Harper and Mew Jensen.

Londoner Mew Jensen, competing at her second Olympics, sustained a partial fracture in her back just three months ago which limited her to just a month’s preparation.

Her stunned expression soon turned to tears of joy after the Australian error.

“A month ago I didn’t think I would be here,” Mew Jensen, 22, said.

“To be up on the boards and to come away with that [bronze medal], I can’t imagine anything better.”

Chester-born Harper, who turns 24 on Sunday, said: “It is all we have worked towards. To come away with the medal feels really, really amazing.”

Gold for world champions Chang Yani and Chen Yiwen was rarely in doubt in an impressive performance which sealed a sixth consecutive gold for China in this event.

America’s Sarah Bacon and Kassidy Cook took silver.

Mew Jensen’s injury ruled her out of diving for six weeks in the run-up to the Games and meant she would not compete in the individual competition.

“You have got to push doubts to the side,” she said. “Yas has been completely supportive.”

The pair, who are staying together in the Olympic village and were sporting elaborate nail art painted by Harper with equipment she has brought to Paris, were second after the opening round of dives but slipped down the standings after small errors in their next two efforts.

That left them in sixth, but only nine points separated them from the bronze medal position before a strong fourth dive moved the British pair back into contention.

Harper and Mew Jensen followed their score of 71.10 with 70.68 on their final dive, but that only gave them an advantage of 58.68 over Australian pair Anabelle Smith and Maddison Keeney – the world silver medallists.

On their final dive, Smith almost slipped from the board, doing well to even make it into the pool, and they scored just 48.60 to finish fifth.

“We knew even if we did a good one we would still be on the back foot,” Mew Jensen said. “We knew Australia needed to mess up.

“For that to actually happen, we were very, very shocked. They are very talented and experienced.”

Smith said: “We’re disappointed, obviously.

“I made a pretty big mistake, when we were in a good position to medal, but that’s diving. Sometimes you can’t control that. It’s just unlucky.”

Great Britain’s last medal on the opening day of an Olympics was won by Peter Waterfield and Leon Taylor, who was part of the BBC commentary team in Paris.

“Right place, right time,” Taylor said of the British medal.

“That’s what happens in diving. What an incredible competition.”

Mew Jensen and Harper had won bronze and silver medals at the World Championships in recent years but this was not one of the 63 medals Team GB are predicted to win in Paris.

The diving continues on Monday when Tom Daley will compete at his fifth Olympics alongside Noah Williams in the 10m synchronised event, in which they are among the favourites.

Andrea Spendolini-Sirieix and Lois Toulson are expected to be in medal contention in the women’s 10m event, while Jack Laugher and Anthony Harding are also fancied in the men’s 3m springboard.