Team GB diving future looks bright with Andrea Spendolini-Sirieix leading the charge at Paris 2024 Olympics
The future is bright for British diving, after rising star Andrea Spendolini-Sirieix teamed up with three-time Olympian Lois Toulson to win bronze at Paris 2024.
The pair put on a great show to seal third in the women’s synchronised 10m platform final, finishing behind the People’s Republic of China and Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.
It is a remarkable achievement for both Brits, particularly Spendolini-Sirieix, who has an Olympic medal at 19-years-old.
“It's another medal, we have the individual to come, we just want to keep on pushing and growing,” she said after winning bronze, full of praise for the eventual winners. “"The Chinese train so hard, the way that they train, everything is close to perfection.
“They are the best of the best, the people that we chase, and inspiration. I'm always clapping their dives. Just watch their dives. They go in the water like they are sleeping."
British fans may recognise Spendolini-Sirieix’s name, her father being TV personality Fred Sirieix. He was cheering on his daughter at the Aquatics Centre, celebrating on X by saying, “What emotions! What a beautiful moment! How many tears!!!! I’m bursting with pride, joy and happiness.”
The bronze is Great Britain’s third diving medal of Paris 2024, as the European nation enjoys an impressive Games with medals in at least 10 sports at the time of writing.
Toulson, competing at her third Olympics after making her debut at Rio 2016, landed her first ever Olympic medal.
She said, "It was a bit of a rollercoaster but, with any diving event, it can come down to the wire. So we knew if we kept fighting we could come back on to the podium. So we tried to stay calm and confident. We did our hardest two dives as well as we could really. We are really proud."
They will enjoy their bronze medals, but Spendolini-Sirieix and Toulson are not done with competition yet. Next up is the women’s 10m platform event, which gets underway on 5 August at the Aquatics Centre.