In the early 19th century, gymnasts in Germany and Sweden popularised ‘fancy’ diving by performing elaborate acrobatics while jumping into the water.
Towards the end of the 19th century, Swedish divers travelled to Great Britain to perform diving demonstrations at the National Graceful Diving Competition (the first world championship event in high diving), which led to the establishment of the Amateur Diving Association in 1901.
Brief overview of the rules
At the Olympic Games, the sport is contested in eight events: the 3-metre springboard (individual and synchronised, men and women) and the 10-metre platform (individual and synchronised, men and women). The 3-metre springboard enables divers to leap high into the air, while the high dive is performed from a fixed platform position 10 metres above the water. The individual and synchronised competitions take place at both heights.
A panel of judges score each dive based on various criteria, including how aesthetically pleasing a diver’s movements are, the complexity of the dive and how well the diver enters the water. Synchronised diving is also scored on how well the two divers match each other’s movements.
Olympic history
Diving made its Olympic debut at the 1904 Games in St. Louis and has been included at every Games since. The first women’s events were contested at the 1912 Games in Stockholm, while the synchronised competition was added to the programme at the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games.
Diving events at the Games were initially dominated by Team USA athletes, though in recent Olympiads competitors from the People’s Republic of China have been formidable (Chinese athletes won 12 of the 24 available diving medals, including seven golds, at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games).
