What is Diving?
Diving is a sport where athletes jump or fall into water from a platform or springboard while performing acrobatic routines.
As such, competitors similar characteristics as gymnasts, including strength, flexibility, balance, power, and air awareness.
By whom, where and when was Diving invented?
The sport of diving became popular in Sweden and Germany in the 18th and 19th centuries, and was primarily practised by gymnasts who started performing tumbling routines into the water.
In the late 19th century, a group of Swedish divers visited Great Britain. They put on diving displays that proved hugely popular and led to the formation of the first diving organisation, the Amateur Diving Association, in 1901.
What are the rules of Diving?
There are two types of diving board at the Olympics: springboard and platform.
Springboard diving takes place on a flexible board three metres above the water that propels athletes upwards.
Platform boards sit 10 metres above the water and are rigid, meaning that athletes have to generate their own power, or simply drop into their routine.
There are both individual and synchronised (featuring two athletes) events for both springboard and platform diving at the Olympics. Men compete over six rounds, while women compete over five.
Individual dives are scored by a panel of seven World Aquatics-appointed judges, who rate the dive based on the starting position, the take-off, the flight, and the entry into the water. The top two and bottom two scores are eliminated, and the final three scores are added together and multiplied by the degree of difficulty rating of the dive to achieve the total score for that dive.
The highest overall combined score at the end is declared the winner.
It is the same process for synchronised diving, except there are 11 judges: six grading the divers’ execution, and five grading synchronisation.
What is the hardest Olympic dive?
The reverse 4½ somersault in the pike position rated at 4.8 is considered to be the hardest dive routine, but competitors could attempt more difficult dives.
Why do Olympic divers shower after every dive?
Divers shower or jump in a jacuzzi after they compete in order to keep their muscles warm and reduce the chance of any strains or cramps.
Diving and the Olympics
Diving was included in the Olympic Games for the first time at the Olympic Games St. Louis 1904. The springboard and platform events have been included since the 1908 Olympic Games in London. Since the Stockholm Games in 1912, women have taken part in the diving events.
The first Olympic competitions differed from those which exist nowadays, notably with respect to the height of the platforms and springboards. The diving programme has been relatively stable since the 1928 Games in Amsterdam: men and women take part in 10-metre high-dive and 3-metre springboard events. In 2000, the Sydney Games witnessed the entrance of synchronised diving on both the springboard and the platform.
This discipline was first dominated by the USA, with four-time Olympic gold medallist Greg Louganis considered one of the sport’s finest athletes ever. But this domination started to waver with the emergence of the People’s Republic of China at the end of the 1980s. Since then, the Asian powerhouse has dominated the sport of diving across the men’s and women’s disciplines.
Best Divers to watch
The latest star off China’s impressive conveyor belt of diving talent is Wang Zongyuan.
He won 3m synchronised Olympic gold alongside Xie Siyi and individual 3m silver at Tokyo 2020 before becoming world champion in both disciplines in 2022.
Wang’s compatriot, Cao Yuan, boasts one of the most impressive and diverse diving resumes ever with three Olympic golds (10m synchro at London 2012, 3m springboard at Rio 2016, and 10m platform at Tokyo 2020), as well as four world championship titles.
On the women’s side, Chen Yuxi delivered gold and silver in the 10m synchro and platform respectively at Tokyo 2020, before winning both titles at the 2022 Worlds, while teenager Quan Hongchan won 10m platform Olympic gold before taking out the 10m synchro Worlds title alongside Yuxi.
Outside of China, Great Britain has posed the most consistent challenge to China, with Tom Daley winning 10m synchro Olympic gold in Tokyo alongside Matty Lee, while Jack Laugher took home the 3m synchro gold medal at Rio 2016.
Diving Competition Rules at Paris 2024
Paris 2024 once again featured two diving events: the 3m springboard and the 10m platform.
A total of 136 athletes (68 men and 68 women) competed, matching the numbers from Tokyo 2020.
Both events included individual and synchronised competitions, offering four gold medals in total.
Each competition consisted of three rounds: preliminaries, semi-finals, and a final.
