Diving

The Sport

Diving is the sport of jumping off a platform or springboard and entering into a body of water, usually performing twists, turns and other acrobatic tricks while in mid-air.

It is, in general, not what you would call a popular sport, except during the Olympic games, where it has amassed enthusiastic spectators because of its visual appeal.

There are three categories for competitions:

1m

3m

Tower which varies in height.

Competitors jump off a springboard from 1 and 3 metres, and a concrete or wooden platform from the different tower heights. Different competitions hold events at different heights, except for the Olympics, where the standard height is 10 meters.

History

The first events were introduced in the 1904 Olympics, allowing only male competitors. It was then known as "fancy diving" because of the required somersaults. In 1908, the springboard event was introduced. Women were allowed into the Olympics in 1912.

For a time, there was a non-acrobatic, straight event for the men, where the competitor went into the water from platform height with no acrobatic movements. This was later incorporated into the 'fancy diving' category and called 'highboard' or just plain 'high' diving. In 2000, the synchronized category was introduced, where two competitors performed the same dive simultaneously.

Famous Competitors

Interestingly, since China has carved its niche not only in gymnastic sports but in acrobatic entertainment as well, the recent champions of competition have mostly been Chinese. Peng Bo winning the gold medal in the male 3m springboard at the 2004 Olympics in Athens, and Xiong Ni, who won the gold in the two previous Olympics, where he also won with a partner in the synchronized springboard category won his first Olympic medal, a silver, at the age of 14, at the 1988 Olympics in Seoul, South Korea.

There are noterable performers of high caliber from other parts of the world, of course, including Fernando Platas from Mexico, Anne Pelletier from Canada, Laura Wilkinson from the USA, Chantelle Newberry from Australia, and Dmitri Sautin from Russia, who holds the record of winning more Olympic medals than any other diver.

The most internationally recognizable personality though is still American Greg Louganis, who won both springboard and tower gold medals in both the 1984 and 1988 Olympics. He is known to have hit his head on the springboard during in 1988, but still possessed the capacity to execute a subsequent perfect performance, which won him the gold.

Requirements Of The Sport

As a sport it requires execution a perfect movement on demand. There is little room for error hence the need for hours of practice to perfect the techniques.

Competitors must develop strength and flexibility, gained in training similar to that of gymnasts. Competitors are judged according to how well they perform standard, pre-established dives, as well as how neatly they enter the water. This demands optimal muscle control and excellent kinesthetic judgement to allow execution of the movement off the board before entering the water.

Although it is an aquatic sport and an important sport in the summer Olympics, divers don't have to be great swimmers. Many refer to gymnastics as its sister sport.