Diving: Origins, Competitions and Competitors - by Anne Shier (a.k.a. "Annie")

(From the book “The Encyclopedia of The Summer Olympics”, by David Fischer, 1963)

Diving is one of the most graceful sports in the Olympics.  Divers perform gravity-defying twists and turns in the air before plunging into a pool with hardly a splash.  Divers, like gymnasts, must be strong and flexible.  Timing and form are critical.

References to diving appear in ancient literature and art.  A wall painting in Naples, Italy, dating from the 400s B.C., shows a man diving from a high platform.  Diving developed as a sport in the 1600s when German and Swedish gymnasts began to practice their moves at the beach.  In the late 1800s, early exhibitions of so-called “fancy diving” from a 10-meter platform led to the formation of the Amateur Diving Association, the world’s first official diving organization.

 The popularity of diving in the United States owes much to Ernst Bransten and Mike Peppe.  Bransten came to the United States from Sweden in the 1920s and introduced Americans to Swedish diving techniques.  Peppe coached at Ohio State University in the early 1930s and produced many national college champions.

Diving has been on the Olympic program almost since the start of the modern games.  Platform diving appeared for the first time at the 1904 games in St. Louis, U.S.A., and springboard was added at the 1908 games in London, England.  Both events were for men only until 1912, when platform for women was added.  Women’s springboard came into being at the Olympics in 1920.

Height is one of the distinctions between platform and springboard diving.  The diving platform is a stationary surface about 33 feet (10 meters) above the surface of the pool.  Divers reach it by climbing a ladder.  The surface of the platform measures about 20 feet (6 meters) and 6.5 feet (2 meters) wide.  The water below is about 18 feet (5.4 meters) deep.

The fulcrum that supports the springboard gives flexibility to the board and a springy lift to the diver.  This enables the diver to jump high off the board and perform complex maneuvers in the air before piercing the water’s surface (head first).  The springboard is 16 feet (4.8 meters) long, 20 inches (50.8 centimeters) wide, and about 9.8 feet (3 meters) above the surface of the water.  The board extends about 6 feet (1.8 meters) out over the water.  Springboards, which used to be made of wood, are now made of aluminum.  Because aluminum boards are more flexible, divers have greater lift and, thus, more time to perfect each dive.

Olympic diving competitions consist of preliminary, semifinal and final rounds.  The top divers advance to the next round.  In each round, competitors make a number of required dives and optional dives.  Divers may select their own program from the 82 springboard and 87 platform dives that the International Diving Federation, the governing body of the sport, recognizes as acceptable.

Dives are rated on their degree of difficulty, which can be from 1.1 to 3.6.  The tougher the dive, the more points a diver can score if he or she performs it well.  Judges awards scores between 0 and 10 points for each dive.  In determining their score, judges analyze various elements, such as approach, takeoff, elevation, execution and entry.  The best and worst scores are tossed out, and the remaining are added together.  That figure is then multiplied by the degree of difficulty, and the new total is multiplied by 0.6 to produce the diver’s final score.

There are six basic dives:  forward, back, reverse, inward, twisting, and arm stand (platform only).  Competitors execute these dives from four positions:  tuck, pike, straight, and free (diver’s choice).  In the tuck position, the diver’s body is bent at the waist and knees, with the legs pulled tight to the chest.  Legs are straight in the pike position and the body is bent at the waist.  With more than 85 basic dives and 4 positions, the diver can choose from more than 330 variations.

Divers from Germany and Sweden dominated the early Olympic aquatic events.  Since the mid-1980s, however, China has become an international diving powerhouse.  In recent Olympiads, Chinese divers won 22 of 48 medals, including five gold and five silver medals at the Sydney, Australia games in 2000.

Despite the strong competition, U.S. athletes have been the most consistent diving performers.  In platform, U.S. divers have taken 12 of 23 gold medals in the men’s competition and 9 of 20 in the women’s event.  In springboard, the American team has won 16 of 21 gold medals in men’s and 11 of 19 in women’s competition.  Between 1920 and 2000, American men won the gold medal in the springboard event in all but three Olympiads.  American men also captured the springboard silver medal in every Olympiad from 1920 to 1964.  During that time, the Americans swept the springboard event, giving up only three bronze medals.  Vladimir Vasin of the former Soviet Union broke the Americans’ winning streak by taking the springboard gold medal in 1972, which was the first diving medal for his country.

Italy’s Klaus Dibiasi is believed to be Europe’s most successful diver ever.  He won the men’s platform gold medal in three straight Olympiads – 1968, 1972, and 1976.  He also won two Olympic silver medals – platform in 1964 and springboard in 1968.

After winning the gold in platform in 1948 and 1952, American diver Sammy Lee continued his diving career as a coach.  His student Greg Louganis is considered by many to be the best diver in history.  Louganis won four gold medals and one silver medal in Olympic competition.  He was also the first male diver to win both the springboard and the platform events in two consecutive Olympiads (1984 and 1988).

Women’s platform diving first appeared on the Olympic program in 1912 at the Stockholm, Sweden games.  Women’s springboard was added in 1920.  American Aileen Riggin (then 14 years old) won a gold medal in 1920 and a silver medal in 1924, both for springboard.  She also captured a bronze swimming medal in backstroke at the 1924 games.  Elizabeth Becker of the United States was the first woman to win two diving titles – the springboard gold in 1924 and the platform gold in 1928.  Another American diver, Victoria Draves, swept the gold in the springboard and platform events in 1948 and became the first woman to accomplish that feat.  Patricia McCormick of the United States was the first diver to win springboard and platform gold medals at two different Olympiads.  She won her medals in 1952 and 1956.  Carrying on the family tradition, Pat’s daughter Kelly McCormick won the silver medal in the springboard competition in 1984 and a bronze medal in springboard at the 1988 games.

Until 1980, the only non-American to win the women’s springboard event was East German diver Ingrid Kramer, who triumphed in springboard and platform in 1960 and repeated for the springboard gold in 1964.  Then the springboard title came back to the United States with victories by Sue Gossick (1968), Micki King (1972), and Jennifer Chandler (1976).

An American woman won the platform gold medals from 1924 to 1956.  In 1952 and 1956, the U.S. women made a clean sweep of all six Olympic platform medals.  Leslie Bush, a 17 year old from New Jersey, regained the title for the American team in 1964, but then Olympic gold eluded the U.S. women until Laura Wilkinson won the platform title in 2000.  Wilkinson, who was in fifth place, 60 points behind, nailed her last three dives to overtake silver medalist Li Na of China.

When Fu Mingxia of China was only 14 years old, she turned in a stunning performance that won the platform gold medal at the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona, Spain.  She repeated her success at the 1996 games in Atlanta, U.S.A. and then retired from diving to enter college in Beijing.  Four years later, Fu Mingxia returned to the Olympics.  She won the springboard title and became the first female diver to win five career medals.

The IOC (International Olympic Committee) added synchronized diving to the roster of events at the 2000 games in Sydney, Australia.  Pairs of divers, chosen from among those who qualified as individuals for their country’s team, perform in unison from both springboard and platform.

copyright 2014, Anne Shier.  All rights reserved.