Australia and Olympic Diving

Australian athletes have won 2 gold, 1 silver and 6 bronze medals in diving at the Olympics. Richmond “Dick” Eve won the plain high diving (no twists or turns) at Paris in 1924 for Australia’s first medal.

At the Sydney 2000 Games Australia returned to the Olympic diving dais after more than three quarters of a century. Robert Newbery and Dean Pullar in the men’s synchronised springboard and Rebecca Gilmore and Loudy Tourky in the women’s synchronised platform won bronze medals.

At Athens 2004 Australia was the second most powerful diving nation with a record six medals (1 gold, 1 silver and 4 bronze), behind China with nine medals. Chantelle Newbery's gold medal (ahead of Loudy Tourky with the bronze) in the women's platform was Australia's first Olympic diving success since 1924.

Ttwo-time Olympic medallist Mathew Helm, and both Chantelle and Robert Newbery have come out of retirement to compete in Beijing.

Olympic History

Men’s platform diving first appeared on the Olympic program in St Louis 1904 and springboard diving was added in London 1908. Platform diving was one of the aquatic events introduced for women in Stockholm 1912 with springboard events added at Antwerp 1920. In Sydney in 2000, synchronised diving events off the springboard and platform, were introduced for both men and women.

Gold Medal Winners at the Past Three Olympic Games

Men's 3m Springboard
Atlanta 1996 - Ni XIONG (CHN)
Sydney 2000 - Ni XIONG (CHN)
Athens 2004 - Bo PENG (CHN)

Men's 10m Platform
Atlanta 1996 - Dmitri SAUTIN (RUS)
Sydney 2000 - Liang TIAN (CHN)
Athens 2004 - Jia HU (CHN)

Men's 3m Synchro
Atlanta 1996 - not held
Sydney 2000 - XIAO/XIONG (CHN)
Athens 2004 - SIRANDIS/BIMIS (GRE)

Men's 10m Synchro
Atlanta 1996 - not held
Sydney 2000 - SAUTIN/LUKASHIN (RUS)
Athens 2004 - TIAN/YANG (CHN)

Women's 3m Springboard
Atlanta 1996 - Mingxia FU (CHN)
Sydney 2000 - Mingxia FU (CHN)
Athens 2004 - Jinging Guo (CHN)

Women''s 10m Platform
Atlanta 1996 - Mingxia FU (CHN)
Sydney 2000 - Laura WILKINSON (USA)
Athens 2004 - Chantelle NEWBERY (AUS)

Women's 3m Synchro
Atlanta 1996 - not held
Sydney 2000 - ILYINA/PAKHALKINA (RUS)
Athens 2004 - WU/GUO (CHN)

Women's 10m Synchro
Atlanta 1996 - not held
Sydney 2000 - NA/XUE (CHN)
Athens 2004 - LAO/LI (CHN)