DIVING: The men’s 3m springboard competition began at Maria Lenk Aquatic Centre in Rio today with Australia represented by Grant Nel and Kevin Chavez.

Nel qualified for the semi-final in 16th place with Chavez unfortunately missing out after finishing 26th in difficult and windy conditions that also saw the current world champion, Chao HE (CHN) miss the cut.

“The weather was a bit of an issue today but everyone was dealing with it. There was a lot of pressure,” said Nel.

“To be honest I didn’t know how I was positioned because I don’t watch the scores throughout the competitions so I am very happy and very excited because I didn’t think that I had done as well as what I did.

“Lucky that I was consistent in five of my six dives, unfortunately I dropped my second dive but having my family here and having the support of Australia and other athletes was, and has just been, an amazing experience."

When asked to reflect upon today’s event and what needs to change for tomorrow, Nel emphasized the sense of occasion.

“Finally being able to dive at the Olympics and call myself an Olympian was the best thing about competing today. To be at the pinnacle event in diving is just an absolute privilege and I am really honoured to be here,” added Nel.

“Now the thing of actually competing is settled, I can now relax and just focus on what I have been doing in training and I have been training well. I now just need to reassess with my coach what we have to do and then go out and get it done”.

For Chavez, his performance today did not reflect his training but he was pleased to be back competing on the international stage for the first time in two years and was inspired by the experience.

“The Olympics was a really nice experience for me, especially as this was my first international competition since 2013 it is just unfortunate that today was not my day,” said Chavez.

“I was feeling really good, I had been training well, unfortunately I just had a bad day but I am determined to keep training hard and representing Australia."

The semi-final and final of the men’s 3m springboard event takes place tomorrow.

Jo Banning
olympics.com.au