Rising star Matthew Barnard will headline a team of eight Australian divers who are set to spring to success at the 2013 Australian Youth Olympic Festival (AYOF) next January.

Barnard was inspired to take up diving after seeing Chantelle Newbery win gold at the 2004 Athens Olympics. Over the last eight years he has gone from strength to strength in the sport and is mixing it in the top senior ranks, at just 17 years of age.

At the 2012 Australian Open in Adelaide, Barnard came close to earning Olympic selection, coming second to Beijing gold medallist Matthew Mitcham.

Months later, again in front of a home crowd in Adelaide, Barnard competed in the FINA World Junior Championships, where he picked up a bronze medal alongside his 3m synchro partner Darcy Taylor, as well as an 8th place on the platform.

“I’m so excited to be selected,” Barnard said. “It’s going to be a great experience and a really good competition for me to be a part of. I’m sure there will be athletes I’ve come up against at Junior Worlds, and I know the standard will be very high quality.

“Every competition is a stepping stone to Rio for me. I’ll be definitely focusing on platform but competing in springboard as well. I’ve got four years but every event counts – Rio is the ultimate goal,” he said.

The AYOF diving competition has seen a number of athletes go on to achieve Olympic greatness. At the 2005 edition of the Festival, Mitcham was one of the stars at the pool. Two years later, the competition featured Beijing silver medallist Melissa Wu and a 12-year-old Tom Daley who would become the pin-up boy of the London 2012 Games.

Diving will take place at the Sydney Olympic Park Aquatic Centre from Friday 18 – Sunday 20 January. Athletes will compete on 3m springboard and 10m platform in both individual and synchronised.

The Australian diving team for the 2013 AYOF:

Matthew Barnard (SA)
Luke Clohessy (QLD)
Joshua Kehagias (VIC)
Scotia Mullin (VIC)

Emily Boyd (QLD)
Maddison Keeney (WA)
Lara Tarvit (QLD)
Nancy Wang (NSW)

Alice Wheeler
AOC