Nikita's Story
Fast Facts
Sport: Diving
Event: Women's 10m Platform
Olympic History: Tokyo 2020
Highlights: 2020 National Champion, member of the 2020 World Cup team, competing at Tokyo 2020
Coach: Rick Schavone
Year Born: 2000
State Born: WA
About Nikita
Nikita Hains began diving at 13 years old, after more than ten years in competitive gymnastics with Stratmites Gymnastics. Hains' transition into diving was seamless, with her gymnastics background enabling her to progress quickly in the sport.
While in high school in 2018, she competed at the FINA World Junior Diving Championships in Kiev, Ukraine. She took to the platform alongside Annarose Keating, where the pair finished in fifth position overall in the girls 16-18 Platform. Their top eight finish earned Australia a spot in event for the 2018 Youth Olympic Games (YOG), held in Buenos Aires, Argentina.
While she was selected to represent Australia in Buenos Aires, Hains chose to withdraw from the Games, opting to focus on her Western Australia Certificate of Education (WACE) exams that clashed in timing with the YOG.
A year later, the Perth-born talent competed at the 2019 Oceania Championships, taking out the top spot and earning Australia a quota in the Women’s 10m Platform dive.
In 2020, Hains was one of 40 recipients of the Australian Institute of Sport Education Scholarship, which supports high performance athletes pursuing tertiary education while training and competing. The WA-native is now based in Adelaide, where she now trains under the tutelage of Rick Schavone and the rest of the National Diving Squad in South Australia, perfecting her 10m specialty out of the South Australia Aquatic and Leisure Centre.
She is also a student at the University of Adelaide, pursuing a Bachelor of Science, hoping to one day become a doctor. She competed for Australia at the 2019 Summer Universiade, diving alongside Olivia O’Rourke in the Women’s Synchronised 10m Platform, finishing in fourth position overall.
In 2021 Hains had collected six medals from seven FINA Circuit appearances. Her international debut at the FINA Grand Prix in Singapore at just sixteen-years-old, saw her return home with silver in the 10m Synchronised dive alongside Tamara Irvine, and bronze in the individual platform.
She finished with a bronze medal at the FINA Grand Prix event on the Gold Coast in 2019 with a score of 242.00. The young talent went on to achieve her highest score on the individual platform of 289.50, earning herself a bronze medal in Madrid in early 2020, shortly before the COVID-19 lockdowns.
Hains won a silver medal in the 10m Platform at the 2021 Australian Open Championships, just behind Olympic veteran Melissa Wu. Through this event she qualified for the 2021 Tokyo Olympics, where she made her Olympic debut in the 10m Platform at the age of 20. In a breakthrough performance Hains finished the Olympic competition in 21st position.
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