Sport-by-sport - Diving
Thomas Daley
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| Chairman | Alistair Gray | |
|---|---|---|
| Chief Executive | David Sparkes | |
| Performance Director | Alexei Evangulov |
Sport Profile
| Funding Award (2009-2013) | £6,535,700 |
| London 2012 Performance | 1 Bronze |
| Athletes on World Class Performance Programme | 21 |
| Past Performances | Olympic Games, Athens, 2004: Silver (1) Leon Taylor/Peter Waterfield (10m synchro) |
| Press Officer | Gemma Field |
| Press Officer tel | 01509 640 238 / 07789 926 136 |
| Website | http://www.swimming.org/britishswimming |
| National governing body | British Swimming |
“The support of National Lottery funding has helped me compete at the very highest level and achieve my dream of qualifying for the Olympic Games. My funding means I can travel to and from our world class training base in Leeds, where we are surrounded by the very best coaches and support staff. Hopefully the support from the National Lottery will mean that I can continue doing the sport I love for many years to come. Thank you for supporting me.”
GB Diver Jack Laugher
Diving received an increase in its investment for 2009-2013 to £6.5million in recognition of the number of athletes it had developed with a chance of winning medals either at London 2012 or in Rio 2016.
European champion Tom Daley is one of the most recognisable faces in British sport, having burst on to the scene at the Beijing 2008 Olympics as a 14-year-old and winning the World Championship the following year. However, recent results from the 10 other National Lottery Podium funded athletes show the depth of talent in the sport.
British divers had their first chance to compete in the spectacular Aquatics Centre on the Olympic Park thanks to investment from UK Sport in the FINA Diving World Cup in February 2012. This formed part of the London Prepares series to test the Olympic venues and also to give British athletes experience of competing on home soil before London 2012.
It proved a successful event for British divers with Tonia Crouch and Sarah Barrow claiming bronze in the 10m Platform Synchro and Peter Waterfield winning bronze in the 10m platform. It was also the first ever World Cup where a British athlete had reached every final.
With diving being such a technically demanding discipline, UK Sport’s Research and Innovation team have been working closely with the squad to ensure they have access to the best of British science and engineering to help them prepare.
The Ponds Forge diving facility is now equipped with cutting-edge coaching tools developed by UK Sport and Sheffield Hallam University.
These developments include a contactless rapid feedback tool that seamlessly records and processes video footage of training activity to enable coaches and athletes to analyse each dive.
A new project being finalised at Ponds Forge for research purposes is a set of force plate instrumented diving platforms. This innovation will enable sport scientists to analyse the force generated during a dive in order to gain greater insight into the demands of performing at a world class standard.
UK Sport has also helped support and develop Steve Gladding through its Elite Coaching Apprenticeship Programme (ECAP). He trains his wife Monique Gladding and Nick Robinson-Baker. ECAP is part of UK Sport’s commitment to ensure coaches working with British athletes are among the most knowledgeable and best qualified in the world.
Did You Know?
Divers in the 10 metre platform events hit the water at up to 34mph and the journey can take less than two seconds from take-off to entry.
*Accurate as of May 2012
Selected athletes:
Peter Waterfield
Nick Robinson-Baker
Jack Laugher
Tom Daley
Chris Mears
Tonia Couch
Alicia Blagg
Monique Gladding
Sarah Barrow
Rebecca Gallantree
Stacie Powell
Hannah Starling
