Diving: a long and rich history!

The diving family is presently busy with the 2016 FINA/NVC Diving World Series, whose third leg is being held in the Canadian city of Windsor until this Sunday. While everyone is referring to the overwhelming supremacy of China so far in this competition – before tonight’s finals, the Asian powerhouse has collected all 24 gold medals on offer so far in this year’s circuit -, it is useful to recall that diving history is made of many other nations shining at the highest level. The perfection and technical level of Chinese athletes are a reference in today’s diving, but with less than four months to go for the major 2016 rendezvous – the Rio Olympic Games – we provide you a list of facts and figures that will allow you to better understand the pathway of this spectacular discipline over more than one century.

-    Diving made its entry in the Olympic programme in 1904. The first Olympic champion was George Sheldon (USA), in the men’s 10m platform. Women were allowed to compete in 1912, also from the 10m board: first gold went to Greta Johansson, from Sweden;
-    At Olympic level, 17 nations (both among men and women) have won medals from 1904 to 2012;
-    Among men, and from the 60 events contested so far at Olympic level, USA leads the way with 28 gold medals, followed by China with 13. In the women’s field, there is a perfect tie between USA and China (20 wins each);
-    The first Olympic triumph for China occurred in 1984, with Zhou Jihong getting the gold in the women’s 10m platform. Today, she is the mentor of the Chinese national diving team, Chairman of the FINA Athletes Committee and therefore member of the FINA Bureau;
-    At World Championships’ level, the Chinese pioneer was Lin Chen, winner of the women’s 10m platform in 1986;
-    Greg Louganis (USA) is the most “golden” male athlete of the Games, with four wins: 3m and 10m back to back in 1984 and 1988. He is the sole diver to have achieved this feat so far in Olympic history;

-    Dmitry Sautin (RUS) is the male athlete with more Olympic medals: 8. Moreover, he is the only one in history to ascend to the podium in all four events presently in the programme: 3m and 10m, individual and synchro;
-    In the women’s field, there are five athletes with four gold medals at the Games: Guo Jingjing, Wu Minxia, Fu Mingxia and Chen Ruolin, all from China, and Patricia McCormick (USA);
-    Synchronised events entered the Olympic programme at the 2000 Games in Sydney (AUS);
-    The FINA World Championships programme now includes 13 events: individual 3m and 10m  for men and women (since the creation of the event in 1973), individual 1m for men and women (since 1991), synchro 3m and 10m for men and women (since 1998), mixed 3m and 10m (since 2015) and team event (since 2015);
-    At FINA’s showcase, the Chinese domination is impressive, with 34 wins among men and 39 in the women’s competition;
-    The two best male competitors at the Worlds are Dmitry Sautin (nine medals, including five gold) and Alexandre Despatie (CAN), who has eight podium presences. Moreover, the Canadian star is the only diver who won gold at each of the individual events at the FINA World Championships (1m and 3m springboard, and 10m platform);

-    Among women, springboard queen Guo Jingjing (CHN) is a reference: 10 gold medals, with five consecutive doubles in the individual and synchro 3m springboard wins from 2001 to 2009;
-    Tania Cagnotto, from Italy, is a rare case: with 10 medals at the World Championships from 2005 to 2015, she will try to get her first Olympic medal this summer in Rio;
-    Malaysia (2009) and DPR Korea (2015) are two of the newest countries shining at the highest level; but did you know that nations such as Egypt (Olympics, 1928), Greece (Olympics, 2004), Finland (Worlds, 2003), Netherlands (Worlds 1991), Japan (Worlds, 2001), Zimbabwe (Worlds, 1994), Denmark (Olympics, 1920 & 1948), France (Olympics, 1952) and Czechoslovakia (Olympics & Worlds, 1968, 1972, 1973 & 1991) were also among the medallists at the Olympics and the Worlds?

-    From 2001 to 2015, China won all consecutive gold medals in three women’s events at the FINA World Championships: individual 3m springboard, synchro 3m springboard, and synchro 10m platform; among men, the best series for China at FINA’s major event is six consecutive victories (2005-2015) in the synchro 3m springboard;
-    At Olympic level, China won the four women’s events in the last two editions of the Games (2008 and 2012), while among men they could only achieve this in the synchro events. In 2012, Illya Zakharov (RUS) won the 3m in London, while Matthew Mitcham (AUS) and David Boudia (USA) got the gold in the 10m platform event in Beijing 2008 and London 2012, respectively;
-    Besides all names already mentioned, some other diving all-time legends include: Pete Desjardins (USA, 1920s), Dorothy Poynton (USA, 1930s), Samuel Lee (USA, 1940s and 1950s), Klaus Dibiasi (ITA, 1960s and 1970s), Irina Kalinina (URS, 1970s), Gao Min (CHN, 1980s and 1990s), He Chong (CHN, 2000s and 2010s), Tom Daley (GBR, 2000s and 2010s) and Qiu Bo (2010s).