Like Melissa Wu in 2008, Australia has another teenager screaming up the senior diving ranks. At just 15, Brittany Broben made her senior international debut at the 2011 US Grand Prix in Fort Lauterdale. Showing no signs of nerves, Broben flew to 10m platform gold ahead of the reigning Olympic Champion from China, Chen Ruolin. Broben carried this explosive form into the 2012 Australian Olympic Nomination trials to finish second behind Wu in the 10m platform and earn a spot on the 2012 Grand Prix tour.
Comeback queen Loudy Wiggins combined with Rachel Bugg to narrowly win the 10m platform at trials over 2011 World Championship silver medallists Wu and Alexandra Croak. 2011 World Championships debutant Anabelle Smith combined with Sharleen Stratton to win the 3m synchro event, with Stratton also winning the 3m individual. Ethan Warren has been the leading Australian in the men's 3m springboard after winning the 2011 German Grand Prix and the event at trials.
DIVING FORMAT
Men and women both compete in individual 3m springboard and 10m platform and synchronised 3m springboard and 10m platform at the Olympics.
In individual event, divers select from a number of set dives that have been rated according to their degree of difficulty or create their own dives which are rated according to a set formula. Dives are judged on approach, take-off, elevation, execution and entry and are scored out of 10 by seven judges. The highest and lowest scores are eliminated and the five remaining scores are multiplied by the dive’s degree of difficulty and that figure is then multiplied by 0.6.
In individual events the men complete six dives and women five. After the preliminary event, the top 18 divers go through to the semi-final. In the semi-final, the preliminary and semi-final scores are added and the top 12 divers go through to the final. In the final, no previous scores count and the divers with the best final scores win medals.
In the synchronised events, pairs must perform a combination of dives – some with a set degree of difficulty and others having an average of the two degrees of difficulty. A panel of nine judges score the dives – four judges assess the execution of the individual dives and the other five assess the synchronisation of the divers. Pairs compete in an outright final with each pair doing five dives.
QUALIFICATION AND SELECTION
There were two major qualifying meets for countries to gain Olympic entry- the FINA Diving World Championships in Shanghai (16th- 31st July, 2011) and the FINA Diving World Cup in London (20th-26th February, 2012).
Australia qualified the maximum numbers for women: two competitors in the individual events and one pair in synchronised events. Australia only qualified two men's positions- one in the 10m platform and one in the 3m springboard.
For all the Nomination and Selection documentation click here>>>
AUSTRALIAN OLYMPIC HISTORY
When two Australian pairs struck bronze in 2000 they ended a medal drought stretching back to 1924. The following Olympiad, as Mother Nature often dictates, the ending of the drought was heralded by a flood of medals. Australia won six medals at the Athens 2004 Olympic Games, finishing second only to powerhouse China who claimed nine.
As the Olympics travelled to Beijing in 2008 the world knew a precision army of Chinese divers was waiting. Barely five-foot tall and weighing in at 37 kilograms, 16-year-old Melissa Wu joined with Briony Cole, winning silver for Australia in the synchronised 10 metre platform.
By the final night of competition the Chinese looked destined to complete a golden routine. Having swept the seven gold medals on offer, only gold in the men’s 10 metre platform remained. When Matthew Mitcham leapt off the platform with his final dive on the final night of competition, he created the type of splash that writes you into diving history books. Only 15 months out of retirement Mitcham landed a perfect 10 under immeasurable pressure, producing the highest scoring dive in Olympic history to claim the gold medal.
To read more about Australia’s Olympic diving history, click here>>>