Diving – Overview

Diving is a water sport in which the strength, flexibility, and acrobatic skills of an individual get exercised. In this sport, the diver has to jump from a springboard that is situated at a certain height. When the player is in the air, he has to perform some acrobatic skill before diving in the swimming pool. As it requires acrobatic skill performance with a touch of gymnastic dance, hence often the diving players are dancers too.

The objective here is to jump from a prescribed height into the swimming pool from a springboard. While being in the air, you have to perform various acrobatic body movements. More the movements of the body done, more points you can fetch. This sport is played under men and women category.

A Brief History of Diving

Most of the traces of this sport were found to be in England during 1880’s. Apart from sport category, it was a favourite pass time for the ancient people. It is the English Armature swimming association which started the plunging championship in 1883. During the early 19th century, Sweden and Germany used to play this sport as a popular gymnasium category.

With the slow evolution and popularity of this sport, many variants such as Fancy diving and Plain diving started to evolve. Gradually jumping from height also gets popularity and first of such type of event was organised in 1893 in Highgate ponds. In 1904, plain diving was introduced into the Olympics whereas fancy diving was introduced in 1908’s London Olympic Games.

Participating Countries

Diving comes under jumping and falling event. Since its introduction to Olympic Games, the popularity and demand of this sport grew exponentially in different nations. Many Asian and non-Asian countries have their active participation in this sport.

Some of the major dominating Asian countries in diving include China, Russia, North Korea, South Korea, and Malaysia. In 2014 Asian Games, He Chao of China bagged the gold medal in men’s category and Shi Tingmao of China bagged gold medals in women’s category in 1m springboard category.

Similarly, many non-Asian countries have shown their talents in events like Summer Olympics. Countries like Mexico, Australia, and Canada dominate most of the diving competitions. In 2012 Summer Olympics, Llya Zakharov of Russia bagged the gold medal in men’s category while Wu Minxia of China bagged gold in women’s category in 3m springboard.