Diving is an exciting water sport that involves plunging head first or feet first from various heights into the water. A skillful diver leaps from a springboard or a platform and performs daring acrobatics in the air before entering into the water. Talented divers combine strength and grace with great courage while spinning and twisting in the air.
Some divers perform trick dives at water shows, and others plunge into the water from cliffs. Such divers have great skill and daring, but they perform mostly as entertainers. This article discusses diving as a national and international competitive sport. For information on other forms of diving, see Diving, Underwater; Skin diving; and Spearfishing.
Types of diving
National and international diving competitions, often called meets, consist of two events, springboard diving and platform diving. In springboard diving, the diver uses the spring from a flexible board to gain the height necessary to perform a dive. In platform diving, the diver jumps from a stationary surface.
Springboard diving.
Diving boards used in meets measure 16 feet (5 meters) long and 20 inches (51 centimeters) wide. They extend about 6 feet (1.8 meters) beyond the edge of the pool. Springboard diving competitions are held on boards that are either 1 meter (3 1/2 feet) or 3 meters (10 feet) above the water.
Loading the player...Springboard diving
In the 1960’s, the development of aluminum diving boards revolutionized springboard diving. Aluminum springboards are thinner and more flexible than the earlier thick wooden ones. The thinner springboards provide greater spring, making it easier for the diver to spin as well as to gain more height. This increased height and spinning ability allows athletes to perform a greater variety of dives, including many more difficult ones. During the 1980’s, improved springboards were introduced that enabled divers to gain even more height and ability to spin.
Platform diving.
Diving platforms for meets must be at least 20 feet (6 meters) long and 6 1/2 feet (2 meters) wide. They have a nonskid surface to prevent athletes from slipping. Diving platforms used in competitions are 10 meters (33 feet) above the water. Some platforms have levels that are 5 meters (16 feet) or 7.5 meters (25 feet) high. During the Olympic Games, divers use these lower levels only for practice. However, divers in younger age-group competition may use them in meets.
Diving techniques
Diving is safe for properly trained athletes, but good diving requires proper coaching and equipment. Beginners can get hurt if they do not learn proper techniques, and so a trained, certified diving instructor is essential. Never attempt difficult dives from a backyard or motel pool diving board.
The first movement for many dives consists of the approach and the hurdle. The approach includes at least three natural walking steps taken by the diver on the board or platform. The hurdle is the last step—actually a short jump—that takes the diver to the edge of the board or platform. The approach steps should be natural and even in length. Steps that are too long or too short will cause a poor take-off and result in a poor dive.
Some platform dives begin with a standing start. The diver stands poised at the platform’s edge. Other platform dives begin with an armstand at the edge.
All dives involve movements that divers must follow precisely while in the air. Ideally, a diver enters the water vertically, with the body straight and the toes pointed. When the diver enters the water head first, the arms must be extended overhead with elbows locked and pressed against the ears in line with the body. If the diver enters the water feet first, the arms should be straight and placed firmly against the sides.
Kinds of dives
Springboard and platform dives are divided into dive groups. Springboard competition has five groups. Platform diving has six groups. A diver must perform a dive from each group in a meet. The groups are determined by the direction of the dive off the board.
Dive groups performed in both springboard and platform meets are (1) forward, in which the dive action moves straight ahead; (2) back, in which the diver stands backward and the dive action moves away from the board; (3) reverse, in which the diver uses the forward approach but the dive action in the air rotates back toward the board; (4) inward, in which the diver starts backward and the dive action moves toward the board; and (5) twist, in which the diver adds a pirouette (complete body rotation) to the dive action of a dive selected from any of the groups. In the sixth platform group, the armstand, the diver’s starting position is a balanced armstand at the end of the platform. All the groups consist of basic dives and progressively harder variations of them. All the variations in the first four groups and armstand group include at least one somersault.
Divers perform all dives except for some twist dives in one of three positions: (1) straight, (2) pike, and (3) tuck. In the straight position, the diver keeps the body straight. In the pike position, the athlete bends at the hips and keeps the knees straight. In the tuck position, he or she bends at the waist and knees by pulling the knees up toward the chest, and grasping the lower legs with the hands. A fourth position, the free position, is used only in certain twist dives. Dives in the free position combine any of the three other positions, depending on the kind of twist dive.
Diving meets
Australia, Canada, China, Japan, the United States, and dozens of other countries hold national championship diving meets annually. International meets are held the year around. The meets are held indoors and outdoors. Men and women compete separately, but they perform the same dives and use the same boards and platforms. Every meet consists of required and optional dives. The judging and scoring procedures are the same for men’s and women’s diving.
The top national and international diving meets are conducted under regulations established by World Aquatics. World Aquatics is the international governing body for diving, competitive swimming, water polo, and a graceful, acrobatic swimming sport called artistic swimming.
Required and optional dives.
World Aquatics assigns each dive a degree of difficulty. Difficulty is based on (1) the position, (2) the number of twists, (3) the number of somersaults, and (4) whether the dive is performed on the 1-meter or 3-meter springboard or from the 10-meter platform.
In national and international springboard meets, men perform 11 dives. These dives include 5 required dives, also known as voluntary dives with limit, and 6 optional dives, also called voluntary dives without limit. Women perform 10 dives—5 required and 5 optional. The total degree of difficulty for an athlete’s required dives must not exceed a limit assigned by World Aquatics. Optional dives have no such limit. Both men and women must perform one required and one optional dive from each of the five groups of dives—forward, back, reverse, inward, and twist. The men’s sixth optional dive may be from any group.
In platform meets at the national and international level, men perform four required and six optional dives. Women perform four required and five optional dives. Both men and women choose from six groups of dives. None of the groups can be repeated. As in springboard diving, the total degree of difficulty for required dives may not exceed a standardized limit.
Scoring and judging.
Judges evaluate each diver’s approach, take-off, grace and technique in the air, and entry into the water. Each judge awards points and half points on a scale of 0 to 10. A score between 0 to 4 1/2 is unsatisfactory, 5 to 6 1/2 satisfactory, 7 to 8 1/2 good, and 9 to 10 outstanding.
Diving meets use a panel of judges to obtain three impartial scores. In most meets, divers are judged by five to seven judges. But in some meets, divers are judged by as few as two or as many as nine judges. In meets that use five, seven, or nine judges, a diver’s highest and lowest scores are dropped. The remaining scores are added and then multiplied by the dive’s degree of difficulty. The result is the score for that dive.
The final meet score is the sum of scores for all dives the athlete did in the competition. The final score is adjusted to make the results comparable to scores obtained in meets using three judges. In competitions that use two judges, no scores are dropped. But the final score is adjusted to make it comparable to those in meets using three judges.
See also Olympic Games; Swimming (Starts and turns).
