Competitive diving was primarily practised by gymnasts who started performing tumbling routines into the water.

The first diving organisation, the Amateur Diving Association, was established in 1901.

Olympic History

Diving was included in the Olympic Games for the first time at the 1904 Games in St Louis. The springboard and platform events have been included since the 1908 Olympic Games in London. Since the Stockholm Games in 1912, women have taken part in the diving events.

The first Olympic competitions differed from those which exist nowadays, notably with respect to the height of the platforms and springboards.

Men and women take part in 10-metre high-dive and 3-metre springboard events.

In 2000, the Sydney Games witnessed the entrance of synchronised diving on both the springboard and the platform.

Facts

Pool - The pool must be at least 5 metres deep.

Springboard - A flexible diving board that can be adjusted to create more or less spring. It must be at least 4.8 metres long and a half-metre wide, with a non-slip surface.

Platform - For platform, the board must be at least six metres long and two metres wide, with a non-slip surface. (For synchronised diving the platform must be three metres wide.).

One of four disciplines of Aquactics

Diving, along with swimming, synchronised swimming and water polo, is one of the four disciplines governed by the Fédération Internationale de Natation (FINA).