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Diving at the Summer Olympics facts for kids

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Diving at the Summer Olympics
Diving pictogram.svg
Governing body FINA
Events 8 (men: 4; women: 4)
Games
  • 1896
  • 1900
  • 1904
  • 1908
  • 1912
  • 1920
  • 1924
  • 1928
  • 1932
  • 1936
  • 1948
  • 1952
  • 1956
  • 1960
  • 1964
  • 1968
  • 1972
  • 1976
  • 1980
  • 1984
  • 1988
  • 1992
  • 1996
  • 2000
  • 2004
  • 2008
  • 2012
  • 2016
  • 2020
  • Medalists

Diving was first introduced in the official programme of the Summer Olympic Games at the 1904 Games of St. Louis and has been an Olympic sport since. It was known as "fancy diving" for the acrobatic stunts performed by divers during the dive (such as somersaults and twists). This discipline of Aquatics, along with swimming, synchronised swimming and water polo, is regulated and supervised by the International Swimming Federation (FINA), the international federation (IF) for aquatic sports.

Summary

Games Year Events Best Nation
1
2
3 1904 2  United States
4 1908 2  Germany
 Sweden
5 1912 4  Sweden
6
7 1920 5  United States
8 1924 5  United States
9 1928 4  United States
10 1932 4  United States
11 1936 4  United States
12
13
14 1948 4  United States
15 1952 4  United States
16 1956 4  United States
Games Year Events Best Nation
17 1960 4  United States
18 1964 4  United States
19 1968 4  United States
20 1972 4  Italy
 United States
21 1976 4  United States
22 1980 4  Soviet Union
23 1984 4  United States
24 1988 4  China
25 1992 4  China
26 1996 4  China
27 2000 8  China
28 2004 8  China
29 2008 8  China
30 2012 8  China
31 2016 8  China
32 2020 8  China

History

The first Olympic diving events were contested by men and consisted of a platform diving event ("fancy high diving") and also a plunge for distance event, which heralded victorious the diver who could reach the farthest underwater, while remaining motionless after a ground-level standing dive. At the 1908 Summer Olympics, men's springboard diving was added to the program replacing the plunge for distance, regarded as uninteresting. Women's diving debut happened at the 1912 Summer Olympics in the platform event and was expanded to springboard diving at the 1920 Summer Olympics. A parallel platform diving event for men, called "plain high diving", was presented at the Games of the V Olympiad. No acrobatic moves were allowed, only a simple straight dive off the platform. It was last contested at the 1924 Summer Olympics after which it was merged with "fancy high diving" into one competition renamed "highboard diving" (or just "high diving").

By the time of the 1996 Summer Olympics, the diving events were exactly the same as in 1928 (2 men's and 2 women's events). However, four years later in Sydney, the inclusion of a synchronized diving variant for the springboard and platform events elevated the list up to eight events (4 men's and 4 women's events).

Another important change to the sport occurred at the 1984 Summer Olympics, when China first competed, after boycotting the previous games due to the political status of Taiwan. China has become the dominant diving power and accumulated 47 gold medals since 1984.

Medal table

See also: List of Olympic medalists in diving

Total medal count 1904–2020:

Rank Nation Gold Silver Bronze Total
1  United States (USA) 49 46 46 141
2  China (CHN) 47 24 10 81
3  Sweden (SWE) 6 8 7 21
4  Russia (RUS) 4 8 6 18
5  Soviet Union (URS) 4 4 6 14
6  Italy (ITA) 3 5 3 11
7  Australia (AUS) 3 3 8 14
8  United Team of Germany (EUA) 3 1 0 4
9  Germany (GER) 2 8 12 22
10  Great Britain (GBR) 2 3 8 13
11  East Germany (GDR) 2 2 3 7
12  Mexico (MEX) 1 7 7 15
13  Canada (CAN) 1 5 8 14
14  Czechoslovakia (TCH) 1 1 0 2
15  Denmark (DEN) 1 0 1 2
16  Greece (GRE) 1 0 0 1
17  Unified Team (EUN) 0 2 1 3
18  Egypt (EGY) 0 1 1 2
 Malaysia (MAS) 0 1 1 2
20  France (FRA) 0 1 0 1
21  Ukraine (UKR) 0 0 2 2
22  Republic of China (ROC) 0 0 1 1
Totals (22 entries) 130 130 131 391

Events

Men's

Event 96 00 04 08 12 20 24 28 32 36 48 52 56 60 64 68 72 76 80 84 88 92 96 00 04 08 12 16 20 24 Games
Plunge for distance X – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – - 1
Plain high diving – – X X X – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – - 3
3 metre springboard – X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X 27
10 metre platform X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X 28
Synchronized 3 metre springboard – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – X X X X X X X 7
Synchronized 10 metre platform – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – X X X X X X X 7
Events 2 2 3 3 3 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 4 4 4 4 4 4 4

Women's

Event 96 00 04 08 12 20 24 28 32 36 48 52 56 60 64 68 72 76 80 84 88 92 96 00 04 08 12 16 20 24 Games
3 metre springboard – – – X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X 25
10 metre platform – – X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X 26
Synchronized 3 metre springboard – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – X X X X X X X 7
Synchronized 10 metre platform – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – X X X X X X X 7
Events – – 1 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 4 4 4 4 4 4 4

Nations

The numbers in each cell indicate the number of divers that nation sent to that Games.

Nation 96 00 04 08 12 20 24 28 32 36 48 52 56 60 64 68 72 76 80 84 88 92 96 00 04 08 12 16 20 Years
 Argentina (ARG)     1 1 1 2 1 5
 Armenia (ARM)     2 1 2
 Australasia (ANZ)     1 1
 Australia (AUS)     1 1 1 1 1 2 10 4 2 2 3 4 3 4 5 7 7 6 7 9 10 9 7 23
 Austria (AUT)     1 3 2 2 3 4 4 1 2 4 1 4 2 3 1 2 2 2 3 2 3 1 22
 Azerbaijan (AZE)     1 1 2
 Bahamas (BAH)     1 1
 Barbados (BAR)     1 1
 Belarus (BLR)     5 2 3 4 2 2 6
 Belgium (BEL)     1 3 2 1 1 1 6
 Bermuda (BER)     1 2 1 3
 Bolivia (BOL)     1 1
 Brazil (BRA)     1 3 2 2 1 1 1 1 1 1 2 4 4 3 9 4 16
 Bulgaria (BUL)     2 1 1 3
 Canada (CAN)     1 2 1 1 3 3 2 2 2 3 4 8 9 7 6 8 6 7 6 10 9 6 10 23
 Chile (CHI)     1 2 2
 China (CHN)     8 8 8 7 8 10 10 12 13 10 10
 Chinese Taipei (TPE)     2 4 2
 Colombia (COL)     1 1 3 2 2 1 3 2 4 3 10
 Costa Rica (CRC)     1 1
 Croatia (CRO)     1 1
 Cuba (CUB)     1 2 2 6 6 5 3 7
 Czech Republic (CZE)     1 1
 Czechoslovakia (TCH)     2 2 3 1 1 1 1 2 8
 Denmark (DEN)     5 4 1 1 2 3 2 1 2 2 1 11
 Dominican Republic (DOM)     1 2 3 1 4
 East Germany (GDR)     5 7 7 9 4 6
 Ecuador (ECU)     1 1 2
 Egypt (EGY)     2 4 4 4 3 1 4 4 3 9
 Finland (FIN)     2 6 3 6 2 1 1 3 1 1 1 2 2 1 1 2 2 1 18
 France (FRA)     1 12 4 1 2 5 4 2 4 3 2 1 1 2 2 1 6 1 2 5 3 3 22
 Georgia (GEO)     2 1 2
 Germany (GER)     3 5 4 9 2 11 4 6 7 8 10 14 8 8 9 15
 Great Britain (GBR)     16 3 5 11 7 6 11 9 5 7 6 5 8 4 6 6 5 4 5 8 7 10 12 11 12 25
 Greece (GRE)     1 1 5 8 1 1 6
 Guatemala (GUA)     1 1
 Hong Kong (HKG)     2 2 1 1 4
 Hungary (HUN)     2 1 2 2 2 2 3 3 2 4 3 2 2 1 16
 India (IND)     2 1
 Indonesia (INA)     1 3 2
 Iran (IRI)     1 1
 Ireland (IRL)     1 1 2 3
 Israel (ISR)     1 1 2
 Italy (ITA)     1 1 1 1 3 3 1 5 3 4 2 4 1 2 4 3 2 5 6 8 8 8 6 23
 Jamaica (JAM)     1 1 1 3
 Japan (JPN)     1 1 4 5 2 4 5 9 4 3 3 3 4 3 3 1 2 2 1 3 11 20
 Kazakhstan (KAZ)     5 5 2
 Kuwait (KUW)     2 1 2 1 2 5
 Malaysia (MAS)     3 3 4 9 6 5 6
 Mexico (MEX)     1 5 1 4 5 3 4 3 6 4 5 6 6 3 8 5 7 5 7 10 9 14 22
 Netherlands (NED)     4 7 1 2 2 2 2 2 1 2 2 1 2 13
 New Zealand (NZL)     1 3 1 1 1 5
 North Korea (PRK)     4 3 5 3 3 3 2 7
 Norway (NOR)     3 4 3 2 1 1 2 1 1 1 1 11
 Peru (PER)     1 1 2
 Philippines (PHI)     2 2 2
 Poland (POL)     1 5 3 2 1 1 6
 Portugal (POR)     1 1
 Puerto Rico (PUR)     1 2 1 2 1 1 1 1 8
 Rhodesia (RHO)     1 3 2
 Romania (ROU)     3 3 4 3 3 1 2 7
 Russia (RUS)     7 7 9 10 7 8 6
 Russian Empire (RU1)     1 1
 Singapore (SGP)     2 1
 South Africa (RSA)     1 1 1 1 1 1 2 7
 South Korea (KOR)     1 3 2 1 2 4 4 1 2 1 5 11
 Soviet Union (URS)     11 11 7 12 10 9 11 12 8 9
 Spain (ESP)     3 2 3 3 2 2 3 5 5 4 2 2 2 13
 Sri Lanka (SRI)     1 1 2
 Sweden (SWE)     10 34 12 11 8 1 3 3 4 2 4 2 1 2 3 2 2 2 1 3 1 1 2 2 1 25
 Switzerland (SUI)     1 1 1 3 2 2 1 1 1 2 1 3 1 1 14
 Syria (SYR)     1 1 2
 Tajikistan (TJK)     2 1
 Thailand (THA)     1 2 2 3
 Turkey (TUR)     1 1
 Ukraine (UKR)     6 9 8 9 9 7 6 7
 Unified Team (EUN)     7 1
 United States (USA)     7 2 2 14 10 9 9 10 7 11 9 5 12 11 8 11 7 7 7 8 7 10 12 11 10 11 26
 United Team of Germany (EUA)     7 9 2
 Uruguay (URU)     1 1
 Venezuela (VEN)     1 1 1 1 1 3 1 1 3 2 1 11
 West Germany (FRG)     8 9 4 4 6 6
 Yugoslavia (YUG)     1 2 2
 Zimbabwe (ZIM)     3 2 1 2 1 1 6
Nations     2 9 10 14 14 18 9 21 21 21 16 24 21 23 25 22 21 29 31 30 40 42 30 29 25 28 30 82
Divers     10 39 57 53 71 61 28 69 62 72 59 74 82 83 90 82 67 80 81 95 121 157 125 136 136 135 144  
Year 96 00 04 08 12 20 24 28 32 36 48 52 56 60 64 68 72 76 80 84 88 92 96 00 04 08 12 16 20

See also

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