Diving is a sport that involves jumping into the water from a springboard or platform. Divers occasionally perform acrobatic movements before jumping into the water. Divers share similar traits of dancers and gymnasts in terms of flexibility, strength, air awareness, and kinesthetic judgment. Diving as a sport debuted in 1904 Summer Olympic Games held at St. Louis and has since been a regular sport at the Olympics. In the first Olympics Diving competitions like platform diving event or fancy high diving and plunge for distance events were held. Later, men's springboard diving was introduced at the 1908 Summer Olympics as a substitute for the plunge for distance. In 1912, Women's Diving competition was initiated in Olympics. Later, at 2000 Sydney Olympics, synchronized diving, which is a variation of platform and springboard, was added to the diving events. The Diving competition will be held at Aquatics Centre from 28 July - 12 August 2012 with over 136 athletes participating in the events.
Diving Rules And Regulations
Game Rules
Skilled divers diving into the water makes great visuals for the spectators during the Olympic Games. Read on to learn all about its rules and regulations.
Diving
- At the Olympics, the divers only compete for the 3-meter springboard and the 10-meter platform. Before the actual diving events, dive lists/sheets should be presented to the meet director. Dive lists can be voluntary dives and optional dives.
- There are five components to diving. They are starting position, approach, takeoff, flight, and entry. The scoring is distributed as three points for the approach and takeoff, three points for a diver’s flight and three points for the entry. One extra point is dedicated for some flexibility in the scoring process. However, most of the judges show particular attention for entry with little or no splash. No splash entry is also termed as Rip Entry.
- While taking an approach step, divers must stand steady keeping body and arms straight. In case of forward approach, divers are required to take a minimum of three steps with a hurdle at the last step. The backward approach demands smooth arm movements. The points are deducted when divers balk. Flight step requires the divers to keep their legs together at all times. For the final “entry” step, divers must keep body straight and must aim for little splash or rip entry.
- The scores will be awarded in a range of 0 to perfect 10 on the basis of level of difficulty and number of maneuvers taken before final splashdown. The score value is as follows: 0 score means failed diving; 0.5 – 2 scores represent insufficient diving; 2.5 – 4.5 scores denote not good diving; 5 – 6.5 scores imply satisfactory diving; 7- 8 scores mean good diving; 8.5 – 9.5 score stand for exceptional diving ; and 10 score indicates perfect diving.