Learn To Dive
Most diving competitions consist of three disciplines: 1m and 3m springboards, and the platform. Competitive athletes are divided by gender, and often by age group. In platform events, competitors are allowed to perform their dives on either the five, seven and a half (generally just called seven) or ten meter towers. In major diving meets, including the Olympic Games and the World Championships, platform diving is from the 10 meter height.
Synchronized diving
Synchronized diving was adopted as an Olympic sport in 2000. Two divers form a team and perform dives simultaneously. The dives are usually identical; however, sometimes the dives may be opposites, in what is called a pinwheel. In these events, the diving is judged both on the quality of execution and the synchronicity - in timing of take-off and entry, height and forward travel.
Types of Dives
There are six "groups" into which dives are classified: Forward, Back, Inward, Reverse, Twist, and Armstand. The latter applies only to Platform competitions, whereas the other five apply to both Springboard and Platform.
- in the Forward Group (Group 1), the diver takes off facing forward and rotates forward
- in the Back Group (2), the diver takes off with their back to the water and rotates backward
- in the Reverse Group (3), the diver takes off facing forward and rotates backward
- in the Inward Group (4), the diver takes off with their back to the water and rotates forward
- any dive incorporating an axial twisting movement is in the Twist group (5).
- any dive commencing from a handstand is in the Armstand group (6). (Only on platform)
Dive Positions
During the flight of the dive, one of the four positions may be specified:
- straight (A) - with no bend at the knees or hips (the hardest of the three)
- pike (B) - with knees straight but a tight bend at the hips (the median in difficulty of the three)
- open pike is fundamentally the same as pike, although with an open pike, the arms are reached to the side, and the legs are brought straight out with a bend in the hips
- tuck (C) - body folded up in a tight ball, hands holding the shins and toes pointed.(the easiest of the three)
- free (D) - it is a common misconception that the free position is any sequence of the three other positions, although the free position is only for twisting dives, implying that the diver may for example bend their legs or curve at the waist, and points will not be deducted for doing so
Difficulty is rated according to the Degree of Difficulty of the dives, some divers may find pike easier in a flip than tuck, and most find straight the easiest in a front/back dive, although it is still rated the most difficult because of the risk of overrotation.
Dive Numbers
In competition, the dives are referred to by a schematic system of three- or four-digit numbers. The letter to indicate the position is appended to the end of the number.
The first digit of the number indicates the dive group as defined above.
For groups 1 to 4, the number consists of three digits and a letter of the alphabet. The third digit represents the number of half-somersaults. The second digit is either 0 or 1, with 0 representing a normal somersault, and 1 signifying a "flying" variation of the basic movement (i.e. the first half somersault is performed in the straight position, and then the pike or tuck shape is assumed). No flying dive has been competed at a high level competition for many years.
For example:
- 101A - forward Dive Straight
- 203C - back one-and-a-half somersaults, tuck
- 307C - reverse three-and-a-half somersaults, tuck
- 113B - flying forward one-and-a-half somersaults, pike
For Group 5, the dive number has 4 digits. The second digit indicates the group (1-4) of the underlying movement; the third digit indicates the number of half-somersaults, and the fourth indicates the number of half-twists.
For example:
- 5211A - back dive, half twist, straight position
- 5337D - reverse one and a half somersaults with three and a half twists, in the Free position
For Group 6 - Armstand - the dive number has either three, four or five digits: Three digits for dives without twist and four for dives with twists.
In non-twisting armstand dives, the second digit indicates the direction of rotation (0 = no rotation, 1 = forward, 2 = backward, 3 = reverse, 4 = inward) and the third digit indicates the number of half-somersaults. Inward-rotating armstand dives have never been performed, and are generally regarded as physically impossible.
For example:
- 600A - armstand dive straight
- 612B - armstand forward somersault pike
- 624C - armstand back double somersault tuck
For twisting Armstand dives, the dive number again has 4 digits, but rather than beginning with the number 5, the number 6 remains as the first digit, indicating that the "twister" will be performed from an Armstand. The second digit indicates the direction of rotation - as above, the third is the number of half-somersaults, and the fourth is the number of half-twists:
e.g. 6243D - armstand back double-somersault with one and a half twists in the free position
All of these dives come with DD (degree of difficulty) this is an indication of how difficult/complex a dive is. The score that the dive receives is multiplied by the DD (also known as tariff) to give the dive a final score. Before a diver competes they must decide on a "list" this is a number of optional dives and compulsory dives. The optionals come with a DD limit. this means that a diver must select X number of dives and the combined DD limit must be no more than the limit set by the competition/organisation etc.
Until the mid 1990s the tariff was decided by the FINA diving committee, and divers could only select from the range of dives in the published tariff table. Since then, the tariff is calculated by a formula based on various factors such as the number of twist and somersaults, the height, the group etc., and divers are free to submit new combinations. This change was implemented due to the fact that new dives were being invented too frequently for an annual meeting to accommodate the progress of the sport.