SPECTATORS GUIDE TO DIVING
The spectator, like the diving judge wants to know how well the somersaulting and twisting of competition diving is done. The difficulty of the dive is taken care of by its rating or difficulty, ranging from 1.2 for the easiest dive to 3.8 or more for the most difficult dives.
Flawless execution will include strong initiation into the dive and vertical entry into the water without splash. Divers call this a 'rip' entry. Between these parts of the dive, the body will be carried in what are known as 'positions'; the straight position (no bending at the hips or the knees), or piked (bending at the hips, but not at the knees), or tucked (body bunched up tightly, with the hands on the lower legs).
Feet must always be together and toes pointed. Sometimes the announcer speaks of the 'free position' which implies some twisting combined with one or more, usually at least two, of the other positions.
The judge may award 1 to 10 points, in half point increments. A table of the scores and how they should be awarded is as follows:-
Very Good 8.5 - 10
Good 6.5 - 8
Satisfactory 5 - 6
Deficient 2.5 - 4.5
Unsatisfactory 0.5 - 2
Completely failed 0
The highest and lowest awards are discarded and the sum of the remainders multiplied by the degree of difficulty to give the points scored. For example, if a dive with a difficulty rating of 2.0 is awarded 4, 5, 5, 5, 6, the 4 and the 6 are discarded and the sum of the other scores multiplied by 2.0 to give a score of 30 points.
Competition dives are performed from springboards set at 3 metres above the water, or from platforms set at 5, 7.5 or 10 metres. The number of dives varies from one competition to another. Apart from a few penalties that might be imposed, that's all there is to diving, so now sit back and enjoy second guessing the judges scores, and, above all, cheering for your favorite diver.
In individual diving events, a preliminary round will narrow the field down to 18 for the semifinals, with 12 eventually moving into the finals where Olympic medals are decided.
And remember, the flight through the air may bemuse you, but if it receives huge cheers you may well have seen one of those extremely rare 10-point dives.
A welcome addition to the sport is synchronized diving. Synchronized diving is where two competitors dive at the same time. If the two competitors dive different dives, then the degree of difficulty is taken as the average of the two dives.
Eight pairs of divers compete in synchronized diving events. The pairs of dives must include one set of forward facing dives, one set of backward facing dives and one set where the divers take off facing different ways.
A panel of nine judges is required for synchronized diving. Five solely judge the synchronization between the two divers. Another two judge on the execution of the dive of one of the competitors, whilst the remaining two judge the execution of the other.
To view the rules of diving, visit the FINA web site.
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