China’s Zongyuan Wang and Korea’s Haram Woo were the big favourites in this event but the Irish man only needed to finish top 18 to make in to the semi-final.

This was Dingley’s second appearance at the Games after he became Ireland’s first Olympic diver in 68 years while in Rio 2016.

Scoring works by seven judges scoring the dive, the highest two and lowest two scores are crossed out. The remaining three scores are added together and multiplied by the degree of difficulty for a final score.

Ireland’s Oliver Dingley making his first dive of the #Tokyo2020 Olympic Games in Men’s 3m Springboard today, and becoming a double Olympian in the process! Best of luck Oliver! @TeamIreland @IrishEmbJapan pic.twitter.com/Y6mmUJHyyY

— Ireland in Japan (@IrishEmbJapanEN) August 2, 2021

Dingley came up in 18th in Round 1 of diving. Many of his other competitors seemed nervy going into the event with a few small mistakes making the scoring low.

The Dublinman started with his easiest dive, an inward two and a half somersault with only a difficulty of three. He received sevens across the board from the judges.

He knew he would have to go harder in the next round to bring his score into qualification place.

Dingley next tried a forward three and a half somersault with a difficulty of 3.1. He did not score well, not tucking correctly and over rotating.

.@OliverDingley gets his Olympics underway with an inwards 2 1/2 somersaults effort #olympics #tokyo2020 #RTESport #Diving

Watch live – https://t.co/fmILnhxvf7

Updates – https://t.co/JMtWFZP56o pic.twitter.com/ePR570xTdk

— RTÉ Sport (@RTEsport) August 2, 2021

He continued to up the difficulty in round 3 with a 3.4, forward two and a half somersault with two twists. Dingley was not happy again as he was over on entry, getting himself 5.5 from the judges.

At the halfway point in diving, Dingley sat in 26th place and would need to improve on his final three for a chance of progression.

His fourth dive did not please the Irish man either as he attempted an easier 3 difficulty but under rotated and did not score well again.

At this point Wang had breezed ahead of all the other competitors given himself more than 20 point lead. After round four, Dingley was in 27th.

Following two great dives, Dingley attempted a reverse 2 and half somersault. Although slightly over rotating, this was one of his better dives so far.

With his final dive he would need 40 more points than the men ahead of him to qualify  but Dingley still gave it his all.

In his final dive, he tried a back two and a half somersault with a one and a half twist. Although he performed the routine cleanly, it would not be enough to progress.

China’s Wang easily got first and is now favourite for gold. Dingley bowed out of the Olympics finishing in 25th with 335 points.

#Diving In his penultimate dive @OliverDingley scores 57.0 & is placed 26th on the leaderboard with an overall score of 273.8 #TeamIreland #Tokyo2020 @swimireland pic.twitter.com/GXTxSmzcKW

— Team Ireland (@TeamIreland) August 2, 2021

The post Olympic Diving: Dingley fails to reach semi-final appeared first on SportsNewsIreland.

Dingley, who finished eighth in the 3m Springboard at Rio 2016, earned qualification for his second Olympic Games on Wednesday when finishing 15^th in the preliminary round of his competition.

His efforts on Thursday were Team Ireland’s final dives in Tokyo for this week, with attentions now turning to the LEN European Aquatics Championships in Budapest, Hungary.

All four divers – Dingley, Clare Cryan, Ciara McGing and Tanya Watson – who competed at the FINA Diving World Cup will travel on Friday to Hungary, where competition begins on Monday, May 10.

Reflecting on the week in Tokyo, Swim Ireland’s National Performance Director Jon Rudd said: “”This has been a very successful week for Irish Diving and we are all very proud of what our athletes have achieved.

“We must give a huge deal of credit to the coaches and the practitioners for preparing these athletes to perform so well in what have been extremely challenging circumstances.

“Tanya and Oliver will clearly be delighted with the knowledge that their invitation to Tokyo is secure, whilst Ciara and Clare must now wait for a period of up to two weeks to discover whether either of them will be added to those invites.

“To have our largest ever diving team for an Olympic Games and our first ever female Olympic diver as an outcome of this competition is superb and we can all look forwards to a European Championships in a few days’ time and enjoy watching this quartet compete once more.”

Damian Ball, National Head Coach for Diving, added: “It’s been a very challenging and emotional two weeks here in Japan. Words can’t describe how proud I am of this team. A big thank you to everyone who has made this story possible.

“Budapest and the European Championships awaits us next and the team can head into this full of confidence.”

The full schedule for the LEN European Aquatics Championships can be found at Schedule – Len-Budapest 2020

FINA Diving World Cup, 1^st – 6^th May 2021, Tokyo, Japan

For all results, please visit FINA Diving World Cup – Tokyo, Japan

The post Dingley Completes Ireland’s Unforgettable Diving World Cup appeared first on SportsNewsIreland.

Dingley needed to finish in the Top 18 in the 3m springboard to achieve automatic qualification for his second Olympic Games and secured 15^th .

The National Record-holder scored 399.75 points in the preliminary round, advancing to the semi-finals, which take place on Thursday morning from 2am and could yet see him improve his final position.

Tanya Watson, who on Tuesday became the first Irish female diver to qualify for an Olympic Games, finished her competition with a score of 295.50 points in the 10m Platform semi-final.

Improving on the 271.85 points achieved in the preliminary round, the 19-year-old’s semi-final score is the highest she has ever posted in a FINA competition.

This has come despite a tumultuous 12 months, in which Watson has seen her normal training pool in Southampton, UK closed for long periods during lockdowns.

Watson has spent much of the past year at National Centre (Dublin) training with Oliver Dingley and Clare Cryan under Ireland’s National Head Coach for Diving, Damian Ball at the Sport Ireland National Aquatic Centre.

Reflecting, Damian Ball, National Head Coach for Diving, said: “Another fantastic day and some top class performances from our divers.

“Ollie’s experience was clear today, he was consistent, confident, and hardly put a foot wrong. 16 months of no competitions hasn’t seemed to phase Ollie at all.

“Tanya dived with passion and enjoyment in her debut World Cup semi-final. 2 points was all that separated her from a spot in the final. The remainder of this season could be very promising for this young talent.”

The next stop for Watson is the LEN European Championship in Budapest, which begins on Monday, May 10.

Tweets by swimireland

The post Diving – Oliver Dingley Qualifies for Tokyo Olympics 2021 appeared first on SportsNewsIreland.

Swim Ireland’s divers have departed for Tokyo, Japan for their delayed final Tokyo 2021 Olympic Games qualifying opportunity at the FINA Diving World Cup.

The qualification event, taking place at the Tokyo Aquatics Centre, will run across six days from May 1^st – 6^th with places for the Games available in the 3m Springboard and 10m Platform.

The event was due to take place in April, but was cancelled at the last minute and, thankfully, rescheduled to start this weekend.

Rio 2016 Olympic Finalist Oliver Dingley leads the team with Clare Cryan, Tanya Watson and Ciara McGing all aiming to become the first Irish female diver to qualify for an Olympic Games.

Dingley and Cryan will compete in the 3M Springboard, while Watson and McGing will be entered in the Platform event.

Divers securing a semi-final (top 18) place in each event will automatically qualify a place for their country at the Games. This is the second and final qualification event for the Games, the first, the FINA World Championships in 2019, allocated 12 qualification places.

National Diving Coach Damian Ball said: “The divers are all as fit, healthy, and prepared as possible, considering the current situation. The mood is positive around the poolside and we are all excited about the challenge ahead. We have selected a team with both youth and experience, which highlights our strong intention to qualify for this year’s Olympics while also preparing for a team for the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris.”

Rio 2016 Olympian Oliver Dingley said: “I’m just looking forward to getting out and going to do some diving at a competition. We haven’t competed in over a year and a half now.

“You never want to be overly confident, but I’m in a good frame of mind – physically fit, mentally fit as well – so really it’s six dives, one dive at a time and I could be at the Olympic Games. Really it’s about keep your feet firmly on the ground, being patient and trying to relax as much as possible.”

Clare Cryan, among the trio aiming to become Ireland’s first female Olympic diver, said: “We’ve had a bit of an uncertain few weeks with the competition being cancelled, and being unsure about when it’s being rescheduled, so to have a competition again, and know that we are going is really exciting now.

“We’ve all been working so hard, and with everything going on with COVID, we’ve all had our own different battles to be facing. We’re all looking good and feeling sharp, so it’s just really exciting that we can go and show what we’ve been working on.”

Tanya Watson, who competes in the 10m with Ohio-based Ciara McGing, said: “I’ve really enjoyed training in Dublin with Clare and Ollie. I haven’t had a chance to train with them this long ever, so that’s been great. Training’s been really good – I’ve been able to do all my 10m dives pretty consistently in training. I think overall training has been really consistent here, from weights to the pool.

“I’m most looking forward to being able to compete again and seeing everybody that we haven’t seen in over a year.”

The post Video – Oliver Dingley talks about Olympic Games Qualifiers appeared first on SportsNewsIreland.