Tanya Watson qualified for this stage of the competition after coming in 16th place in preliminary rounds yesterday. The 19-year-old would need to improve to be in top 12 to make it to the finals.

To read more about Tanya Watson’s Olympic diving journey, click here.

The semi consists of each diver performing five dives, all to be scored by judges and added together to find the highest ranked athletes.

The final will take place later today at 08:00.

Tanya Watson ready to go for semi-final of 10m platform diving. Goes 3rd of 18. Top 12 into this evenings final @RTEsport #Tokyo2020 pic.twitter.com/9uNq2XJi4V

— Paul O'Flynn (@OFlynnPaul) August 5, 2021

Women’s 10m Platform – Semi-final

Watson decided that she was going to start her routine with one of her most demanding dives; a Back two and a half somersault with one and a half twists.

She performed the move to almost complete perfection and was awarded 64 for her attempt, an improvement of 1.6 on the same dive she did yesterday. She now sat in a good position in ninth.

Tanya Watson's first dive earns a score of 64.00 from 3.2 difficulty #olympics #tokyo2020 #RTESport

Watch live – https://t.co/b2OI4OoWVJ

Updates – https://t.co/2FsXVVTWRN pic.twitter.com/GM3QV1mZft

— RTÉ Sport (@RTEsport) August 5, 2021

Next in round two and she kept up her good form. She added to her total with 63 more points completing a neat tuck and causing little splash.

Round three would be Watson’s downfall, she attempted a Back two and a half somersault, difficulty 2.9. This move had worried her the previous day and the nerves continued as she scored badly.

She over rotated, smacking the tops of her feet of the water and only receiving 39.15 from the judges. The narrow margin of a few inches mean so much in this event as she dropped to 15th at the end of the round.

For round four she calmed herself with a Reverse two and a half somersault. It was her easiest dive but the teenager was pleased with her result of 56 more points.

In her final round, the qualification places seemed just too far out of reach. She went for another hard difficulty dive, 3.2 degree; an Inward three and a half somersault.

This was a good end to her program, showing a tidy entry into the water. Another 56 points meant that she would finish in 15th place with an overall score of 278.15, less than 25 off of 12th.

#Diving

Tanya Watson has finished 15th in the 10m Platform Semi-Final, bettering her place in the prelims and showing the whole world what she can do!

No final, but fantastic debut for Ireland's first Olympic female diver #TeamIreland #Tokyo2020@swimireland pic.twitter.com/ZplQoZWgsm

— Team Ireland (@TeamIreland) August 5, 2021

China’s Quan and Chen stole the show, leading the pack with scores of 415.65 and 407.75 respectively. These young women are the two major favourites to battle for gold later today.

Watson managed to improve her placement today from the preliminary rounds, which is a major accomplishment for the teenager. Paris cannot come sooner for this Irish diver, we can see she has a bright future ahead of her on the platform.

The post Olympic Diving: Watson dives out in semi-final appeared first on SportsNewsIreland.

This was Watson’s debut at an Olympics Games at the age of 19. She finished seventh in the European Senior Championships so came with hopes of qualifying for the semi-final.

She took part in the women’s 10m platform dive preliminary rounds. The top 18 scoring athletes after five dives would make the next round tomorrow.

Earlier this week, Ireland’s Oliver Dingley took to the diving pool, Watson will want to improve on his disappointing finish.

To read more about Ireland in the Tokyo diving competition, click here.

History was made this morning when Tanya Watson took to the 10m Platform as Team Ireland's first ever female Olympic diver

Let’s go Tanya @TeamIreland #Tokyo2020 https://t.co/QUlyjkNIm0

— Sport Ireland (@sportireland) August 4, 2021

Women’s 10m Platform – Preliminary Round

Watson was the third woman to take the platform. She began her set with a Back two and a half somersault, one and a half twist. She slightly over rotated which gave her a slightly bigger splash on entry than she would have wanted.

With a difficulty of 3.2 it was a tough first dive but paid off with her scoring 62.40, putting her joint 13th.

Next up she went for one of her easier dives, a Forward three and a half somersault. Other than the slightly big splash, she performed the 3.0 difficulty dive very well.

After round two the added score of 57.00, she was now in 14th.

Her next dive was a difficulty 2.9, Back two and half somersault. Holding a good pike position she only scored a 52.20, now she was placing 16th.

With two dives left, she attempted an Inward two and a half somersault. A clean tuck and good entry, she scored a well needed 60.20.

With just a single round left, Watson gave herself a great chance of qualifying still in 16th with 15 points to spare.

Watson finished with an Inward three and a half somersault with a 3.2 difficulty degree. Although the dive was not perfect, a score of 57.60 was enough to see the Irish woman through in 16th place with a total of 289.40 points.

#Diving

19-year-old Tanya Watson opens her Tokyo 2020 competition with a score of 62.40 for her first of five dives – Back 2½ Somersaults 1½ Twists.

One of Tanya's hardest dives today #TeamIreland #Tokyo2020 @divertanya
@swimireland pic.twitter.com/ljyv4ca88v

— Team Ireland (@TeamIreland) August 4, 2021

The preliminary round has showed that this competition is going to be contested between China’s Hongchan Quan and Yuxi Chen,  and USA’s Delaney Schnell who blitzed the scoreboard.

The semi-final will take place at 02:00 tomorrow morning with the top 12 divers qualifying for the final.

The post Olympic Diving: Watson flips into semi-final appeared first on SportsNewsIreland.

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

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Tanya Watson qualified for the Women’s 10m platform and will be one half of the Irish Olympic diving team.

Rio 2016 finalist Ollie Dingley will be going to his second Olympic games and will compete in the Men’s Springboard 3m event.

“Firstly, I’d like to say thank you to everyone who made this possible. It’s a real privilege to represent Ireland at my second Olympic Games,” said Dingley.

“I feel very lucky that we can get to go and compete at the Olympics after what has been a very uncertain time for everybody.

“This will be my third competition in over two years, and I really just can’t wait to get out there and compete and do my best.”

19-year-old Tanya Watson will be looking forward to this summer’s Olympics too.

The Southampton-born diver qualified after getting into the Top 18 of the FINA Diving World Cup in Tokyo.

Team Ireland has also made history by sending more than one diver to the Olympics for the first time, according to Swim Ireland Performance Director John Rudd.

“We’re all thrilled to see this talented team of two selected to compete in diving at the Games, particularly as this is the very first time we’ve ever fielded more than one diver at an Olympics – as well as Tanya having the honour of being our first-ever female Olympic diver….we can look forward to some exciting days of competition in the Olympic weeks ahead,” said Rudd.

Tanya progressed from Ireland’s Youth Olympic team of 2018 and has added more great performances and accolades to her name since reaching the final in Buenos Aires.

28-year-old Ollie Dingley has a notable amount of accolades too, including the Irish record for the 1m and 3m Springboard.

Team Ireland Chef de Mission for Tokyo 2020, Tricia Heberle, is excited to see the divers in action.

Heberle said: “We know it has been a challenging qualifying pathway and we are very excited to support them both.”

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