Olympic diving may be a minority sport here but the talent pool is
filling up quickly. Five years ago only 10 divers were good enough to make the
Winter Championships but today there are 30.
In the heat
of competition taking a dive is all bit of a blur for 12-year-old Liam
Stone.
"Basically you can't really see much, but the pool
going past, then you just go into the water," he says. "Feels longer than it
actually is though."
And the North Shore diver is thinking
long-term, even though he is still an intermediate student.
"To go to the Commonwealth Games, Olympic Games one day,
hopefully maybe."
It is 16 years since New Zealand's last
Olympic appearance, but there is cause for optimism with three times as many
divers compared to five years ago.
That is a reflection of
employing top coaches and marketing in schools. Now the success is up to the
school kids' dedication.
And once hooked chasing the
perfect score - an elusive 10 - divers like Ollie Armstrong-Jones must train the
body and clear the mind.
"We've always been told to not
think of anything, which I find quite hard, but I say to myself try and get a
10, but just do the dive, see what happens," he says.
It
might not happen overnight, but they will be a step closer if today's
performances merit selection to represent New Zealand at the Australian Junior
Elite Championships in July
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