Diving was introduced in the official programme of the Summer Olympic Games at the 1904 Games in St. Louis and has been contested at every Summer Games since. It was originally known as "fancy diving" for the acrobatic stunts performed by competitors during the dive (such as somersaults and twists). This discipline of aquatics, along with artistic swimming, marathon swimming, swimming and water polo, is regulated and supervised by World Aquatics (formerly known as FINA), the international federation (IF) for aquatic sports.

Summary

GamesYear EventsBest Nation1 2 3 1904 2 (1)4 1908 2 (1) (1)5 1912 4 (2)67 1920 5 (2)8 1924 5 (3)9 1928 4 (4)10 1932 4 (5)11 1936 4 (6)121314 1948 4 (7)15 1952 4 (8)16 1956 4 (9)17 1960 4 (10)18 1964 4 (11)19 1968 4 (12)20 1972 4 (1) (13)21 1976 4 (14)22 1980 4 (1)23 1984 4 (15)24 1988 4 (1)25 1992 4 (2)26 1996 4 (3)27 2000 8 (4)28 2004 8 (5)29 2008 8 (6)30 2012 8 (7)31 2016 8 (8)32 2020 8 (9)33 2024 8 (10)34 2028 8

History The first Olympic diving events were contested by men and consisted of a platform diving event ("fancy high diving") and also a plunge for distance event, which awarded victory to the diver who could reach the furthest underwater, while remaining motionless after a ground-level standing dive. At the 1908 Summer Olympics, men's springboard diving was added to the program and replaced the plunge for distance, which was regarded as uninteresting. The women's diving debut happened at the 1912 Summer Olympics in the platform event and was expanded to springboard diving at the 1920 Summer Olympics. A parallel platform diving event for men, called "plain high diving", was presented at the Games of the V Olympiad. No acrobatic moves were allowed, only a simple straight dive off the platform. It was last contested at the 1924 Summer Olympics after which it was merged with "fancy high diving" into one competition renamed "highboard diving" (or just "high diving").

By the time of the 1996 Summer Olympics, the diving events were exactly the same as in 1928 (two men's and two women's events). However, four years later in Sydney, the inclusion of a synchronized diving variant for the springboard and platform events elevated the list up to eight events (four men's and four women's events).

Another important change to the sport occurred at the 1984 Summer Olympics, when China first competed, after boycotting the previous games due to the political status of Taiwan. China has become the dominant diving power and accumulated 55 gold medals since 1984.

At the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris, Chinese divers swept all of the available events, winning a record eight gold medals. The Chinese team also surpassed the United States in the all-time medal tally after this edition of the games.

Medal table

Total medal count 1904–2024:

Events Men's

Event 96 00 04 08 12 20 24 28 32 36 48 52 56 60 64 68 72 76 80 84 88 92 96 00 04 08 12 16 20 24 28 Games Plunge for distance X colspan="28" 1 Plain high diving – – X X X colspan="24" 3 3 metre springboard – X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X 28 10 metre platform X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X 29 Synchronized 3 metre springboard colspan="21" X X X X X X X X 8 Synchronized 10 metre platform colspan="21" X X X X X X X X 8 Events 2 2 3 3 3 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4

Women's

Event 96 00 04 08 12 20 24 28 32 36 48 52 56 60 64 68 72 76 80 84 88 92 96 00 04 08 12 16 20 24 28 Games 3 metre springboard colspan="3" X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X 26 10 metre platform – – X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X 27 Synchronized 3 metre springboard colspan="21" X X X X X X X X 8 Synchronized 10 metre platform colspan="21" X X X X X X X X 8 Events – – 1 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4

Nations The numbers in each cell indicate the number of divers that nation sent to that Games.

See also List of Olympic venues in diving

Notes

References