YOUNG DIVING TALENT GIVEN CHANCE TO SHINE
British Diving will be looking to its next generation of
divers to shine this weekend as the best divers in the country
gather in Sheffield for the ASA National Championships.
With Olympic medallists Leon Taylor and Peter Waterfield
and Commonwealth medallist Tony Ally missing through injury,
Britain's young diving talent is given the chance to show
that they can step up and qualify for the British Olympic
Trials.
Top young athletes that will be competing this weekend include
Plymouth Diving's Thomas Daley (13) and Tonia Couch (18) and
Southampton Diving Academy's Stacie Powell (21), who will
all be looking to be crowned British champions.
National Performance Director Steve Foley will be looking
for Britian's young athletes to dive consistently and to show
their development on the road to London 2012.
"British Diving is in a transition phase with our new
talent beginning to come through and gaining international
experience," said Foley. "At our national competiton
we are looking for our young athletes to dive well and to
qualify for our Olympic trials. If they dive consistently
in Sheffield then they have potential to compete in Beijing
next year and move onto London 2012.
"We have been relying on our older athletes for long
enough and with our three biggest names out it gives our younger
athletes the chance to step up and show what they are made
of. I am looking forward to the likes of Nicholas Robinson-Baker
and Thomas Daley stepping forward and showing us how they
have improved."
Most of Britain's young divers have been taking part in the
FINA Grand Prix series throughout May and June, and Foley
has been pleased with their progress in the events.
"The recent Grand Prix series gave our athletes the
chance to compete on an international stage and to gain valuable
experience," explained Foley. "It was good to see
many of our divers making top 12 finishes and putting in some
good performances.
"They have been realising the importance of competitions
and putting themselves under pressure to dive well. It is
important for them to dive consistently under pressure and
they are seeing this now.
"We had some excellent performances in the series, notably
Thomas Daley who finished 4th in one of his first international
competitions which is an incredible result. Blake Aldridge
put in a good performance in Germany gaining a top 6 finish
also.
"In the same competition I was also pleased with the
performance of Tonia Couch and Stacie Powell who finished
fifth in the synchronised platform."
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